I’m not an economist, so I’m not really sure when this economy is going to get better. But, I’m just glad I know how to get a great workout at home with just my bodyweight. There are a lot people out there quitting their gyms and struggling to find a good fitness program they can do at home.

Gyms and fitness facilities such as a Crunch and Bally Total Fitness are going bankrupt as more and more individuals are looking ways to cut back and budget their money. Well, if you’re one of these individuals, you’ve come to the right place!

Bodyweight Training: An Introduction

Bodyweight training is, of course, training with your bodyweight. Most people feel that it’s all about just pushups, pullups, and bodyweight squat variations. I felt the same way. But ever since I’ve begun this blog, I’ve learned a lot about bodyweight training.

There are many different ways to approach bodyweight exercise. In fact, I’ve come up with 7 different approaches you can take with bodyweight training:

Approach #1: Train like an Animal

Wrestlers, MMA fighters, and many other athletes use exercises such as bear crawls and duck walks to improve their total body strength and power. These movements are hard and they break a sweat. You can use them both to burn fat and improve explosive strength and power.

Some resources that specifically teach animal movements include Animal Kingdom Workouts and Workout Without Weights.

Approach #2: Dance your Way to Fitness

After watching the popular Dance show, “So You Think You can Dance,” I realize that each routine they perform is like a full body workouts. Dancers exhibit some of the best bodies around. Both male and female dancers are lean and incredibly strong.

There are certain styles, such as Hip Hop, that require more strength than others. But overall learning a few dance moves to include in your bodyweight workouts would be quite beneficial. There are a few CST movements that mimic dance.

You can find these moves through Bodyweight Exercise Revolution, or Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss.

Approach #3: Go Old School

Old school involves basic pushups, pullups, and bodyweight squat variations. Once I started exploring, I realized just how many different variations there are. I mean, you can literally sit there and just invent new ways of doing the same movement.

You can find a lot of great variations in Coach Lomax’s Workout Without Weights. He develops some great workouts as well in his Ultimate Gymless Workout.

Approach #4: Flip and Twist

Out of all the bodyweight training athletes out there, Gymnasts have the best bodies, and highest level of athleticism. I’ve heard stories of gymnasts walking into a weight room and lifting more weight then most bodybuilders and some power lifters. And these are people who’ve never lifted anything but their own bodyweight their entire life.

I really wish my mom hadn’t took my out of gymnastics when I was younger. Well, either way I’m rediscovering the gymnast inside of me and learning some brand new movements derived from gymnastics. You can discovery some unique movements from Bodyweight Exercise Revolution and Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss.

Approach #5: Peace and Calm

You would never believe that Yogis (people who do Yoga), can be so incredibly strong. However, there’s a guy on the Indian channel who teaches yoga and he’s able to walk on his hands and do all this crazy stuff with his body.

He’s like in his 60’s, has probably never even seen a commercial gym, and he’s in better shape then most 30 year olds. Yoga has some great properties, and it’s a great addition to your regular bodyweight training. Once again, you can learn some great yoga moves from Bodyweight Exercise Revolution and Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss.

Approach #6: Train Explosive

Plyometrics include explosive movements such as squat jumps and plyometric pushups. They were once used just by athletes to improve their explosive strength and power. But now, these variations are becoming a part of traditional bodyweight routines.

For some great plyometric exercises and workouts, check out Workout Without Weights or Ultimate Gymless Workout.

Approach #7: Bodyweight Cardio

Most people use the word calisthenics and bodyweight exercise interchangeably. But in reality, calisthenics is a movement such as jumping jacks and jogging in place. These movements don’t involve as much muscular contraction as apushup or pullup.

Calisthenics can be used to replace your boring cardio workouts, or you can include them into your regular pushup/pullup workouts. You can learn some great calisthenic movements in Workout Without Weights or Ultimate Gymless Workout.

A Complete Bodyweight Training Education

The moment I feel that I’ve learned it all, I discover something new. If you truly want to achieve the highest level of health and fitness, you need to keep exploring and consistently changing your exercises and approach to fitness.

Squat Jumps are one of the many important bodyweight exercises out there that are not being included in a typical bodyweight program. I agree to the fact that you can’t include every single bodyweight exercise out there. In fact, you shouldn’t.

However, most people never do squat jumps. They might do hundreds of bodyweight squats, Hindu squats, lunges, and numerous other bodyweight exercises. But, for some reason, the squat jump is always left out of most training programs.

Could it be because…it’s hard? Well, it is a hard movement. But it’s an essential movement which you should perform if your goal is to build a stronger, bigger, and more functional lower body.

Why You should Squat Jump

A long time ago, I had a dramatic realization: that training parameters for fat loss aren’t much different for muscle mass. A power/strength workout can also be an effective workout to improve overall general fitness. An athletic program can be the perfect recipe for incredible fat loss.

“Sports-specific” and “customized” are relative terms. Each individual athlete does not need to do things that are dramatically different then their peers. Instead, what they need to be doing are things that challenge them. It’s really as simple as that.

So in the grand scheme of things, if you’re looking for just one secret to improving your health and fitness, it should be this: “Challenge Yourself.”

And so, explosive training in the form of plyometrics or Olympic lifts performed with a dumbbell, kettlebell, or barbell are difficult, fun, and challenging. Even if we disregard the initial strength, power, and fat loss benefits of explosive training, we can argue that a fun workout is a workout that will allow us to remain consistent with our program.

The more consistent we are with our workouts, the greater chance of achieving our desired results.

How to Perform Squat Jumps

You should be able to perform 50 good bodyweight squats in a row before starting with squat jumps. If you can’t do 50 good bodyweight squats, then squat jumps will be way to difficult for you.
[pro-player type="MP4" width="530" height="350"]http://www.shahtraining.com/Squat Jump.m4v[/pro-player]
The actual execution of the movement is really simple: squat down and jump up. But, there are some key points you should be aware of:

• Lower your body as low as possible for maximum force development and acceleration
• Keep your back straight and chest up
• When your feet return to the floor, go immediately down into squat position and explode upwards.

Squat jumps are a continuous, heart pumping explosive movement. Start incorporating them today to take your workouts to the next level.

If you’re ready to incorporate bodyweight training as part of your fitness plan, then you should check out Bodyweight Exercise Revolution. Coach’s Adam Steer and Ryan Murdock show you how to use unique bodyweight movements to lose fat, build muscle, increase strength, improve athletic fitness, and enhance longevity.

Click here for more information.

The majority of trainees change a variety of variables in their training – sets, reps, rest, exercises, etc. However, the one variable that trainees fail to look at is rep speed.

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The recent attacks in Mumbai really made me wonder if I am prepared to face such a situation. What would I do if I were in that hotel? What would I do if I were held at gunpoint?My spiritual background preaches Ahimsa, or Non-Violence. But there are two questions that’s pop up into my mind: 1) How can you be non-violent in a violent world, and 2) are you prepared for violence?

How Can You be Non-Violent in a Violent World?

Violence is the exertion of force so as to injure or abuse. There needs to be a motive for harm. If the injury that you inflict is caused by shear anger, then I would call that a pure violent act. However, if the injury that you inflict is caused by a motive for self-defense, then I would no consider it pure violent act. This is simply my opinion and do not agree with complete and utter non-violence.

If my family or any other human being is around me, I will attempt to protect them. If there is something that I can do, I will do it.

Are you Prepared for Violence?

When you have a trained killer ready to blow your brains out, the only thing you should be looking for is a way to escape. Most of the time, if you do nothing but sit silently, you’ll be just fine. But it’s the psychological games inside your head that are really going to hurt you.

As I was watching the Mumbai story unfold on CNN, I kept thinking about how I would react. Would I start screaming out in panic? Would I just sit there and worry? Would I sit there, stay calm, and try to find the best solution possible?

I’m hoping I’d choose option three, but the truth is that you never really know. Lets assume I choose option three. The goal isn’t really to fight off these terrorists, the goal is to run. Perhaps I’d need to jump over some thing, dart past other things, lifts things in my way, etc. etc. etc.

In such a situation, a variety of fitness qualities are needed: running, jumping, lifting, darting. Do you see any need for big arms or the ability to jog 24 miles at a time? I don’t. I’m not really sure what you guys are thinking, but here’s what I see as very valuable methods of preparing yourself for such a worst-case scenario:

• Running Sprints
• Jumping Drills/Plyometrics
• Lifting things Overhead
• Lifting things off the ground

Image by matt.hintsa

Is your Fitness Program Up to Speed?

I’m not going to sit here and say that I can train a military to combat terrorism. I can’t, nor do I wish to. But what I am saying is that the average person needs to be in better shape to handle these situations. They can occur at any time and at any place.

You really can’t be absolutely prepared for violence, however you can be better prepared for violence. There is no SWAT team or Military unit out there that is absolutely prepared for a situation, however their training better prepares them for a situation.

I’m not telling you to be paranoid here, I’m just trying to make your realize how important it is for you to be able to do simple things, such as (let me repeat) sprint, jump, and lift. And (let me repeat), the average person is unable to do such things.

I was watching a show on the History Channel called “Shoot Out.” They were talking about a hostage situation where the gunman had a shotgun pointing at and taped to a guy’s back. The gunmen and the hostage were outside, with SWAT surrounding them, and the gunman was doing a countdown. He stated that when he said “0″ he would shoot the hostage.

As the countdown progressed towards 0, the SWAT guys came closer and closer, but not one of them did anything. Finally, the hostage decided to save his own life and lashed out at the gunman, when the gunman came to the number “2.” The gunman and the hostage wrestled with each other until finally a sniper was able to take down the gunman.

The more stories I hear, and the more news I watch I’m convinced that the only person that can save you is yourself. But are you prepared?