Barbell and Bodyweight Routine

Combining Bodyweight and Barbell Training

By Mike Thiga author of The Muscle Experiment

Most people who train or exercise on a regular basis tend to gravitate to doing only one discipline. There is no doubt that most weight trainers/bodybuilders will get a sense of pleasure from "mastering" a specific skill. Some folks "enjoy" a certain type of training while others simply don't have time to do a bunch of different training types and stick to just one specialty for simplicity.

Bodyweight training and barbell training are two different types of training methods with two very different results, yet they complement one another extremely well. Barbell training will develop raw strength, increase power and muscular size plus improve mental toughness.

Bodyweight training on the other hand builds the strength you're going to need to control your body when in odd-positions and under various leverages. It will also give you an improved physical balance, improve your body perception and your speed when using plyometrics and/or sprints.

Bodyweight exercises and weight-training exercises are NOT mutually exclusive. People have been lifting things to get stronger for centuries but sports science can now prove to us that neither one type of training is better than the other. In fact, sports science is in the process of trying to prove that combining bodyweight movements with machine and/or weights with barbells and dumbbells gets the best result.

When making a decision on training a particular method needs to be based on your own specific goals and your own needs. The first step when choosing any training tool is dependent on your specific goals. Bodyweight training and barbell training do NOT contradict each other; they actually work very well together.

Using bodyweight training with weight training will not work in all cases for all purposes. When you know what your specific training goal is you will then be able to decide if combining the two training methods will work for you. If we assume that your specific training goal is hypertrophy, then training bodyweight ONLY is not the best way to get there.

Your type II muscle fibers are the most amenable to size increases but they require significant tension which comes from lifting a heavy load, not from doing plenty of reps. Heavy progressive weight-training using basic barbell and D/B training is the only way to see an increase in muscle size.

However, bodyweight training will be a very good supplement to any weight training program designed for muscle growth. Varying rep ranges together with rest period protocols and combining heavy lifting on lower reps with moderate to high rep ranges using bodyweight exercises will always work well.

Day 1:

Squats: 8 X 3 reps. Increase weight to heaviest weight on last set.
Resting 2-3 minutes between each set.
Single leg squats: 3 X 10-15 reps.
Resting 60-90 second between each set.
Military presses: 5 X 5 reps. Increase weight to heaviest weight on last set.
Resting 2-3 minutes between each set.
Handstand holds leaning against a wall: 5 X 1-minute holds.
Resting 1 minute between each set.
Alternating D/B curls super-setted together with tiger push-ups: 3 X 6-8 reps for the curls and then max reps to failure on tiger pushups.
Resting 2 minutes between each superset.

Day 2:

Bench press: 5 X 5 reps. Increase weight to heaviest weight on last set.
Resting 2-3 minutes between each set.
Wide-grip parallette push-ups: 4 X 12-15 reps.
Resting 1 minute between each set.
Weighted dips: 5 X 8, using same weight on all sets.
Resting 2 minutes between each set.
Hanging leg-raises, super-setting with jumps squats starting from a position of a full bottom squat: 3 X 12-15 reps.
Resting 2 minutes between each set.

Day 3:

Deadlifts: 6 X 3 reps. Increase weight to heaviest weight on last set. Resting 3 minutes between each set.
Chin ups: 5 X max reps to failure. Resting 1 minute between each set.
One-arm D/B rows, super-setted with push-ups: 3 X 6-8 reps for rows, and then max reps to failure for push-ups.
Resting 2 minutes between each set.

Note: For more information checkout The Lost Secrets of Bodyweight Training