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Bodyweight Can I get by on press-ups and bodyweight squats?

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Ricey1

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I realise that unfortunately, at the age of 42, I am not going to be a soccer player or other pro-athlete(!) and I am just looking to get strong and go for GPP (okay and a little bit of vanity - but I do NOT want to be bigger but weak, you might as well wear a muscle suit under your clothes. It's a fraud).

I will add pull-ups when I can afford a freestanding pullup bar. I am aware that I am not going to be leg-strong from bodyweight squats (I will add pistols when strength and hip mobility(?) are up to it) Maybe jump squats, having read in Q & D about how training power also trains strength without the converse being necessarily true.

I aim to do each move to an easy stop for an hour a day (I have a lot of time ATM).

When I get stronger, raised-leg push-ups and one-arm ones will be used.

For an unambitious trainee like me can I get strong like this?

IN this apartment, I dare not use KBs or other weights. In my RoP days I had the bell come flying out my hand on one or 2 occasions, that happens here, it's going through the floorboards!

If you have read this far, thanks for doing so.

Ricey
 
Hi! I think for a balanced program you're gonna need a little more variety than that, you could add some rows and different hand positions for the pressups and pullups, if you tense your whole body during upper body exercises, your legs are going to get slightly bigger and firmer, altrough it's good to have specific leg training, you could also do some running or rope skipping to add the endurance component.

how do you structure your training sessions? just curious.
 
Hello,

@Ricey1
Welcome to SF !

You can use this template (rep / set)
www.strongfirst.com

Strength Aerobics: A Powerful Alternative to HIIT | StrongFirst

Hard-living types love killing themselves in the glycolytic pathway. But this is far from the only way to achieve good conditioning.
www.strongfirst.com

Regarding the moves, you can pick up the push up and squat variation that suit this rep / set frame, from The Naked Warrior. When you will have a pull up bar, then add pull up to the mix. This protocol will also give you some easy-to-recover cardio.

Another interesting protocol could be Convict Conditioning

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
pet' said:
Hello,

@Ricey1
Welcome to SF !

You can use this template (rep / set)
www.strongfirst.com

Strength Aerobics: A Powerful Alternative to HIIT | StrongFirst

Hard-living types love killing themselves in the glycolytic pathway. But this is far from the only way to achieve good conditioning.
www.strongfirst.com

Regarding the moves, you can pick up the push up and squat variation that suit this rep / set frame, from The Naked Warrior. When you will have a pull up bar, then add pull up to the mix. This protocol will also give you some easy-to-recover cardio.

Another interesting protocol could be Convict Conditioning

Kind regards,

Pet'
Click to expand...
That's a good template, i noticed you superset your HSPU with pistol squats, hows that working for you?
 
Hello,

@Erik Hournou
For me it works well because I can get a good volume in a minimum amount of time. I tend to reduce the rest to the bare minimum (basically I rest when I go from an exercise to the other) to make the HR higher. This is more GPP orientied then.

It may not be optimal for max strength gain though. A classic 3-5 x 3-5 would be better for this purpose. However, this is also harder to recover from.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Can you get by on this program? Well, sort of. If all you're doing are regular pushups and bw squats, you will only get "so far" unless you do a LOT of them, at which point I'd say it's better to modify the drills to get a better stimulus out of them.

However: If you start doing other variations of those two exercises, you are only missing a pull, basically. Like you said, you can do different push up variations, so why not do the same with BW squats? There are pistol progressions, shrimp squats, squat jumps, plyometric lunges... the internet is full of info on these.

To get by without a dedicated pulling drill, consider contracting your lats during your pushups. If you do pike pushups and do this, you will be more closely mimicking the motion of a pull up. Something to consider.
 
do L-sits for the lats
row your kettlebells
see what kind of front lever variation you can practice on your chairs, even if it's just static holds
 
Strong is a relative term. Can you get stronger than the average untrained couch potato? Absolutely. And maybe that's all you need/want. Can you get StrongFirst strong? Probably not.

I really like Convict Conditioning in terms of a "well rounded" set of movements, even if not all the programming/progressions are great. Even if you have no equipment available (or no desire to use any), there's a lot you can get out of lying leg raises, bridges, bodyweight rows and handstand holds against a wall. Did a lot for me when I was first trying to get back in shape a few years ago.
 
Thanks for all your replies

Erik Hornou - I have an interval timer sounding every 2 minutes and do reps when it sounds to a comfy stop. If I don't use a timer I get too lazy.

Pet' - thanks I will have a look at the article. I must admit I have been possibly unfairly biased against Convict Conditioning because of the hullabuloo at the other place when it came out, it put me off it!

Thanks to Bluejeff and Hulk for your suggestions too, I shall look into your suggestions.
 
Ricey1 said:
Thanks for all your replies

Erik Hornou - I have an interval timer sounding every 2 minutes and do reps when it sounds to a comfy stop. If I don't use a timer I get too lazy.

Pet' - thanks I will have a look at the article. I must admit I have been possibly unfairly biased against Convict Conditioning because of the hullabuloo at the other place when it came out, it put me off it!

Thanks to Bluejeff and Hulk for your suggestions too, I shall look into your suggestions.
Click to expand...
Pretty much echoing what the others have already said...
NW (along with some pull-ups) and some running will build a reasonable level of strength and GPP (depending on your definitions...)(and goals)
 
How's about if I got a KB and used it for 2 handed swings, alternating them with press-ups and pull-ups? As per:

Mon: press-ups
Tues - swings
Wednesday - pull-ups
Thurs - swings

And so on?

Instead of being ideologically wedded to an 'all bodyweight' or 'all kettlebell' template*, doing what's enjoyable and most practical?

When times becomes more pressing (which it will - very much so over the next few months) I will hopefully have built-up enough strength and conditioning and will try to maintain what I can of it with 10 mins of each, alternating as above. Obvs I will lose but I think 10 mins a day is better than 0 mins a day, which seems to be the philosophy of the PM (ETK version).

*I am only half-joking here. I have quite bad OCD and it makes me compartmentalise life in general into distinct categories and I am wondering whether I have been doing that with my training plans and needing to commit to either bodyweight or KBs. Sheesh!

Thanks to offwidth for your suggestion, I will be checking-out CC, putting aside my antipathy from before for it.
 
As a side note I had a nose through The Purposeful Primitive last night to see if it said anything about bodyweight. Marty writes that when weight-trained athletes entered the UFC they wiped the floor with the calisthenics only people. But I would have said that was more because the later competitors trained multiple martial arts whereas the originals tended to stick to the one they were experts in.
 
Ricey1 said:
As a side note I had a nose through The Purposeful Primitive last night to see if it said anything about bodyweight. Marty writes that when weight-trained athletes entered the UFC they wiped the floor with the calisthenics only people. But I would have said that was more because the later competitors trained multiple martial arts whereas the originals tended to stick to the one they were experts in.
Click to expand...
Reply to side note :) :
I love calisthenics, but I think there is definitely something to be said for lifting and moving heavy objects. I wonder if that played a role in your example?
 
You can have a look at Get Strong too, here's a link on the FB group to get the e-book for free. It's a basic bodyweight program, somewhat in the lines of CC, less steps, easy to follow. You need a bar to do some hanging and pulling but you could do the program without the hangs/pulls until you get your freestanding bar.

This might also work until you get a bar. SF has this step on their bodyweight course.



Ricey1 said:
How's about if I got a KB and used it for 2 handed swings, alternating them with press-ups and pull-ups? As per:

Mon: press-ups
Tues - swings
Wednesday - pull-ups
Thurs - swings

And so on?
Click to expand...
I've been doing something in the lines of what you are suggesting for the past months and it worked fine for me. No huge strength gains but still satisfying. Add goblet squats in there and you are good for GPP. I did ladders for my press-ups to get a good amount of reps with little fatigue.
 
Hello,

bluejeff said:
I love calisthenics, but I think there is definitely something to be said for lifting and moving heavy objects
Click to expand...
I totally agree with this statement.

Currently, most of my routine consists in calisthenics. Nonetheless, I still perform some weight training (mostly kb swings, rucking, some sort of carries, etc...). That way my body always "remembers" the feeling of lifting something and moving around with it. Then, if for some reason I have to lift, my body is not "surprised" and feels less pain.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Ricey1 said:
I realise that unfortunately, at the age of 42, I am not going to be a soccer player or other pro-athlete(!) and I am just looking to get strong and go for GPP (okay and a little bit of vanity - but I do NOT want to be bigger but weak, you might as well wear a muscle suit under your clothes. It's a fraud).
Click to expand...
Calisthenics are more than enough to keep you healthy and strong into old age. I've never met an unfit guy who can do 20 strict chin ups or allot strict and smooth pushups.

All exercise modalities work, it's about the one you enjoy and will be consistent with.
 
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