If you’re really serious about building muscle mass with bodyweight training, check out “The Muscle Experiment.” This program is the only program devoted to increasing lean muscle mass using 100% bodyweight exercises. Click here to learn more about “The Muscle Experiment” and to decide whether or not it’s for you.

You wake up in the morning. The alarm buzzes at an annoying pitch. Groggy eyed, you somehow find the alarm and shut it off. Then you crawl back to sleep.

The alarm rings again, and this time you know its for real. You stand up with your eyes still half closed and somehow manage to bang the alarm to shut it off again.

You drag yourself out into the bathroom, wash your face, and look into the mirror. You look at your face and notice a layer of fat around your neck. Your face is wider than before.

You used to be so thin before. So fit. What happened?

As you walk out of the bathroom and into the kitchen to grab yourself a cup of caffeine, you wonder how the day will go today. Will there be an accident along the way or construction causing your hour long commute to transform into a 2 hours of laughing at the guy on the radio?

Will your boss pile on even more work on you, even though you’re 3 days behind schedule? Will you come home, tired and cranky, only to have your spouse glare at your for something you did ordidn’t do?

Of course, I’m describing a life that has not yet materialized for me. I’m 23, and I surely hope this is not the life I’ve signed up for. However, for millions of people out there, this is exactly what life is.

It’s all about work work work. You may love what you do, after all, if you didn’t, why would you do it? But, there comes a time in everyone’s life where they are forced to work harder than usual, and things just start to slip away around them.

One of them is fitness. You are once at the prime of your health. And now your weaker, chubbier, slower, and get tired easily. You used to spend at least 10 hours a week at the gym.

Now, you’d be lucky if you can spend 10 hours in a single year. The real reason why people are overweight is not because there is a lack of fitness resources or because people just don’t care.

It’s because people don’t have time.

People don’t have time to drive to a gym.

People don’t have time to perform an hour-long workout.

People don’t have time to worry about their waistlines when they have bills to pay and a family to support.

That’s the reality of the situation, and I’ve realized this earlier on. Luckily, I’ve already made exercise a habit. I know that short, intense, bodyweight workouts work, but do you?

It’s time to transform yourself back into the warrior you once were. It’s time to take your health back into your hands and regain your youth. It’s time to lose the fat, build lean muscle mass, and feel better about yourself.

Imagine waking up naturally in the morning, before the alarm rings. Imagine having the energy to actually enjoy your commute and work once again. And imagine the increased energy you’ll have to spend some extra “special” time with your spouse.

Imagine being that one guy or girl who gets what he/she want’s in the office. You know, there’s always one at the office. That one person who has so much confidence, that they actually have the courage to ask for that raise and for that vacation they so desperately deserve.

You know exercise can do this. We don’t need another study proving the benefits of exercise.

But you just need the right program. My suggestion? Try one of Craig Ballantyne’s short, intense bodyweight workouts. You can do them right as soon as you wake up in your bedroom, backyard, basement, or garage.

Once you ease into it, you’ll make it a habit. Then you’ll see all the benefits for yourself -

- Less Fat
- More Muscle
- More Energy
- More Confidence

Overall, you’ll be so much happier. So, try this guy, Craig Ballantyne’s workouts…in fact, try them all. It’s cheaper if you grab them all at once. He’s giving them away for a discounted price in his Deluxe Package.

He gives you more information on his website, TurbulenceTraining.com. (Click Here)

P.S. I know this probably won’t mean much to you. But, just to say Thank You for grabbing Craig’s workouts from my website, I’m going to send you a special bodyweight only program using some of my favorite bodyweight movements.

But you’ll only get my thank you bonus if you grab the Deluxe Bodyweight Workouts Today. ==>> Click here to Grab Craig Ballantyne’s Deluxe Bodyweight Workouts.

P.S.S. You won’t be disappointed! Watch, after a few months, you’ll feel and act like a warrior again. Ha ha, I just love using that term, warrior. But you know what I mean.

If you don’t have weights at home, then you can easily take any dumbbell exercise and replace them with bodyweight exercise substitutions. Craig Ballatyne, creator of Turbulence Training, recently posted some great substitutions you can do for certain certain exercises that you may  not have equipment for.

I’ve taken that idea and expanded it to include only bodyweight movements. Here’s my modified list:

Dumbbell Squats

• Split Squats
• Lunges
• Step-ups
• Reaching Lunges
• 1-Leg Deadlifts
• 1-Leg Hip Extensions

Dumbbell Press

• Chair or Parallel bar dips with body slightly forward
• Feet elevated on bench pushups
• Feet elevated on stability ball pushup
• Close Grip feet elevated pushups
• Pushups
• Close-Grip Pushups
• Incline Pushups
• Elevated Pushups
• Pushups on Knees
• Off-Set Pushups
• Pushups with your Hands on Ball
• Pushups with Hands on Ball and Feet on Bench
• Pushups with Hands on Bench and Feet on Ball
• Spiderma Pushups
• Pike Pushups

Dumbbell Lunges/Split Squats

• 1-leg Lying Hip Extension
• Bulgarian Split Squats
• Split Squats
• 1-Leg Deadlifts
• 1-leg Squats onto Bench
• 1-Leg Squats standing on the bench
• Deep Step ups
• Reaching Lunges
• Bodyweight Squats
• Squat Jumps
• Lunge Jumps
• Lunges

Dumbbell Rows

• Inverted Rows
• Underhand Inverted Rows
• Inverted Rows with Feet on Ball or Bench
• Pullups
• Chinups
• Sternum Chinups
• Side to Side Pullups
• Gorilla Chins
• Negatives

As you can see, it is possible to perform bodyweight-only workouts. You just need to be a bit creative. Craig Ballantyne has a whole bunch of great bodyweight workouts which he sells for around $9.95 per workout.

But, if you were to purchase them seperately, say one workout per month, it would end up costing you $153.95. Craig is giving away all of his bodyweight workouts for a low price of $57.

That’s a discount of 37%! That’s insane! I suggest you grab all his workouts as soon as possible before he decides to charge the regular price. Click here to grab all of Craig Ballantyn’s Bodyweight Workouts.

Is it possible to build lean muscle mass without lifting weights? Yes! All it takes is the right exercises, the right program, and a lot of patience. I will introduce you to the right program in just a moment, but first, lets take a look at some of the best movements you can do for mass gain:

#1 – Standard Pushups

Yea yea yea. I know. You’re thinking “but I can do lots of pushups. I’m not big.” Well, there are lots of people out there who can’t do a basic pushups. The basic pushup is really the greatest exercise to pack on muscle mass on your front delts, triceps, and chest.

Oh, and don’t forget what a great abdominal movement pushups are!

There are hundreds of variations of this movement. And simple changes in the positions of your hands and speed of your movement will help you get a greater muscle building benefit out of this basic movement.

However, do not move onto any other variation until you can pump out 15 solid pushups.

#2 – Close-Grip Chinups

Chinups and pullups are a great muscle builder for the back, lats, biceps, forearms, abs, and…yes…chest! However, the close-grip variation does a greater job of targeting your biceps.

This movement is performed just like a chinup, where you grab the pullup bar with a “palms facing you” grip. However, take a grip where you hands are closer together.

The closer you move your hands, the more difficult the movement will become.

#3 -Tricep Blasters

This is a brand new movement I’ve been incorporating into my movements. It’s tough, so I’ll show you an easier variation of it. Place your feet on a bench, bed or an elevated object behind you.

Place your forearms on the floor, and prop up your body. You’ll be in pushup position, except that your forearms are resting on the floor. The idea is to press with your triceps so that you lift your elbows of the floor and straighten out your arms.

It’s a brutal movement. Advanced trainees – guys who are great at pushups – will be shocked they can only do 2-3 reps of this movement. However, here is an easier, variation (but still works great).

Basically, instead of pressing both the hands off the floor at the same time, lift one hand off the floor, using the other hand as support. Then quickly follow up with the other one.

So, you’re using each hand as support for bringing up the other hand. For example, lets say you start straightening out your right hand first. Straighten that out, and quickly follow up with your left arm.

Now, drop your right forearm back down to the ground, and follow up with the left hand. For the next rep, start by lifting your left arm off the floor first, and follow upwith right arm.

Repeat in this manner. Until you’ve performed an equal number of repetitions on each side. Work up to 10 repetitions in this manner before trying the original version of the movement.

#4 – Isolated Triceps Pushups

Here’s another great triceps pushups. Also known as the close grip pushups or diamond pushups. The idea is the same – move your hands close together and perform the pushup.

Just as in the close-grip chinup, the closer your hands are to each other, the more difficult the movement will become. Try the exercise with pushup handles and see if you feel a difference.

#5 – Compound Towel Pull-up

This is a cool movement, and really makes you feel as if you’re climbing a rope or wall. Hang two strong towels over a pullup bar. Grab each towel firmly, and pull your body towards the pullup bar.

The closer your grip to the pullup bar, the easier the movement. As you get stronger, grab the part of the towel that’s farther and farther away from the pullup bar.

This will almost feel like you’re doing pullups on gymnastics rings (hey, there’s another great muscle building movement!).

#6 – Inverted Rows

The inverted row is often used to teach beginners how to perform pullups. However, it’s an extremely tough movement that I’ve only been able to perform a few times.

You actually need a low, horizontal bar for this movement. Keep your body straight underneath the bar. You can keep your feet on the floor, or elevated on the surface.

The idea is to pull your body towards the bar. It’s almost like a reverse bench press. Instead of press the weight away from the bar, you’re pulling your body towards the bar.

#7 – Decline Russian Twists

I hate ab training, basically because most ab movements are too simplistic and easy. But this one I like. You can do this on a decline bar, on a regular bench, or on the floor.

If you’re doing it on the floor, tuck your feet under something firm. Lean back, and make sure you’re sitting on a cushion (a pillow?). Hold you hands out in front of you and twist your body completely to one side.

Use your abs to stabilize your body. Return to the middle and repeat on the other side.

#8 – Hanging Knee Raise

Here’s another great muscle builder for the abs. Hang on to a pullup bar. Hold on to it with a palms away from you grip. Relax your body. Now raise your legs up, and try to touch your knees to your chest.

To make this movement more difficult, straighten out your legs. The hardest version of this movement is when you keep your legs straight, and raise them above, past parallel, and try to touch the bar.

To improve strength and increase muscle mass, focus on increasing range of motion and difficulty as opposed to adding repetitions.

#9 – Abdominal Situps

When done properly, situps can be a great overal mass builder. The problem with situps is that most people do them the wrong way. They pull on their necks and use momentum.

If you do situps slow and steady, you’ll feel a great contraction in your abdominals and be able to steadily build up the muscles on your abs.

Now, it’s time to introduce to you a great bodyweight-only program for mass gain. It’s called The Muscle Experiment, developed by MikeThiga. He has a very compelling story.

I should have an interview up with him shortly, but until then, I urge you to check out my review of his program. It is the only bodyweight-only mass building program for hardgainers.

Many of the movements that I mentioned in this article, including the Triceps Blaster and Compound Towell Pull Ups, I learned from Mike. On top of that, he’s given me a lot of insights about mass building with bodyweight exercises that I did not know before.

Click here to learn more about Mike Thiga’s program

Exercise #2: Kneeling Pushups, 5 repetitions

Place your hands on the ground. Keeping your back straight, kneel down and tuck your feet behind you. Lower your body towards the ground until your chest is just an inch off the ground. Press back up.

Exercise #3: Single Leg Hip Extension, 5 repetitions

This is just like the Double leg Hip Extension, except for the fact that you will perform it with just one leg. Lift one leg off the ground, raise your hips off the ground. Perform 5 repetitions and repeat with the other leg.

Exercise #4: Planks, 10 seconds

Place your forearms on the ground. Raise your body up so that your body is parallel to the floor and only your forearms and toes are touching the ground. Keep your back straight.

Exercise #5: Side Planks, 10 seconds

This is similar to planks, except that your doing them on your sides. In the side plank, only one forearm is resting on the floor and you hold the position facing to one side. After 10 seconds, repeat on the other side.

This is just a beginner bodyweight workout to get you started. Most of your initial fat loss will come with the consistency of exercise and sound diet. This workout will build you up for more intense Turbulence Training bodyweight workouts.

Click here for more Turbulence Training Bodyweight Workouts

Here are some great bodyweight exercises for women:

Push Up

• Push ups are a great movement for toning the arms and shoulders. Try to get up to performing 10-20 push ups in one set. Once you conquer the basic version, you can start to implement some more difficult variations.
• However, most women have trouble performing the basic version of the push up. The modified version is much easier to perform. This version involves placing your knees on the floor instead of balancing your body on your hands and feet.
• Simply place your knees on the floor, legs tucked behind you and keep your back straight as you lower your body towards the ground. Stop about an inch off the ground and push up back to starting position.

Hip Bridge

• This is a great lower body movement for women who are unable to perform a full squat. Lay down on the floor on your back. Bend your knees so that your feet are flat on the floor.
• Place your hands to the sides, palms resting against the floor. Tighten your abdominals and buttocks as you lift your hips off the floor. This is almost like apush up with your back to the floor.
• Try to keep your back as straight as possible as you lift it off the floor. Pause at the top position, then return back to starting position.

Chair Squat

• Here is another lower body movement. Grab a chair and stand a few inches in front of it. Push your buttocks back as if you were sitting down on the chair. Make sure to keep your back straight, chest up, and abs contracted.
• Lower your body by pushing your hips back and bending your knees until your buttocks touches the chair just slightly. Then push yourself back up to starting position.
• This movement is designed to train your body for the full squat.

For more simple (but effective) bodyweight exercises for women, check out Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss. Click here for more information.

Getting lean with bodyweight exercises is actually quite easy. There are dozens of different ways you can set up a quick, fat burning bodyweight training routine. I will go over a few of these methods:

Tabata Intervals

Tabata Intervals are a unique interval scheme which requires performing 20 seconds of high intensity exercises, followed by 10 seconds of rest. You repeat this for 7 cycles, or 8 cycles.

That’s 4 minutes of exercise. Most Tabata workouts include 3-6 exercises, which comes out to a 12 to 24 minute workout. Beginners might need to do just 1 exercise per workout.

One of the best ways to help you with your intervals is to use the GymBoss Interval Timer. It costs just $19.95, and you can program it to help you keep track of any sort of intervals you may use. Click here to grab yours today.

Circuit Training

Circuit training can be as intense as you want it to be. The main idea is that you alternate between four different exercises with little to no rest in between each set. The more rest you take between each exercise, the less intense the workout will be.

Try to choose movements that target different muscle groups. If a particular muscle group is lagging, for example if your chest muscles are dramatically weaker then the rest of your body, then you can create a circuit with allpushup variations.

Tabata Circuits

Here’s a training method I’ve been experimenting recently. It basically combines Tabata and Circuit Training. What you do is choose 4 exercises. Perform the first exercise for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds, then move onto the second exercise.

Here’s a sample template to help you understand how to perform Tabata Circuits:

• Exercise #1, 20 seconds
• Rest 10 seconds
• Exercise #2, 20 seconds
• Rest 10 seconds
• Exercise #3, 20 seconds
• Rest 10 seconds,
• Exercise #4, 20 seconds
• Rest 10 seconds
• Go back to exercise #1

In the beginning, you will not be able to perform 8 rounds of this circuit. But start off with 3-4 rounds, and slowly build yourself up to 8 rounds. For more interesting workout techniques and bodyweight exercises, checkout Workout Without Weights.

Click here for more information.

One of the best ways to help you with your intervals is to use the GymBoss Interval Timer. It costs just $19.95, and you can program it to help you keep track of any sort of intervals you may use. Click here to grab yours today.

Everyone talks about doing 100 pushups or a 100 pullups. Even though these feats of strength are impressive, they are simply that – feats of strength and endurance. The bodyweight squat is actually a much more important movement then thepullup or pushup.

I truly believe that everyone should be able to do 100 bodyweight squats. This is because it is the most important movement in our daily life. Each day we stand up, sit down, walk up stairs, jump into the air, sprint after things, etc.

Millions of movements throughout our lifetime all point back to the same range of movement as trained by the bodyweight squats. And when people get older, it is the hips and lower back muscles where they have problems.

Well, that’s all going to change now. Because I’m about to issue a challenge. If you are unable to do at least 100 bodyweight squats, then you need to take on this challenge. I’ll even give you a blueprint, a set of steps to achieve this goal.

Perform each level, once a week:

• 20 sets of 5 squats, 30 seconds break
• 17 sets of 6 squats, 30 seconds break
• 15 sets of 7 squats, 30 seconds break
• 13 sets of 8 squats, 30 seconds break
• 12 sets of 9 squats, 30 seconds break
• 10 sets of 10 squats, 30 seconds break
• 10 sets of 11 squats, 30 seconds break
• 9 sets of 12 squats, 30 seconds break
• 8 sets of 13 squats, 30 seconds break
• 7 sets of 15 squats, 45 seconds break
• 6 sets of 17 squats, 45 seconds break
• 5 sets of 20 squats, 45 seconds break
• 4 sets of 25 squats, 60 seconds break
• 3 sets of 34 squats, 60 seconds break
• 2 sets of 50 squats, 120 seconds break
• 1 set of 100 squats, as fast as possible

If at any level, you are not able to maintain the recommended rest break, then repeat the workout again the following week. Keeping the rest periods short is extremely important.

For more bodyweight workouts, exercises, and training ideas, check out Workout Without Weights. Click here for more information.

The word “Cardio” or cardiovascular means “relating to, or involving the heart and blood vessels,” according to the Merriam-Webster medical dictionary. In other words, “Cardio” has nothing to do with spending countless hours on a treadmill, or watching a video of an anorexic woman doing aerobics.

Cardio basically refers to training the heart. And the best way to train the heart is not with boring jogging or aerobics, but instead high intensity bodyweight and dumbbell exercises. This is because I prefer to have fun while I workout.

The following is a list of 24 bodyweight and dumbbell exercises that you can use to develop your own fun cardio workout:

1. Dumbbell Push Press
2. Dumbbell Jump Shrugs
3. Bodyweight Split Jump
4. Bodyweight Knee Raise to Side Push Up
5. Bodyweight Free Squat
6. Dumbbell Sumo Deadlift
7. Bodyweight Hindu Pushups
8. Dumbbell Alternating Hanging High Pull
9. Dumbbell Front Squat
10. Dumbbell Two Handed Swing
11. Bodyweight Squat Thrust
12. Bodyweight Step Ups
13. Bodyweight Squat Jumps
14. Dumbbell Squat Clean
15. Bodyweight Rest Pause Pull Ups
16. Bodyweight Butt Raises
17. Bodyweight Ice Skater Hops
18. Bodyweight Dive Bomber Push Ups
19. Dumbbell Renegade Row
20. Bodyweight Classic Push Up
21. Dumbbell Bent Over Row
22. Dumbbell Twisting Military Press
23. Dumbbell Split Jerk
24. Dumbbell Golf Squat

To learn how to perform these exercises, along with high intensity workouts and intensity techniques, check out the Gladiator Body Workout. Click here for more information.

Are you afraid of change? Change is such an interesting word. Change, variety, and “switch it up” are often popular buzz words thrown at people in the fitness industry. Many people talk about changing up their workouts, but few people do it. The perfect example is….me.

I mean, on one hand I do a lot of crazy intense things with my workouts. But, at the end of the day it’s all just high intensity bodyweight and free weights workouts thrown together in complex circuits. True change for me would be to go into my gym tomorrow and train like a power lifter. Continue reading