The Fallacy of bodyweight exercises

[SevenStar]

I haven't had a chance to read this yet, but I saw it somewhere and figured it would start a good discussion

http://www.girevikmagazine.com/Girevik/Five/bodyweight.htm

[Ford Prefect]

Not a terribly bad article. The author makes some valid points, but it seemed more of an attack on people who do BWE's than an informative peice. I got a kick out of a kettlebell junky calling somebody else "cult-like". :)

He misses the point on muscular endurance. I think BWE's are far more convenient in developing this in that they are lot less expensive than kettlebells and I feel they are safer than hoisting a weight overhead in a fatigued state. There is also a lot more factors that go into prolonged muscle exertion than your VO2 Max. The interplay of fiber types and VO2 Max comes immediately to mind and is far more complex than he would have you believe.

I think he said it best when when he closed with: "My ultimate point is that one should not dogmatically stick to one type of training and discard the rest as useless. "

[guohuen]

I agreed with the last paragraph also. The rest of it he should have kept to himself. Does anyone else find the either or mentality as tiresome as I do?:p

[wall]

"Not a terribly bad article. The author makes some valid points, but it seemed more of an attack on people who do BWE's than an informative peice. I got a kick out of a kettlebell junky calling somebody else "cult-like"."

I agree completely with the above statement.
Furthermore, BWEs have their place: after all, gymnasts do almost solely BWEs (they do only 1 weights sessions a week), and you could be in worse shape then them :)

If you can build up to doing 15 full range handstand pushups, 20 hanging 180degree leg lifts, 30 full range dips, 30 chinups and 100 bodyweight squats, you'll be pretty strong ..... and they are all BWEs.

C

[IronFist]

I haven't read the article yet, just making a comment:

If you can build up to doing 15 full range handstand pushups, 20 hanging 180degree leg lifts, 30 full range dips, 30 chinups and 100 bodyweight squats, you'll be pretty strong ..... and they are all BWEs.

15 full range handstand pushups is pretty good, if they are actually full range.

20 hanging 180 degree leg lifts, you mean like lifting your legs up so your toes point upward by your face? I've never tried that but it doesn't sound that hard.

30 full range dips (in one set), not too hard, although full range dips are bad for you and you shouldn't go deeper than a 90 degree bend.

30 chinups in one set is awesome, IF THEY ARE FULL RANGE and you go all the way down (straight arm) between each rep. (Sorry, had to vent, cuz almost everyone I see who does chinups doesn't go down all the way)

100 bodyweight squats (you mean Hindu squats, and not squats with your bodyweight on a barbell, right?) I don't think is that impressive. I would struggle to bust out that many right now, but that's beside the point. 100 bodyweight squats would just mean good endurance, I don't know about strength.

IronFist

[Kempo Guy]

As Ironfist alludes, most of the goals are not too difficult, if you've been working out a while (although I'd be struggling with the chinups). FWIW, my goal is to do 30+ pull-ups (one set from a dead hang by August).

Another killer exercise is headstand leg raises. Go up in a headstand and lower your legs until you're close to the floor with your toes and raise them back up.


Ford Perfect,
Remember that the magazine is called "Girevik Magazine" (a girevik being a Kettlebell lifter), of course they're gonna be biased! :D

KG

[rubthebuddha]

agree with iron on everything but the 180-degree leg lifts. they're easy if you just jerk the legs up. but they be a pain in the ass if you do them smoothly with good form, à la a gymnast. the first 90° are cake, the next 45° are fun, but the last few degrees are a biotch. i found that only doing the last 90° -- from waist on up -- is the hardest, because you can't take advantage of the momentum you gain by swinging the legs up from a dead hang.

[rubthebuddha]

the article itself didn't assert all that much, and, although the author made some decent points, he didn't really build up to his conclusion. in addition, he dismissed certain arguments out of hand with one example, thinking his example was complete proof against said argument. the author obviously never took debate in school. :)

regardless, at least he made the point a couple times that no form of exercise is king, although it would be nice if that was his driving point.