Strength Training with Bodyweight Exercises

I spent most of my high school years (well, all of them actually) on the weightlifting team. Working for maximal strength was the order of the day, trying to limit our repetitions to five or less. This provided a wealth of benefits as my static strength also improved tremendously along with my maximal strength. However, I find it hard nowadays to find a constant training partner and so I began doing weight training workouts that I can do on my own. Everything was going fine until I was forbidden to do weightlifting for fear that I'd bulk up and gain weight.

Of course, strength training doesn't bulk you up, I just gained weight naturally due to my misunderstanding of mid-range repetitions which caused my muscles to swell similar to the way that bodybuilders build their muscles. Training for a one-rep max became my focus once again recently, and I like to work out several times a day. So I've collected a few bodyweight exercises for all skill levels that you can use to build maximum strength. Many of these workouts require full-body tension and lots of tensing of the core, so abdominal exercises aren't included. If you're a beginner then check out our post about getting in shape with bodyweight exercises for simpler exercises that will set you on the right path.

The one-armed pushup: King of all pushups. This will impress your friends, make sure to keep your shoulders parallel to the ground, feet just slightly wider than shoulder-width, and bring your chest down until it almost touches the floor. Form is important, if you can't do one legit, do them on an incline with your hand on a box or chair.

Pushups from the hip: I include these because they're much more difficult than regular pushups, and usually can only be done in reps under five (which is the goal here). If they get too easy, put your feet up higher and higher.

Static strength exercises: I'm putting these all together because they all depend on the person's preexisting static strength. For those of us who are weaker, try planches with feet on a chair, gradually putting more weight on the arms. Aim to hold it for about 2 to 3 minutes. More advanced (or lighter) people might try frog stances, knee tucks, full planches, headstands (against a wall these are good for larger people too), and hollows.

Handstand pushups: Do them against a wall if you're not able to do a handstand, they're tough stuff and require full-body tension, so flex those abs!

Pull-ups: If you cant do more than 5 two-handed is fine. As you get stronger progress to uneven pull-ups (by draping a towel over the bar and gripping it with one hand while the other is on the bar), and one-armed pull-ups.

Rafter pull-ups: Super strong manly men need only apply! Pinching a rafter with both hands and pulling yourself up. Requires huge grip strength.

One-legged squats: Kick that front leg in front of you and squat down on one leg. Bet you can't do too many! Heavier athletes might want to consider holding a weight in front of them to help balance, it does help! An easier variation is bending one leg behind you and going down on until your knee hits the ground.

Static strength for legs: Good ol' horse stance is the way to go. With legs wider than shoulder-width bend down low and stick your arms either at your sides or straight out in front of you. When it starts to hurt, go lower!

These workouts will keep the strongest among us satisfied, so have fun making life miserable for yourself!