3 Ways In Which You Can Optimize The Use Of Bodyweight Exercise

Bodyweight exercise is the best place to begin when starting a
physical fitness training program, should be added to programs that
otherwise neglect bodyweight exercise and should be diversified with
resistance training for programs that use bodyweight exercise
exclusively.

Some people love bodyweight exercise and some people hate it...
similarly, some people think bodyweight exercise is valuable to a
physical fitness training program, and others don't.

I believe that bodyweight exercise is not only the best method to
start a physical fitness training program... but I believe that it
should remain an active part of any well balance physical training
program.

Let's look at bodyweight exercise from three different perspectives...
from the beginner just getting started, from the experienced weight
lifter that neglects bodyweight exercise and from the bodyweight
exercise only crowd.

1. Bodyweight Exercise For Beginners

Most commercial gyms will prescribe an exercise regimen of strength
training, usually in the form of machines, and cardiorespiratory
endurance training, normally in the form of stationary "cardio"
equipment.

This is a generalization of course... but these two types of training
are the predominant forms of physical training in most gyms,
regardless of how they are put together.

Notice... bodyweight exercise is missing.

Answer me this... should a beginner with no prior experience with
physical training start by jumping right into resistance training with
free weights or machines, or would they be better served by learning
more about the movement of their bodies by using bodyweight exercise?

Physical training allows you to improve the body by supplying
increased stimulus that is not normally found in your daily lifestyle.

For the beginner, bodyweight exercise is the logical place to start...
because most beginners are actually going from a state of complete
inactivity to a state of activity.

The beginner has not even scraped the surface of what their body can
perform without resistance... and should therefore strive to make
improvements using bodyweight exercise first.

Once the beginner has made sufficient gains and reached an improved
state with bodyweight exercise... then they can add resistance.

2. Bodyweight Exercise For The Experienced Weight Lifter

Many people with a great deal of experience and expertise in physical
training completely neglect bodyweight exercise... or believe it to be
ineffective.

They notoriously use all types of resistance training methods... while
neglecting bodyweight exercise all together.

I propose that the goal of any physical fitness training program is to
improve performance that can be used to meet the challenges of sport,
work and life with excellence.

Many of those challenges will be met by the effective control and
movement of your own body... and not the movement of other objects
through space.

And what is the best way to train the improvement of body movement and
control of your own body... that's right, bodyweight exercise.

Here is an example...

Many people that have trouble doing a push up will focus on the bench
press with hopes of improving their push up numbers... with limited
results.

If you want to be able to do more push ups... do more push ups!

The point is this, the improvements you will see from physical
training are specific... so if you want to see improvements in a
bodyweight movement, use bodyweight exercise to do so.

3. Bodyweight Exercise For The Bodyweight Only Crowd

As you can already tell, I am a strong advocate of bodyweight
exercise... but not exclusively.

There are various physical fitness training programs that use
bodyweight exercise almost exclusively... like Yoga or Pilates.

While I have no problem with these forms of training... I believe they
can take you only so far on the road to physical fitness excellence.

We must remember... Yoga exercises are performed in conjunction with
meditation and Pilates was originally developed as a form of
rehabilitation for war veterans.

The point is this... bodyweight exercise only programs will only take
you so far, and then some form of resistance training must be applied
to see further improvement.

In Conclusion...

Bodyweight exercise is an important part of any well balanced physical
fitness training program.

If you are just getting started... bodyweight exercise is the perfect
place to start.

If you have notoriously neglected bodyweight exercise in your
training... add it to improve the physical abilities you have been
neglecting.

If you only use bodyweight exercise... diversify your fitness training
program by adding some form of resistance training.

In this way, each group can optimize the use of bodyweight exercise.

Do not underestimate the importance of bodyweight exercise... Use it
effectively and in the right proportion to meet your goals, needs,
abilities and limitations and meet the challenges of sport, work and
life with excellence.

_By: *Eddie Lomax*_

*About the Author:* Eddie Lomax is a strength, conditioning and
fitness coach and founder of Optimum Physical Training. [1] We
recommend his book Unchained Bodyweight Workout.

Links:
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[1] http://www.optimum-physical-training.com/submitted