BW exercises that will make you a beast!!!!! (or not)

[Neal Winkler]

http://zacheven-esh.com/blog/top-10-bod ... rue-beast/

Zach is a good trainer, but this article just goes to show you that even the best trainers still do not understand bodyweight training.

Here's his top 10 BW exercises that will make you a "beast" followed by my commentary:

1) pistols x 10 ea. leg [weak]

2) 1 arm push ups x 10 ea. arm [eh]

3) 1 hand pull up x 1 rep ea. arm [ok, these are good]

4) muscle up on bar / rings x 5 in a row [a beginners exercise, weak]

5) 100 consecutive push ups [just a test of endurance, not beastly]

6) 10 handstand push ups [he probably means HeSPU, weeeeaaakkkk]

7) handstand walking [not really beastly]

8) 20′ rope climb without leg assistance [rope climbs are cool, but just body weight?]

9) parallel bar dips x 50 reps (upper arms parallel to floor) [again, endurance, not really beastly]

10) 20 pull ups (overhand or underhand grip) [not the choice one could make]

Here's a list off the top of my head that is doable for mortals (no Victorians and stuff like that):

(1) Front lever pullups

(2) One arm pull ups

(3) Freestanding HSPU

(4) Bowers

(5) Reverse muscle up

(6) Shrimps

(7) Planche push ups

(8) Iron Cross

(9) Weighted rope climbs

(10) Manna

[Joshua Naterman]

I am... not as impressed impressed with Zach Even-Esh as I thought I would be. Not that he's not a good trainer (not that I know personally, having never trained with or even interviewed him), but I find that the workouts he posts are not as good as what I expected to see based on his reputation. Still, he has a great rep, but I agree with triangle... very, very weak sauce on the BW exercises.

I'd add in superbeast for XR HSPU and PL push ups (even tuck PL is reasonably tough if you stay horizontal the whole time) as I absolutely believe that to be possible for everyone.

Front pulls with weight

Front lever pulls with weight

Cirques

Weighted Stall Bar HLL

Side lever pulls

PROPERLY performed ab wheel pull puts with straight legs

Galimores

XR dips with +50% BW (yikes)

Even 2 minutes straight with HS Wall Runs seems pretty beastly to me right now, so I add that as well for the endurance side.

Of course, this is just regarding strength. I suppose for power we'd have to add in Wheels, Arch/Hollow snaps, HS hopping, and giant swings at the very least.

[Razz]

Butterflyes!!! That's my dream goal right now, aswell as maltese

[Michael Traynor]

ring jackknifes...especially with your feet on a swiss ball. :twisted:

[AlexX]

Zach didn't post ten best maximal strength bodyweight exercises but 10 bodyweight exercises he feels are good for his athletes. How many of you train football players, wrestlers and track guys? Five muscle ups for a 200 lbs foot ball player is pretty good, especially when you take into consideration a foot ball players needs two things (of course this depends on position but I am generalizing) Large amounts of muscle mass and very fast legs. So the training generally tends to focus on hypertrophy and leg strength/explosiveness.

Of course those exercises suck for a gymnast or a rings enthusiast. But for his clients I'd say its a pretty decent list.

Oh and slizzardman when I lived in New Jersey I got to see Defranco's and Zach's training as I knew a guy that was affiliated with them. Honestly none of them do anything revolutionary and sometimes I knew of other coachs using better methods than what they were doing. However, these guys got their reputation from the atmosphere they provide. Both of these guys have a tremendous amount of successful athletes because they build a winner's mentality. Their athletes don't quit during game time because their training is seriously ten times harder than anything that gets thrown at them during their sport. In their gyms NOBODY quits during a conditioning session or half asses a workout or does not show up consistently. These guys throw anyone that slacks off out, I've seen this. I know you might not agree with such a pushing mentality but these guys really produce top notch results because of this. Of course if you are held back by an injury they'll asses what you can and can't do and won't just tell you to suck it up but other than that there are no excuses in their gyms.

There is an old saying amongst powerlifters and strongmen "A crappy routine performed with intensity is better than a perfect routine performed poorly."

I realize that this won't make me a popular guy around here but I'd say this list:

(1) Front lever pullups

(2) One arm pull ups

(3) Freestanding HSPU

(4) Bowers

(5) Reverse muscle up

(6) Shrimps

(7) Planche push ups

(8) Iron Cross

(9) Weighted rope climbs

(10) Manna

Is anything but good for a football player of any position. Much better use can be made of the limited time these guys have to train in the gym than focusing on these exercises. With the exception of rope climbs, and the first three exercises. A wrestler would be a different story especially the lighter weight guys. ( I'd say that slizzardman's exercises are much better as he picked ones that can be learned fairly quickly and loaded much earlier) As for track athletes this would highly depend on the event, throwers would benefit the most and leg dominant ones the least.

[Neal Winkler]

Alex, like i said, Zach is a great trainer.

He trains a ton of wrestlers and other grapplers though. Why can't they do more badass BW exercises?

I don't think it's odd that he probably just doesn't know better exercises or how to progress towards them.

[AlexX]

Like I said wrestlers and grapplers would sure benefit and I totally agree with you. Actually he does know the exercises because I remember him specifically taking a gymnastic class for this and I am sure his wrestlers do them (he said he was really pissed about his performance as he totally sucked even at the basic exercises and vowed to change that). But he answered that list for everyone not just one type of athlete, and when you give general recommendations you tend to be all over the place like his list is.

[Joshua Naterman]

Alex, I absolutely agree with most of what you said. The type of athlete has to be taken into consideration before any lists can be made, and even general beastliness can mean different things to each of us. That is a really good point. For basic, nondynamic fitness enthusiasts I like my list. I don't think it's perfect, since I pretty much just threw it together off the top of my head, and the more specific I get the closer I would be to the WODs! At that point I might as well say "My list: BtGB. All of it."

As far as the football players go, I agree with a good bit of what you are saying. There is no purpose in them FOCUSING on Manna work for example, especially since there are so many things before that in the progression that they will be spending FOREVER working on for the most part, like straddle L. In my opinion you can't even make a football player list, you need to make a position-specific list. A receiver should be working out way, way differently than a lineman. I would still use the WODs for the most part unaltered with them as a base, because they promote such good body awareness, core strength, and overall strength balance across the joints and those are characteristics that every position must have. I think they are the most time and energy efficient ways to do this, and they leave PLENTY of extra juice in the tank for position specific work as well as on the field practices. I think that you are oversimplifying what a football player needs. Even a running back needs slightly more than lots of muscle and fast legs, though of all the positions they are probably the ones that fit that bill the best, even more so than linemen (though not much). Zach's list is incredibly deficient in core stability, strength and mobility. Not even one exercise. Are his athletes made out of nothing but thighs and triceps? Of course I know they are not, and it is obvious that his list is made to appeal to the general population and not to athletes, but that brings me to another two things that trainers generally lack when writing articles: specificity and conscientiousness.

I also do agree with forging the winning mentality when it comes to competitive athletes. That's why the very first thing I do when I work with someone is ask them what their aspirations are, because if someone wants to be a pro they need a potentially completely different mental approach to their training. They must be brought up into a sense of ability to handle anything, and must perform at their highest possible level regardless of how they feel. By that I mean they must simply learn to love the challenge, love the pain, and have that never quit attitude. I too would not train someone who claimed to want to go pro yet would not put forth the effort. I may work with them for a little longer before doing so, as I do like to give everyone a chance, but I know what it took for me to get to where I was when I was scheduled to go pro, and I could be spending my time with someone else AND that athlete could be pursuing something that is more suitable for them. I don't mind training people who want to be in general good shape at all, but if you say you want to go pro then there are going to have to be some things that are specifically designed to provide a gut check and to do so on a regular basis. Incidentally, an awful lot of the WODs can do that if you stick to the timing strictly.

I will say that I do believe in using fitness as a tool to build skills that lead to success in many areas of life, such as consistency, due diligence, and mental toughness in the face of fatigue, as well as honesty and self-evaluation skills. I never see this done specifically and it's something I like to do because it works. What Coach has said at the seminars about his athletes being successful in college, work, and other places shows how powerful this can be.

[AlexX]

it is obvious that his list is made to appeal to the general population and not to athletes, but that brings me to another two things that trainers generally lack when writing articles: specificity and conscientiousness.

I'd say that this alone is single handedly responsible for most of the confusion in the athletic training community. Haha yeah my football generalization did kinda suck.

BTW I really hope that if/when (I am not sure if its your goal that's why the if) you do train football players you do incorporate a lot of the exercises you mentioned and give us feedback as to the results.

[Joshua Naterman]

I will, I am actually scheduled to meet up with a former Tennessee Titans player in the next month or so and learn about what he is doing with his athletes. I am certainly going to enjoy seeing what others are successfully doing and learning exactly where all of what we do here fits in. I know for sure that I will be developing some impressive athletes, and that the GB program will be heavily involved. I may not have my degrees yet, but to me those are primarily for other people to be impressed with. I intend to start building a career NOW.

[Alex Dienaar]

I have to agree with Slizz on the value on the exercises here in overall gains in mobility, kinesthetic awareness and strength when it comes to training athlethes. I've been dabbling into training people from various branches of sports (Thai Boxers, Futsal players, I hate it how the only popular sport around here is soccer, but Soccer players ) and the results they get from GB exercises adjusted according to their sports demand is great.

[AlexX]

I have to agree with Slizz on the value on the exercises here in overall gains in mobility, kinesthetic awareness and strength when it comes to training athlethes. I've been dabbling into training people from various branches of sports (Thai Boxers, Futsal players, I hate it how the only popular sport around here is soccer, but Soccer players ) and the results they get from GB exercises adjusted according to their sports demand is great.

What kind of benefits have you observed from the soccer players? and from which exercises, if you don't mind sharing of course.

[Neal Winkler]

AlexX,

The question posed in the blog post is this:

"QUESTION: Zach, can someone get endless strength gains from Bodyweight Training?"

Yet you claimed, "Zach didn't post ten best maximal strength bodyweight exercises but 10 bodyweight exercises he feels are good for his athletes."

He then goes on to say, "Then again, have YOU maximized your potential in bodyweight training if you can not perform the below bodyweight movements:"

Which I took to mean these exercises are for maximizing or getting close to maximizing strength with BW exercises.

Later on in his blog, Zach talks about the training he underwent with a gymnastics coach:

"And because the majority of gymnastics drills were based on strength, he had us train for strength using the various apparatuses in the gym: the high bars, rings, parallel bars, pommel horse, crash mats and of course, the wrestling mat. The volume was high and we often had to complete total reps rather than prescribed sets and reps.

Examples were 50 pull ups, 50 dips on parallel bars combined with walking back and forth on the parallel bars, 50 leg raises, 50 jumps on the crush mats, 50 shoot thrus on the pommel horse. It was BRUTAL but I got strong as hell AND explosive from all of this animal training."

Notice the difference between the workouts this gymnastics coach does compared to ours. Zachs coach does higher reps with easier exercises. Our coach does sets of 5 with harder exercises. It seems that maybe Zach learned this is how gymnasts train, higher reps with easier exercises.

[AlexX]

AlexX,

The question posed in the blog post is this:

"QUESTION: Zach, can someone get endless strength gains from Bodyweight Training?"

Yet you claimed, "Zach didn't post ten best maximal strength bodyweight exercises but 10 bodyweight exercises he feels are good for his athletes."

He then goes on to say, "Then again, have YOU maximized your potential in bodyweight training if you can not perform the below bodyweight movements:"

Which I took to mean these exercises are for maximizing or getting close to maximizing strength with BW exercises.

Later on in his blog, Zach talks about the training he underwent with a gymnastics coach:

"And because the majority of gymnastics drills were based on strength, he had us train for strength using the various apparatuses in the gym: the high bars, rings, parallel bars, pommel horse, crash mats and of course, the wrestling mat. The volume was high and we often had to complete total reps rather than prescribed sets and reps.

Examples were 50 pull ups, 50 dips on parallel bars combined with walking back and forth on the parallel bars, 50 leg raises, 50 jumps on the crush mats, 50 shoot thrus on the pommel horse. It was BRUTAL but I got strong as hell AND explosive from all of this animal training."

Notice the difference between the workouts this gymnastics coach does compared to ours. Zachs coach does higher reps with easier exercises. Our coach does sets of 5 with harder exercises. It seems that maybe Zach learned this is how gymnasts train, higher reps with easier exercises.

Which is why I pointed out that he posted this in term of general parameters instead of purely strength ones as can be seen per his exercise choices. I am pretty sure with a master's degree in exercise science, deadlifting over 500lbs, squatting not far from that and how he trains his athletes he is well aware that maximal strength is quite different from 50 pullups, in fact I know for a fact that he knows this. However, in the community he is in, 20 pullups is considered strong. Kind of how 20 one arm chinup or holding a maltese for a minute would be considered strong here. Is it endurance? of course it is but still requires quite a bit of strength. It's all about perspective and his is different from yours.

He answered that list for his audience which are football players, wrestlers and track athletes as such the list isn't going to be manna and iron cross but what he listed. The problem with your initial post was that you took something that was meant for a different athlete/enthusiast and tried to apply to the guidelines here, which is not going to work because of the difference in goals. Your list is a good one for here as well as athletes that choose to specialize in body weight stuff but his athletes (except wrestlers and throwers) just aren't going to benefit by training for Iron Cross (because weights are a primary focus for them).

Here a double bodyweight deadlift might be strong but to a powerlifter that's just beginner territory. To a ring specialist a muscle up is a joke to a 200 lbs football player that's some major work. Jumping on a 53 inch box might be an achievement for some but ask the people who train for it specifically and that's just the beginning.

[Joshua Naterman]

Tacklers and linemen will still benefit from straight arm conditioning immensely. Visualize arm tackling someone who can't break away. What they thought was going to be an easy touchdown run just became a 6 yard gain because a linebacker's arm was able to handle large forces in an extended position. An awful lot of arm tackles fail, and just doing the basic straight arm conditioning could change a lot of those into successful tackles or at least effective trips that slow a runner down enough for another teammate to finish the tackle. On the lineman side, they could be able to control a wider arc of space around them, making them more effective blockers. This is mostly hypothetical until athletes start training this way, but who knows... maybe one day this will be more of a normal train of thought.

Straight arm work could also be beneficial for pitchers and QB's as they are also throwers. I do not know for sure, but I bet it would help based on results from track and field athletes. I know you mentioned throwers, but I thought I would put the QB in there for fun!

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Alex Dienaar, I am very curious about how you incorporate GB work into your Thai boxers routine. Please, would you elaborate?

I've read some stuff by Zack, and he seems to be a good guy and trainer. My only beefs with him are that he doesn't seem to do very much leg work and that he doesn't respond to emails well.

[Joshua Naterman]

I don't know what Alex things, but to me the WODs are very nearly custom made to address the physical demands of Thai boxing. Seriously. As the strength core they are perfect. I would have my fighters warm up for WODs with KB swings and a set or two of moderately heavy fast bench press and sandbag cleans and slams, and perhaps once a week a long farmer's walk, but if you think about it the only things missing are punching and kicking speed drills, which a fighter does separately anyways. I will say that I might split leg WODs between the GB work and some weighted work, but I would at least perform 2 rounds of the GB leg wods. Especially the deck squat jumps and sled runs. As fighters approach very high levels of strength in the WODs I would start focusing a bit more on Hungarian routine (seminar attendees will know what this is) and the more dynamic exercises like wheels and the double/triple clap push ups and just maintain strength.

This kind of training would produce an entire gym full of athletes with the physical abilities of Georges St. Pierre. It would still be up to the trainers to teach them to fight correctly (meaning they win), but you can't ask for more from a training program. I say this will full confidence having been conditioned at a very high level before. As good as I was I would have been much, much better if this had been the core of my strength and conditioning.

[Quick Start Test Smith]

I don't know what Alex things, but to me the WODs are very nearly custom made to address the physical demands of Thai boxing. Seriously. As the strength core they are perfect. I would have my fighters warm up for WODs with KB swings and a set or two of moderately heavy fast bench press and sandbag cleans and slams, and perhaps once a week a long farmer's walk, but if you think about it the only things missing are punching and kicking speed drills, which a fighter does separately anyways. I will say that I might split leg WODs between the GB work and some weighted work, but I would at least perform 2 rounds of the GB leg wods. Especially the deck squat jumps and sled runs. As fighters approach very high levels of strength in the WODs I would start focusing a bit more on Hungarian routine (seminar attendees will know what this is) and the more dynamic exercises like wheels and the double/triple clap push ups and just maintain strength.

This kind of training would produce an entire gym full of athletes with the physical abilities of Georges St. Pierre. It would still be up to the trainers to teach them to fight correctly (meaning they win), but you can't ask for more from a training program. I say this will full confidence having been conditioned at a very high level before. As good as I was I would have been much, much better if this had been the core of my strength and conditioning.

Wow.

The WODS seem to be too far advanced for me, and I'm not familiar with the GB exercises to be able to scale down to the degree that I can do them and still do the pattern required. Do you think I should follow a basic program for a month or two before starting them? I'm pretty weak (can't do a FL tuck for more than a few seconds, can't do a BL at all, Frog stand for about 30 seconds, wall HS for about 30-60 seconds, L-sit tuck for 30 seconds, L-sit for 3-5 seconds, 20 push ups w/ 20 lb weighted vest, 3x5 pull ups, etc.).

Okay, so KB swings, BP 2 x 4-6 (?), SB cleans and slams, and FWs every once in a while. Regarding the SB slams, ever heard of the medicine ball slams? Any particular reason for the SB?

[Neal Winkler]

Slizzard, I'm not asking you to tell me how to do the hungarian routine but I was just wondering if its a strength routine or a pre-hab thing or what exactly is it?

[Cole Dano]

The Hungarians are tumbling sets. As we did, starting from very simple ones and progressing. I don't know MMA training well but i'd imagine you already do something similar with sets of shoulder rolls etc.

[Neal Winkler]

Oh ok, I like to do something similar for my BJJ warm-ups.

Forward and backward breakfalls.

forwards and backward rolls from a crouch.

same from standing and handstand

Cartwheels

Someday it would be cool to do handspings, front/back flips, and limbers.

.

[AlexX]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng8Gb6WImX4 (how in the world do you display these, yes I tried the youtube button)

Click on 3:40, they display a variety of acrobatic moves as warm-up. This is common practice in Russia for many sports. Even powerlifters there can do rolls and jumps (not joking).

[Joshua Naterman]

The Hungarians are tumbling sets. As we did, starting from very simple ones and progressing. I don't know MMA training well but i'd imagine you already do something similar with sets of shoulder rolls etc.

Sort of. Hungarian is a fast-paced mix of active flexibility work, plyometric work for the upper and lower body, some strength-endurance and I have no idea what else, we still haven't done more than 10% of it and pretty much none of us could even do all of the beginning upper body plyo stuff correctly, so what we know so far is really all we can handle, but it's great. It is apparently designed to address pretty much all the GPP needs of the body in its entirety.

[Joshua Naterman]

I don't know what Alex things, but to me the WODs are very nearly custom made to address the physical demands of Thai boxing. Seriously. As the strength core they are perfect. I would have my fighters warm up for WODs with KB swings and a set or two of moderately heavy fast bench press and sandbag cleans and slams, and perhaps once a week a long farmer's walk, but if you think about it the only things missing are punching and kicking speed drills, which a fighter does separately anyways. I will say that I might split leg WODs between the GB work and some weighted work, but I would at least perform 2 rounds of the GB leg wods. Especially the deck squat jumps and sled runs. As fighters approach very high levels of strength in the WODs I would start focusing a bit more on Hungarian routine (seminar attendees will know what this is) and the more dynamic exercises like wheels and the double/triple clap push ups and just maintain strength.

This kind of training would produce an entire gym full of athletes with the physical abilities of Georges St. Pierre. It would still be up to the trainers to teach them to fight correctly (meaning they win), but you can't ask for more from a training program. I say this will full confidence having been conditioned at a very high level before. As good as I was I would have been much, much better if this had been the core of my strength and conditioning.

Wow.

The WODS seem to be too far advanced for me, and I'm not familiar with the GB exercises to be able to scale down to the degree that I can do them and still do the pattern required. Do you think I should follow a basic program for a month or two before starting them? I'm pretty weak (can't do a FL tuck for more than a few seconds, can't do a BL at all, Frog stand for about 30 seconds, wall HS for about 30-60 seconds, L-sit tuck for 30 seconds, L-sit for 3-5 seconds, 20 push ups w/ 20 lb weighted vest, 3x5 pull ups, etc.).

Okay, so KB swings, BP 2 x 4-6 (?), SB cleans and slams, and FWs every once in a while. Regarding the SB slams, ever heard of the medicine ball slams? Any particular reason for the SB?

At the very least I would follow the WODs' template. FOllow a similar theme. You will never be perfect at the WODs your first time or two through them, but that will come. You get the hang of it pretty quickly. I don't remember if you have the book, but you really need it for the WODs and for building your gymnastic strength in general. Your strength is fine for the WODs! You will be scaling down a bit, but that's ok. You're supposed to.

As for sandbag slams, they resemble a body and can be quite heavy. THis is not an "ab exercise" like medicine ball slams are, it is more of a clean and slam that should resemble scooping your opponent with a good single leg, double leg, or bear hug from the back and then lifting them to your standing position and power slamming them down. Very specific muscular and metabolic conditioning. Those are fantastic for anyone who wrestles or grapples. Medicine ball slams, in my opinion, are a pretty giant waste of time. They aren't specific to much of anything (people will argue ground and pound perhaps, but seriously, that's ridiculous. You'd be better off straddling a heavy bag and punching with light resistance bands but you'd be even better off just doing fast, explosive dips and/or PPP. GB ab work including arch/hollow snaps and other dynamic ab exercises that we do will give you far, far more explosive ability) and in my opinion there are more beneficial ways to wear yourself out if that's what you're after!

Of course if you're doing medicine ball slams because it is fun to slam a medicine ball into the ground (and it is strangely satisfying, I must say) then go for it! Just don't fool yourself into thinking that is the best way to condition yourself for combat, because it isn't.

[Scott Malin]

Sandbag slams....sounds way fun and I could see this catching on very quickly at my gym. Maybe we'll introduce them as a contest on member appreciation day next week. Thanks for the idea