A few questions about starting body weight training

[Nick Whetstone]

For the past couple years my work-outs have consisted almost entirely of strength-based lifting (strong lifts 5x5 and other routines) with a bit of cardio. However I am now finding myself without a gym or weight set and would like to start a body weight routine rather then losing the strength gains I have made. Unfortionatly, the more I read on this site the more it seems like much of my lifting knowledge will be less helpful then I had previously thought.

For starters, I am used to doing a 3 day-a-week full body routine. Would this still be appropriate? For the past week I have been doing the following routine. Any critiques or suggestions for improvement would be greatly appreciated.

Pistol Squats: 3x12-15 per leg

Pull Ups: 4x12-15

Dips: 4x8-10

^working on increasing the number of reps in the above 3^

L-Seat on floor: 5x20 seconds

Tuck Front Lever Holds: 5x5-10 seconds

Frog Stand: 5x5-10 seconds (question 2 relates to this)

20 minutes of cardio

20 minutes of stretching

Second, while my strength seems "ok" from lifting, I'm discovering that my balance and flexability are horrible. Is there anything I can do to specifically work on balance, or is this something that will just come over time. Also for flexability should I only be stretching after my workout, or would more frequent stretching be helpful?

To summarize quickly:

1: Is my routine ok, and what improvements could be made to it

2: Is there anything specific I could do to improve balance?

3: How often should I be stretching, and should I be stretching directly after my cardio?

Thank you for any help

[WitnessTheFitness]

Balance and control will come naturally with time as your body grows accustomed to the movements, so I wouldn't worry about it. One concern to have, though, is losing leg strength. Leg work is the main weakness of bodyweight training, as pistol squats and such are really no substitution for the traditional barbell squats, so don't be too surprised if you don't maintain the lower body strength you built from weight training.

My main suggestion would be to work on high intensity, low rep sets for dips and pullups if sheer strength is what you're aiming for, rather than just building more reps. If you don't have access to weight plates, get a backpack, or anything with straps that can hold something heavy, and fill it with miscellaneous heavy objects to up the intensity. Or if that's too bothersome you can try one-armed pullup progressions, and the more difficult dip variations.

[Blairbob]

Looks decent. If you are without barbell training and still want to keep up your lower body strength, I would recommend a lot of sprinting and jumping in your situation. Jumping pistols may suffice besides sprinting and any plyometrics.

To up your density in pullups, dips, and pistols would probably require a density volume approach.

Balance will come to a degree mainly by playing sport. Do some inversion work or work on cartwheels or on a balance beam or trampoline.

As for stretching, look for Brandon Oto's ATG stretching via google and the MobilityWOD of Kelly Starlett. A lot of KStars stuff could be done everyday but I would start off the passive stretching 1-2x/week and build from there. It's possibly to do it everyday but it depends on the approach.

[Nick Whetstone]

Well, atleast I know not to be suprised if I go back to squating in the future and see a decline. As for adding weight, that does sound like a good idea for pull-ups. My only concern for dips is I am using two chairs right now, and I am hesitant to put much more weight on them. Its hard enough getting them to not wobble with just my body weight. I'll check the site for harder dip variations and give those a shot.

In responce to Blairbob, currently my cardio is on a rowing machine, would it be a good idea to replace it with higher intensity cardio such as springs, mounter climbers, etc?

[Blairbob]

A rower is fine for your lower end cardio.

I was talking of sprinting and jumping mainly for leg strength and power instead of using a barbell.

Low and High intensity cardio should be done to complement each other.