How To Start Doing Bodyweight Training

You wanna know exactly how it's possible for the human body to be able to do things like Handstands, Human Flags and One Arm Hanging L-Sits like I do in these 4 pictures? The answer is simple! You start out by doing the BASICS!

How to start doing Bodyweight training?

So of course, all of these cool and epic movements/exercises you see people doing on social media is mindblowing and inspirational, and hopefully you think to yourself: "I wanna be able to do that!".

If that's you, then I suggest that you keep on reading this article, where I'll tell you exactly how you can go from being a total beginner, who can't even do a single pull up or push up, to being an advanced Bodyweight practitioner capable of doing incredible things with your own body!

So how do you start doing Bodyweight training, even if you can't perform a single pull up or push up?

My answer will always be "Regression for Progression". This sounds a little contradictory, I know, but let me explain it to you, and you'll understand!

I'm going to give an example to illustrate my point:

Let's say there is this guy who wants to start doing Bodyweight training, but because he is not strong enough, he can't do a single push up. Now, he thinks the best way is to just drop down to the floor and scream, shout and splutter till he gets his first push up. Surely, if he is consisent enough, he will get first push up at some point, by training that way. But what if I told you there is an easier and faster way of doing it? This is where "Regression for Progression" starts to come in. You see, in order for this man to achieve his goal, which is to be able to do push ups, he has to build up some strength in his arms and chest first. Now how does he do that, when all he wants to do is Bodyweight training, but he can't do the push up?! The answer is simple. He has to regress back to an easier variation of the push up exercise. Now what could that be? My answer is: Elevated Push Ups! Elevated Push Ups are push ups performed by doing push ups with your feet placed on the ground and your upper body raised. The two pictures below show what an Elevated Push Up looks like.

Now, on these two pictures I do the Elevated Push Up with two chairs which elevated my upper body with about 50 cm. This makes the push up exercise a whole hell of a lot easier to do! But if you are having trouble performing a real push up on the ground, I highly suggest you do Elevated Push Ups. You can adjust the height of the platform (platform=two chairs for example) where your hands are placed to make the exercise easier (by making the platform higher) or harder (by making the platform lower). Of course, the way you progress from Elevated Push Ups to Regular Push Ups on the ground is by constantly lowering the platform, until you find yourself down on the ground doing regular push ups! And when that happens I want you to pat yourself on the back and say "GOOD JOB MAN!", because when you achieve your first real push up on the ground you really HAVE done a GOOD JOB!

Now to get back to the little quote "Regression for Progression", I want to say that this principle that counts for the push up, also counts for every other exercise! If you want to do a certain exercise, but you can't do it because you aren't strong enough for example, then use this method where you make the exercise you are trying to learn easier, and then from there you work hard, have fun and then I promise you that you will see progress soon!

Now, this was only to give you an example of how you can progress by using regression. It's not always a bad idea to step back and do something different and easier than you are used to, in order to achieve something which is harder.

MASTER THE BASICS BEFORE YOU PROGRESS!

So to end of this article I just really quick want to talk about why it is so important to master the basic exercises, before progressing on to more advanced stuff.

Now, first of all, the basic exercises consist of Squats, Crunches, Tricep Dips, Push Ups and Pull Ups. If you ask me (and a whole lot of other people!) you should learn and master these 5 exercises before you progress. And when I say "master" these exercises, I mean that you have to be able to do at least 10 (some of them 20 and even more) proper and clean repetitions of them all. Proper Form means doing an exercise like for example the pull up without kipping, no swinging, but using Full Range Of Motion.

When you are able to perform a good amount of repetitions of all 5 exercises, you have mastered the basics and you are ready to move on to further progressions.

If you do not pay attention to the things above, your risk of getting injured are much more likely than if you do pay attention to it.

Remember this: all of the hardcore exercises like Human Flag, Muscle Ups, Handstand Push Ups, Pistol Squats, Front Lever and so forth all have one thing in common, which is that they are all a more advanced form of the basic exercises. The One Legged Squat is an advanced edition of the normal Squat, the Muscle Up is an advanced edition of a Pull Up and Push Up and so forth. And that's why I can't emphasize enough how important it is to first master the Basics, but also to maintain them by constantly by making them a part of your workouts. DON'T NEGLECT THEM! I have made that mistake myself, and now I pass on my knowledge and experience to you. SO REMEMBER THE BASICS GUYS! :)