Summary
Bodyweight workouts can build muscle. The key is to stimulate the muscles for hypertrophy by using 3 principles: 1. Progressive Overload; 2. Increasing Rep Volume (going close to failure); 3. Time under Tension. These 3 components will ensure you are building muscle using bodyweight workouts.
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Introduction
There are many types of workouts available out there. Just google “Workout”, and you will come up with hundreds of millions of articles in 1 second. This can lead someone into “analysis paralysis”, thinking they need a gym membership or some type of expensive workout plan to achieve their goals. Simple body weight movements are effective to get healthier and build muscle.
What are bodyweight exercises?
Simply put, bodyweight exercises are any movement of your own body against a force/object. Typically this is gravity. Simple exercises are effective, and do not require additional equipment or weights. People start with bodyweight exercises because they lack the ability to purchase gym equipment or memberships. If you want to master your own body weight, then read on!
Are Bodyweight exercises the same as Calisthenics?
Yes, Bodyweight = Calisthenics. Fun fact: The word calisthenics comes from the greek kallos (beauty) and sthenos (strength).
How do bodyweight exercises differ from other training methods?
Body weight exercises differ from other forms of training (weights, cardio, stretching), in that they utilize the current size of your body to perform a movement against gravity. This is a great stimulus to those that are new to working out, and those that want to become healthier overall.
Can bodyweight exercises build muscle?
Yes! As with any other type of workout, you will build muscle if you follow the following principles:
- Utilize Progressive overload
- Maintain Caloric Surplus
- Optimal Rest schedule
That’s it folks! Sound too easy? Yeah it usually does. However the 3 topics are much more difficult to consistently perform than expected.
Why most fail to build muscle with bodyweight exercises
Life. Life pulls us in many different directions and it can be easy to simply say “I’ll workout tomorrow”, or “I’ll eat healthy tomorrow”, or “I’ll catch up on sleep on the weekend”. These blocks to changing your fitness level are mental, not physical.
Progressive Overload
Progressive overload describes challenging the muscles in new ways. To increase this with free weights you add additional weight to the bar. With bodyweight exercises, the key is to perform harder variations of exercises over time. Example, Incline Pushup to Regular Pushup to Military Pushup, to Decline Pushup to One Arm Pushup.
Increasing Rep Volume
After one has mastered the movement pattern and can consistently perform 8-12 repetitions of a given exercise, it is time to either perform a harder variation of the exercise or increase the number of repetitions. Increasing the number of repetitions will increase lactic acidosis in the targeted muscles, and will create fatigue in the muscle given the stimulus is sufficient. To build muscle, increase repetitions up to 30 reps per given exercise.
Time under Tension
Time under tension is key when performing any exercise with any given modality (weights, bodyweight, bands, etc). When a muscle is in the stretched (eccentric) position is where muscle growth occurs. The concentric portion of the exercise is where the muscle shortens and becomes it’s strongest at the top portion of the motion (biceps curl at the top), and this portion of the motion is great for building strength in the given muscle. Performing slow eccentric (3 seconds) motions and pausing for 1-2 seconds at the bottom of the exercise will yield the greatest muscle growth from the given exercise. Slow concentric (3 seconds) motions to peak muscle contraction will improve mind-muscle connection. Increasing the speed will increase explosive power. This is how strength athletes are able to lift large amounts of weight in an explosive but controlled manner.
Can I get jacked with bodyweight exercise?
The answer is yes…and no. Yes, bodyweight exercises are great for all the reasons listed above. However at a certain point, your body will become an expert at the motions and will conserve energy by not fatiguing the muscle as much as when you first started. This is where altering the type of exercise performed, and adding additional weight can help you break through strength, and potentially size plateaus. The reason bodybuilders are so jacked (aside from PEDs) is that they train for maximizing the size of a given muscle via isolation work. Check out this post https://thatsciencecouple.com/soy-for-men/ to see a plant based bodybuilder! Bodyweight exercises cannot do this because the exercises are compound, multi-joint and multi-muscle movements. You will build muscle using bodyweight exercises, but temper the expectations. To date, no person has become a competitive bodybuilder using only bodyweight exercises.
However bodyweight athletes may not be the biggest athletes (strength athletes are much larger and stronger than many bodybuilders), however that does not mean they are not strong. Calisthenics athletes are some of the strongest athletes per pound of bodyweight, as these athletes develop impressive levels of total body control, that is often not possible when one is training to be a bodybuilder or strength athlete. Bodybuilders develop incredibly impressive physiques, and strength athletes develop incredible amounts of raw strength. Calisthenics athletes can perform impressive movements such as the human flag, muscle up, L-Hang Pull Up, and many others, that require total body muscular control, and a high amount of strength. Different end goals require slightly different paths to achieve the goal. Check out the following bodyweight routine to increase your muscle strength: https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/body-god-complete-bodyweight-muscle-building-plan
Final Thoughts
Bodyweight exercises can be a great way to build functional muscles for the entire body. The three things required for building muscle are progressive overload, increasing rep volume (going close to failure), and time under tension. These three things can be accomplished using almost any training modality, such as free weights, bodyweight, and even resistance bands. While each of these modalities differs in how to approach achieving these 3 things, one is not “better” than any other. How one uses the tool, or combination of tools, is what determines results.
Bodyweight exercises are a great way to build functional body control, and over time build lean muscle. Temper the expectations of what is achievable (No Ronnie Coleman calisthenics athletes), and use your body to achieve things you didn’t know were possible.
