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Bodyweight What have your strength gains been with bodyweight training?

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Alex808

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Hey guys can I ask a favor?

I'm doing a stat report for an analytics project in my class, and my topic is Strength Increases Utilizing Exclusive Bodyweight Training.

Have you gotten any measurable gains in strength through bodyweight training? If so, what are they (increase in total reps, increase in PRs, etc.)?

A good example of this would be from Aleks' article Get a Heavier Military Press With the One-arm One-leg Push-up | StrongFirst where he went from a 32kg to 36kg Military Press using Dan John's 40 Day Workout.

Thanks so much guys
 
@305pelusa is not typical, but a great example of what's possible. He even had an informal free weight lift competition with some friends where he put up some truly impressive numbers for someone of his BW and only using bodyweight exercises. So not just an increase in strength, but a huge increase in nonspecific strength.

Did a search but couldn't find that thread, hopefully he'll chime in.

For myself I've gotten some good gains but it has been so long since I did bodyweight only (30 years!), I can't recall any specifics.
 
Body weight exercises for upper body usually improve my strength in overhead pressing i.e. concentrating on one arm push ups or/and rings or/and other body weight exercises make my press stronger.
The key here is to choose relatively taxing exercises and keep progressing.
 
@305pelusa is not typical, but a great example of what's possible. He even had an informal free weight lift competition with some friends where he put up some truly impressive numbers for someone of his BW and only using bodyweight exercises. So not just an increase in strength, but a huge increase in nonspecific strength.

Did a search but couldn't find that thread, hopefully he'll chime in.

For myself I've gotten some good gains but it has been so long since I did bodyweight only (30 years!), I can't recall any specifics.
here's the thread
PL 1RM Max Estimates from Calisthenics
 
Hello,

@Alex808
Are you looking for the protocols ? Just the results ?

Indeed, for instance, it is possible to get the one arm chin up using weighted calisthenics or using calisthenics only. Same goes for pistols, etc...

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
@305pelusa is not typical, but a great example of what's possible. He even had an informal free weight lift competition with some friends where he put up some truly impressive numbers for someone of his BW and only using bodyweight exercises. So not just an increase in strength, but a huge increase in nonspecific strength.

Did a search but couldn't find that thread, hopefully he'll chime in.

For myself I've gotten some good gains but it has been so long since I did bodyweight only (30 years!), I can't recall any specifics.
That was a really fun time. It might be fun to try again. Cheers North Coast Miller. Hope everything is going well with you ^_^

At OP: I also one handed pressed a 72lb KB first time I tried one. And built up to a One-arm Pull-up in 9 months, starting from just doing 18 Pullups and a weighted Pullup of 45 lbs. I trained only with assisted One arm Pullups (no weighted pullups). By the end, my pullups also went up to 22 in a row (pretty sad isn't it?) but my weighted pullup got to 90 lbs at 135 lbs of BW. That was some really good progress. I haven't improved that well, that fast, in anything since then haha.

On another occasion, I went from 2 to 35 one leg squats in 3 months.

Maybe those (and the thread above) are ok anecdotes for your paper. I think it's possible to build astounding levels of strength with just Bodyweight training so finding examples (and even better, controlled experiments) online should not be too hard ^_^ Good luck!
 
I gtg one arm pushups for 2-3 months and when I came home my 32kg press had gone from 0 reps to my 3rm. same with pistols went form 5 reps bodyweight to 12reps+28kg for a single. so yeah bodyweight can make real improvements to your strength.
 
Mine have been very good. But BW strength should be less about Kettlebell PR's and more about actual conditioning for your muscles and heart.

I dont think I'll ever understand the whole " do bodyweight so you can be better at kettlebells or lift more free weights" fascination. In fact, neither modality really prepares you for "real world" stuff as much as you might hope.

Maybe look at some of the one arm pushup rep increases around here due to GTG.. Thats pretty close to what you want.
 
Hello,

Bodyweight training led me to one arm chin up. I mainly used sets of heavy weigths and low reps to get there. This did not increase that much my strength-endurance though. Now, I maintain it by doing the OAC here and there and do specific training to build strength endurance. Considering pull up, I can now do 30 strict pull ups.

I also got my way to the front lever, mostly using Christophe Carrio's progression (now a French physical coach, but former Karateka champion).

Still considering the core, I built the dragon flag with tons of sit ups and leg raises / hanging leg raises.

I got the pistol mainly using Pavel Tsatsouline's Naked Warrior progression. Then, I built up volume to get a 28kg added pistol, but I do not maintain it anymore.

For the OAOL PU, I started from regular push ups, then I followed a standard progression (feet elevated, inclined OA, OA, OAOL).

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
I posted this elsewhere but it remains relevant so thought I would share.

In June I stopped pushing the long crawls (as I hit 50 minute forwards crawls, it was starting to eat into recovery ability)....and decided to explore more minimalism loading my crawling with bands and focusing on backwards (without going into it, I am flexion intolerant and this suits me better).

After a while of working on this I retested some movements and achieved the following without ever practicing the movements
(old numbers....new numbers):
Wide grip pullups 18 .... 22
Diamond Pushups 32 .... 36
Pistols 1 .... 10
Shrimp squat couldn't .... 10
Kosak squat ....improved depth
One arm push up 0 .... 1 each side Backwards crawl 38 minutes .... 50 minutes.
Elevated rocking 2 minutes .... 6 minutes.

Richard
 
If it is of any interest...

I was BW-only for about 3 years before I introduced kettlebells into my training.

Between the ages of 16 and 19 my strength training was pure Naked Warrior (GTG one arm push ups and pistols).

I recall when I was 18, going to a gym having never trained consistently with barbells, and I tested my 1RM on the back squat and the bench press.

At a bodyweight of ~73kg at the time (if I recall correctly), I squatted 120kg and benched 85kg for one rep each.

I hope this is of some interest or assistance! :)
 
I'd be interested in hearing more about how people's pistol practice carries over to other activities.

I'd like to work on pistols but the goal is to better go out and do stuff rather than the pistol itself.
 
I'd be interested in hearing more about how people's pistol practice carries over to other activities.

I'd like to work on pistols but the goal is to better go out and do stuff rather than the pistol itself.

Four years ago I built up to 50 consecutive pistols per leg. I.e. 50 pistols on my left leg without setting my right foot on the floor, then swapping sides and doing the same a few hours later.

I can honestly say that at the time, my legs could not be fatigued from any activity other than high rep (35+ reps) pistols.

Running up stairs - fresh legs. Sparring (boxing) - fresh legs. Sprints - fresh legs. Glycolytic circuits at the end of boxing sessions designed to make us puke - fresh legs.

This is how to do it:

How to Program Your Way to 50 Consecutive Pistol Squats | StrongFirst

It's boring and not remotely fun to do, but if you want to be able to "go out and do other stuff," you could do a Hell of a lot worse than to build up to being able to do 30+ pistols comfortably, and to be fair, it's a pretty efficient use of time and resources, as the plan by Eric Moss in the link above prescribes one set (per leg) per day.

If you try this please keep us/me posted. As far as I'm aware I'm the only person on the Forum who has used this particular plan.

Thanks,

Harry
 
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@Harry Westgate That sounds great!

That program looks intriguing but I'm not at a point in my pistol proficiency where I could try it. I wonder if it will work as well with other exercises?

Eric says that while this is a pistol specific programme, you could use it to pile reps onto pretty much any drill. He has used it for pull-ups and handstand pushups as well.

I imagine it would suit dips nicely also, and perhaps one arm pushups, though in a high rep set of OAPUs, you are doing more than just pressing, you're also holding a one armed plank the whole time, so maybe it wouldn't be such a great fit... Volunteer to try it anyone..?

My advice for using this programme pretty much echos what Eric says - grease the groove to get strong at your chosen exercise, before starting the wave cycle outlined in the article.

I would just add that to make the process a bit less miserable and potentially more anti-glycolytic, you should probably GTG to the point where you can comfortably perform sets of 8-10 reps without psyching up or getting emotional. When I did it, my rep max was only 5 or 6 reps, and as such, the high rep sets were very tiring when I got to them after a few weeks.
 
Hey guys can I ask a favor?

I'm doing a stat report for an analytics project in my class, and my topic is Strength Increases Utilizing Exclusive Bodyweight Training.

Have you gotten any measurable gains in strength through bodyweight training? If so, what are they (increase in total reps, increase in PRs, etc.)?

A good example of this would be from Aleks' article Get a Heavier Military Press With the One-arm One-leg Push-up | StrongFirst where he went from a 32kg to 36kg Military Press using Dan John's 40 Day Workout.

Thanks so much guys

My snatch (barbell) went up after I starting doing a lot of bodyweight bridges.

Correlation or causation?

I'm not sure.
 
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