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Bodyweight What would a bodyweight Program Minimum look like?

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Got to Free Kettlebell Workouts & Calisthenics Routines by Aleks Salkin, SFG and either hit him an e-mail (up left) or sign up for the "free report" - there should be a somewhat spammy popup which doesn't look very SF'ish, but that's just the cover. Aleks has a knack for mainstream fitness titles ("The most overlooked exercises for hard-rock abs") but he is legit :D

Thanks for the heads up. Yeah, he should work on his website. The design and style don't match the quality of the ideas.
 
I will be staying with family soon and won't have access to KBs. As per the title, what would a bodyweight Program Minimum look like? I know (and own) Naked Warrior but I see that book's goals as strength. Let's say the goals are the same as the original Program Minimum and S & S: strength and conditioning.

Ideally with a daily training element. Would, say, rotating between 10-15 mins a day of press-ups, pull-ups (or supine rows) and air squats do the trick?

Standing long jump if you have some space. Shrimp squats if pistols are to difficult. Walking lunges. Complexes like a roll, getup, and pullup.

Just, going from lying down to getting up is exhausting. It is a football conditioning drill I believe.

There are some ju-jitsu exercises going from lying to kneeling to standing position I think.
 
Hey folks some absolutely fantastic replies here, plenty of ideas. In the meantime I have been doing some thinking.

I have come up with this idea.

Time per day: 10 mins

Exercises (the more 'griding' ones may be altered at some point depending on difficulty )

1. Burpees
2. Pistols
3. Pull-ups (or in my case negatives, can't do a pullup :-/ )
4. Inverted row
5. Push ups
6. OAPU (if you can do, in my case pushups with feet raised or pike pushups)

Frequency: every day following an easy, medium, all-out template on these consecutive days.

Exercise choice - throw a die(ce). I know that it means that you could be hitting the same moves on consecutive days but hopefully the element of randomness with the die(ce) would mean that it wouldn't happen regularly.

Obviously I wouldn't end up a world champion in anything or have the physique of a god doing this but I think it'd serve OK as a minimalist routine.

Oh, and stretches to follow (depending on which muscles have been hit).

What do you folks reckon?
 
@Tellya I like the use of a die roll to add a random element to the workouts (for want of a better word), but I would use the die to determine something other than the exercise choice just to ensure that no movement group has a chance of being neglected.

Also, I'd worry about pacing yourself on the various grinds on the 'all-out' days. 10 minutes of pistols, pull-ups etc. is going to be demanding even if you're taking a minute or so rest between sets, which is a long time if you're only alloted 10 minutes.

That being said, you might as well give it a try and see how it works for you. I'd be interested to see how you get on if you do decide to run with it.
 
Thanks, Chris. What I could do, then is pare the movements back to:

Push - push up (and harder variations substituted when needed)

Conditioning move - burpees

Pull - inverted row

Squat - pistols

I could work through each sequentially using the easy - medium - hard template so 2 weeks' training would look like this:

Monday - pushups EASY

Tuesday - burpees MEDIUM

Wednesday - inverted row HARD

Thursday - squat EASY

Friday - pushup - MEDIUM

Saturday - burpees HARD

Sunday - inverted row - EASY


Monday - squat MEDIUM

Tuesday - pushup - HARD

Wednesday - burpees - EASY

Thursday inverted row - MEDIUM

Friday - squat - HARD

Saturday - pushup EASY

Sunday - burpees - Medium

This way there will be steady progression in the chosen movements and each one will be done hard once every 2.5 weeks or so.

This would be better wouldn't it, it obviates the problem of neglecting movements.

Also I might throw bodyweight squats back in (possibly instead of burpees). I know they are not great for strength but they have a bit of a conditioning effect and I think that working these large muscles for reps will be useful for fat burning (diet is dialled-in already). In addition when I did sets of 100 when I did muay Thai I had big thighs and I am a bit vain like that. :-/ And they are a hinge if done in a StrongFirst way.

There is also the realism element. After a very hard day at work, 10 minutes of hard burpees: am I really going to be motivated to do them? I'd like to say 'yes', but...It is Dan John (I think) who says that the 'Best training programme is the one that you will do'. So they might not be as good for conditioning but are better for it than burpees that are not done.
 
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Just totally out there, but @Jak Nieuwenhuis has also posted the OS 10min of Roll to Pushup to Squat and back down. I imagine that doing this continuously would also have some sort of conditioning effect.

My apologies, but I missed this post. Could anyone point me in its direction again? Sounds like a good combo/warm up.
 
Well, since we are talking about MINIMUN, I would offer pushups (or dips), pullups and walking lunges. I like something like:

4 pullups, followed by 15 pushups every minute on the minute for 20 minutes
100 yards of walking lunges

Insert your own numbers. 30 minutes, plenty of work.
 
OR...

Dips to failure, pullups to failure, single leg squats to failure
4 rounds, no rest between sets

15ish minutes

OR

Stand up paddleboard surfing
 
OR...

Dips to failure, pullups to failure, single leg squats to failure
4 rounds, no rest between sets

15ish minutes

OR

Stand up paddleboard surfing

Hey man I really like this one I've been wondering how to program a routine of only dips, chins, and pistols.

Doing this 2-3 times / week I'm assuming?
 
I would not train to failure 3 x per week. Once per week at most. The other two days you could do sets across (i.e., 5 X 5), ladders, super slow reps, pause reps. There are endless variations with just those three exercises.
 
How about alternating days of 15-25 one-armed pushups 3x/week and walk on other days? 1A PU following a light-medium-heavy template.

-S-
 
Dips to failure, pullups to failure, single leg squats to failure

To supplement some current sprint training in a moderate strength session this is what I'm doing, although not to failure.
Ring dips, pull ups and single leg airborne/shrimp squats....5 sets of 2.
A push, pull, squat is very adaptable and gradable. Muscle up, handstand push up, pistols for instance,
I bounce between this and strength aerobics for 20 minutes, press and lunge or squat. I'm not looking to progress, more as a strength spice, but I may chuck in some extra reps or time depending. ...very flexible for different purposes.
 
Standing long jump if you have some space. Shrimp squats if pistols are to difficult. Walking lunges. Complexes like a roll, getup, and pullup.

Just, going from lying down to getting up is exhausting. It is a football conditioning drill I believe.

There are some ju-jitsu exercises going from lying to kneeling to standing position I think.

Look up technical stand ups, that's what my coach calls them anyway.

Excellent choice as much of the movement is reminiscent of the Turkish getup
 
How about alternating days of 15-25 one-armed pushups 3x/week and walk on other days? 1A PU following a light-medium-heavy template.

-S-

Steve this is awesome,

would someone work up to these numbers over time, using the same template, or start at 15 - 20 - 25 reps throughout the day / in one session?
 
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