Originally posted by Timothy658
DBradD, what type of bodyweight stuff do you do? Is it all high rep stuff? What do you have to say about the book you mentioned? ...
I'm fairly new to the bodyweight-only world (former intermediate level competitive powerlifter), so I'm not claiming that I have it all together. I started with Furey's book, read about what the CrossFitters do, and have been morphing the workout at my whim, LOL.
I will probably move toward CrossFit as time goes on. They really seem to have a great program. I haven't made the leap because I find their system to be a bit complicated and confusing, so I'm still reading about it at a leisurely pace. Also, a fair amount of relatively obscure equipment is required and would probably cost at least $500 to get completely set up.
I mix these up throughout the week in "pushing, pulling, torso, legs, etc workouts)
hindu pushups (3x about 20)
handstand pushups (5x about 10-12)
dips (last time was 20x4,18,15,12,9) a working in itself
hindu squats (last night I did 500) another workout in itself
chinups (8 sets, various hand grips)
back bridges
reverse pushups (think back bridge without head on the ground, very difficult)
hanging leg raises
no-momentum situps
Anyway, good, bad, or indifferent, that's where I am at the moment. I'm happy because I can do a lot more reps of all those exercises and I feel good in general. For what it's worth, I also took measurements yesterday and I've gained 5/16" on my arms in a couple of months, all other measurements unchanged. I don't think I ever did that in the gym. I'm happy at the moment.
I will start to add weights on dips at some point. I'm also thinking of ways of making some execises harder to cut down the reps. Examples would be going to one-legged squats and doing handstand pushups with my hands on some kind of plates or boxes so I can go down lower. I think it would be good to mix up the reps, maybe cycle them.
As for Furey's book, I think it's a good place to start. Furey is a hotdog for sure and I doubt that the system is the best. What it DID do for me was start to clue me in on the idea of doing functional exercises instead of isolation exercises. He has some recommended workouts in the back that look an awful lot like some of the CrossFit workouts. I think one could use Furey's stuff forever and stay in great shape. He doesn't recommend any pullups, which I find to be VERY strange, so I added them myself.
As for the other parts of your e-mail, I agree with what Jack typed. In the long run, it really depends on what goals you settle upon. If you want to look like a bodybuilder, train like one. If you want to be extremely strong, learn to train like a powerlifter. If you want to be explosively powerful, train like an olympic style weightlifter. What am I training like? Don't know yet, LOL. My current idea of good functional fitness, I guess would be the best description.
