| Everyone
knows that using weights and machines is the fastest, most
efficient way to gain size and strength. While this is true,
there are many reasons why someone would want to (or even
be forced to) train for a while without the benefit of using
weights.
Let’s
face it there are times (vacations, etc.) when all of us can’t
easily get to a gym. There are also many trainees (beginners
or athletes training for sports) who aren’t trying to
get a lot of muscular bulk but want the type of strength,
endurance and definition that callisthenic exercise offers.
These exercises can also be preformed anytime, anywhere and
you can use them throughout your entire life to build muscle,
to maintain muscle you already have, in combination with your
weight training to add variety and a change of pace, as a
warm-up or pump-up routine, to ease back into training after
a layoff or injury, etc.
The
Techniques
| 1 |
The
first technique is to just do the exercises in the traditional
manner, I know you can do 60, 80, or even 100 reps, but
that’s the idea. Grind out as many reps as you can.
This will build up your endurance and give your muscles
a change of pace. And while this most likely won’t
give you any extra size right away, when you go back to
weight training with heavy weights and lower reps you
may be surprised that you will then be gaining faster
than before. |
| |
|
| 2 |
Another
way is right after a set flex hard the muscles just
worked, flex as hard as you can and hold for at least
a count of 10.
A
better variation of this is to flex the muscles you
are working first, get them good and tired and then
do the exercise, thus Pre-Fatiguing them. For example,
flex the chest or tricep muscles as hard as you can,
then immediately do a set of push-ups. Feels different
doesn’t it? It’s a lot harder and produces
much better results. |
| |
|
| 3 |
Another
technique is to reduce the rest time between exercises.
Let’s say you start with 60 seconds. After awhile
cut it down to 45, then 30, then 15, etc. Then try no
rest between sets, and do a whole cycle of calisthenics
nonstop- that makes it way more intense.
Or
do one set, let’s say of chin-ups. Go until the
muscles are really tired, or even to total failure.
Wait only a few seconds and then do another set. How
many reps did you do on your second set? Only 4 or 5
I bet, that’s about what you’d do if you
were doing some heavy pull-downs. You should see some
growth from
this style. Make it more intense by increasing the reps
on the first set and by decreasing the rest time before
the second set. This is using the Rest-Pause method
without weights. |
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|
| 4 |
Why
not simply add some weight? Just because it’s not
metal disks, doesn’t matter, your body can’t
tell the difference. Put some heavy books on your back
and do push-ups. Get your wife or girlfriend (but not
both at the same time, that could be trouble) to sit on
your shoulders while you do squats. Do donkey calf raises.
Get creative, there’s always a way to add some more
resistance. |
Let’s
try to use this applied to our freehand workout. Do your push-ups
nice and slow, while flexing hard your pectorals, shoulders,
triceps, biceps and even your lats and forearms...
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Article
provided by Paul Becker.
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