We all have very different goals when it comes to our training. Some of us want to build huge strength to our own bodyweight ratio, some of us just want huge muscles, for some it’s purely weight loss, for others it’s increased sporting performance or to just feel healthier.

Training with your own bodyweight is a great way to achieve your goals no matter what they may be.  You can always apply the principals of overloading and adapt yourself to bodyweight training to get you to your goals!

Bodyweight handstand

Many of my own personal training clients on starting out have very little bodyweight strength. It’s a system of progression, for example from doing band assisted or kneeling press ups to full bodyweight press ups and then eventually onto clap press ups for reps when you have the strength of a Gladiator!

Power of a Gladiator

What are the benefits of bodyweight training?

In my opinion in regards to fitness there is no better way of sculpting an athletic and ripped cover model body than using your own bodyweight as resistance. Think about it, averagely you‘re probably lifting in the region of 70-80 kgs at any given time!

Sure look at gymnasts, some of these guys have the most phenomenal physiques on the planet, they’re all extremely lean and carry a lot of muscle and it’s from using their own bodyweight as the resistance!

Bodyweight Training for muscle building

The thing is “anyone” can do it using a similar system, you just have to be dedicated enough to put in the blood sweat and tears!

The great thing is as I said, anyone can do it, no matter what physical condition you‘re in or where you are in your training. The opportunities are endless and you can with determination become as fit as a top athlete! As 55 year old Dave Byrne’s Personal Trainer I have coached and trained him from being fat, overweight and completely unhealthy into having the physique of an athlete utilising his own bodyweight.

Your body works like a brain and has an ingenious way of trying to protect you when it feels it’s under attack.

Portals of the brain

Body fat is useless and provides no assistance whatsoever to your body, what it does do if not addressed is put more pressure on your heart and lungs and can be conducive to heart and lung disease and in some cases type two diabetes. Think how much harder your body and your organs have to work on a daily basis in order to function normally! A LOT harder!!

How much harder does she have to work?

With the correct changes in diet and with the introduction of bodyweight exercise your metabolism will increase and the brain that is your body will utilise the FAT as energy and therefore you‘ll see massive changes in your weight!

Damien McEvoy Transformation

(I utilised Damien’s own bodyweight to get him shredded!)

Not only that, the unique thing is, you WILL burn “bodyfat” and  not muscle! You will even see massive gains in muscle by using your own bodyweight as resistance!

How cool is that? Workouts you can do absolutely anywhere and you will see the type of gains you see people spending thousands on gym fees for! Another benefit of bodyweight training is prevention of injury, by performing bodyweight exercises your body will become a machine at performing athletic movements and you will be far less likely to injure yourself in the future.

Injuries can happen easily in the gym.

This is the opposite to resistance or weight training in which you use an external weight as the resistance and therefore does not require fat loss to prevent injuries.

Bodyweight training is also a phenomenal way of building strength, whether it’s just a little bit stronger you‘re looking to get or you want to build the extreme power needed to perform hard core exercises believe me you can if you progress to a more difficult bodyweight program as you get stronger!

Everyone’s goals differ but believe me you can achieve any goal with this type of training!  With simple changes like leveraging the weight of your body you can make exercises much more difficult and soon you could be performing exercises that even advanced trainees would struggle to do such as single arm push ups or handstand push ups!

Handstand push ups

Don’t get me wrong I love weight training and it is something I would never stop doing but the integration of training with your own bodyweight will give you endless benefits in the long run.  I am a personal trainer and I practice what I preach!!

Bodyweight training.. I practice what I preach

The down side to weight lifting are the injuries you may incur over time. The effects of lifting excessive weights on your joints, ligaments and tendons can leave you in serious pain. I know guys who struggle to get through daily chores from excessive lifting. Something as small as picking up a piece of paper from the floor can become a massive struggle.

injuries from weight training

These are guys that are capable of lifting and have lifted over 280kgs. These are BIG guys but are suffering because it’s constant heavy loading on their bodies. I have written some personal workout programs for a few of them and since adding bodyweight sessions into their training programs they have seen their injuries disappear, and that’s no joke! They are now training like athletes and not like bodybuilders, and have made gains that they never thought possible training this way.

The power of bodyweight training

For example, single arm press ups,  when you start them you may find you can only do one or two but try graduate it by another one per week until you can then achieve a rep range of 8-10. You‘ve done fantastically well if you get to that point! You could even call yourself an athlete at that point. You can take it a step further then by progressing into an isometric hold at the bottom of each rep. Imagine what you can do because it will only be your imagination that will hold you back.

Imagine building up to 2LBS of pure muscle per week. It is possible with one of my bodyweight personal training programs, whether it’s in the studio in Temple Bar or I am your online Personal Trainer you WILL see these kinds of results.. Period! Or I guarantee you your money back plus 10% extra, because I know I won’t fail you! 😉

Will this type of training benefit me if I am playing a sport?

The answer to that is a big YES! If it is sporting improvement you are looking for you need to start using bodyweight training as part of your training program. It has no substitute in what it can do for your performance in whatever sporting field you‘re in! For example if you‘re a martial artist or boxer you need power, strength, speed, agility and flexibility and you also need to be lean.

By using your own bodyweight as resistance when training you will see all of the aforementioned benefits. By doing natural compound athletic movements using various muscle groups such as plank rows or plank crawls you build functional strength that will benefit you in your daily life and will also contribute to increasing flexibility, speed and coordination. Effectively you will be all round fitter, faster and stronger!

So you wont have to be a person of the utmost sagacity to know that this type of training will work for you. It has worked for every single personal training client of mine and it WILL work for you too! I have seen the biggest and strongest of guys who weren’t even capable of doing 6-8 bodyweight pull ups, and I mean these guys could bench 200kgs with ease and squat 280-300kgs for reps. Believe me they went a little red in the face when they couldn’t pull their own weight to do 6 bodyweight pull ups!

And here I am getting frustrated with myself for only getting 20 bodyweight pull ups! 🙂

bodyweight chin ups

Don’t get me wrong, please don’t think that you have to be in any type of condition or you have to be a sports person because you don’t! “Anybody” can become a bodyweight KING or QUEEN 😉

Yes women can also become masters of bodyweight exercises, this blogpost isn’t just directed at men who want to get bigger, faster and stronger, it’s also for women who want to drastically drop bodyfat in the quickest time possible and also want to get toned and have that “Cover Model Body”

I know nowadays we all live hectic lifestyles and can find it quite difficult to get to the gym on a regular basis if at all so not only is bodyweight training a fantastic way of training but it’s also an extremely convenient way of doing your personal training program if you travel a lot or work too hard. You can do this ANYWHERE!! Your living room, kitchen, bedroom, hotel room,  the local park, wherever, it doesn’t matter because all as you need is yourself and your own bodyweight!

So what are you going to do now that you have no more excuses such as “that gym membership is way too expensive or “I can‘t afford a personal trainer” the fact is you don’t necessarily need any of these to achieve your goals!

BUT! I would advise you to get a “GOOD” bodyweight program from a Personal Trainer that has a proven track record and one with which you have trust in! There’s no point in just jumping around the place with no structure or plan! You should always have a structured plan!

Contact me now for a tailored structured bodyweight program and get the Cover Model Body you have always wanted!

Darragh Hayes BBS CPT NCEHS

Cover Model Body Personal Training