Tyler Nichols
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A Guide to Bodybuilding Through Body Weight
Introduction
Bodybuilding is the act of turning your willpower into muscle growth
and physical strength. In order to achieve the body you’re looking for you will
need to push yourself, nobody else can do this but you. These exercises will
serve as building blocks for the castle you’re constructing, but what you choose
to do with them and how you utilize them is entirely based on how far you’re
willing to go in order to become the person you want to be.
Basics
This is a calisthenics or body weight based program, you do not need a
single piece of equipment in order to begin, but a door frame pull-up bar is
essential for a large portion of the exercises, this can be ordered online or
bought in store for very cheap ($20-$40).
Pull-up Bar Purchase link $24.99 (not sponsored LOL)
https://www.target.com/p/ignite-by-spri-pull-up-bar-black/-/A-77755215#
lnk=sametab
Bodyweight exercise definition:
“Bodyweight exercises (also called Bodyweight workout) are strength-training exercises that
use the individual's own weight to provide resistance against gravity. Bodyweight exercises
can enhance a range of biomotor abilities including strength, power, endurance, speed,
flexibility, coordination and balance.”
Weight and Dieting
Because this is a bodyweight based training program you will benefit
greatly by cutting down body fat, every pound of fat you have is the same as
wearing a weighted belt while doing the exercises. This means being heavier
will make workouts far more difficult, but will also build more muscle as a
result. I highly recommend going into a caloric deficit, if your goal is to lose fat
and build muscle, increase your protein intake, but decrease your total calories
consumed in a day. Your personal weight gain and loss will be something you
will learn and control over time as you form your diet, although I recommend
eating .8 -1.5 grams of protein per pound you weigh a day, this number is based
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on how much your current intake is and how much muscle you have if you’re
just starting you don’t need to eat as much protein as somebody who’s been
training for years.
Human Musculature Chart
Dividing your workouts
When training you will generally want to focus on specific muscle groups
on certain days. These muscle groups are often divided by which ones are
activated when doing types of exercises. For example a pull-up activates your
back, biceps, and forearms, on a day in which you do pull-ups as a part of your
routine you will also want to do exercises which focus on that same muscle
group. The goal is to overload your muscles to the point where they break down
and build up stronger the following days. If you train multiple different muscle
groups on the same day but don’t put enough effort or volume into any specific
one you may see no growth at all. This is why I and many others divide our
workouts into something called a split.
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Split Example
Monday: Chest, triceps and shoulders.
Tuesday: Back and biceps.
Wednesday: Legs, core.
Thursday: Rest.
Friday: Chest, triceps and shoulders.
Saturday: Back and biceps.
Sunday: Legs, core.
This is a common split that works very well for bodybuilding, it’s one
that you can follow throughout the year, and allows for ample rest time for
each muscle group. This is the split that I personally follow and have followed
for years.
Creating your workout routine
When creating a workout routine you will want to follow the split
provided, or something similar. It’s good to have days where you change
things up and train full body, or focus just on arms, or just on legs, or your
weak points etc. But sticking to a solid routine is key for consistent growth. The
volume, intensity, and exercises that you’re capable of performing will vary
based on your experience and strength so testing yourself is essential to
creating a solid plan.
The fundamental exercises that you should test yourself on before
creating a workout routine are pull-ups, push-ups, and squats. I will be
dividing the different degrees of performance in these exercises by three
levels, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.
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Beginner:
(0-5) pull-ups
(0-10) push-ups
(0-20) squats
Intermediate
(5-15) pull-ups
(10-30) push-ups
(20-60) squats
Advanced
(15-30) pull-ups
(30-60) push-ups
(60-100) squats
God
(30+) pull-ups
(60+) push-ups
(100+) squats
There comes a point where it’s almost pointless to do an exercise in
terms of muscle growth, This is around the 20+ rep mark. If you’re able to
consistently do over 20 reps of an exercise you should switch to something
more difficult or increase the control/explosiveness of the exercise. If you do
the same workout every day, for example One Punch Man’s ​100 pushups, 100
sit ups, 100 squats, and a 10 km run. There will come a day where you stop
progressing. This is why you must always increase the difficulty of your
training as you grow stronger if you want to continue to see growth. Below is a
list of exercises that increase in difficulty exponentially. These exercises will
serve to test your level of physical strength as you train. You should be
consistently trying new, harder exercises and as they become doable
incorporate them into your workout routines.
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List of exercises
Chest, triceps, front delts
Beginner:
Wall push-ups
Incline push-ups
Kneeling push-ups
chair/bench dips
Intermediate:
Close grip push-ups
Decline push-ups
Wide Grip push-ups
Diamond push-ups
Parallel bar dips
Horizontal bar dips
Advanced:
One arm push-ups
Weighted push-ups
Dynamic push-ups
Weighted dips
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List of exercises
Back, biceps, rear delts
Beginner:
Dead hangs
Wall pulls
Pull-up negatives
Standing pull-ups (feet supporting your weight)
Intermediate:
Pull-ups
Chin-ups
Close grip pull-ups
Wide grip pull-ups
Chest to bar pull-ups
L sit pull-ups
Advanced:
Weighted pull-ups
Typewriter pull-ups
Assisted 1 arm pull-ups
Assisted 1 arm chin-ups
Muscle ups
1 arm pull-ups
1 arm chin-ups
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List of exercises
Legs
Beginner:
Half squats
Supported squats
Wall sits
Squats
Standing calves raises
Lunges
Step ups
Intermediate:
Close squats
Jumping squats
Paused squats
Supported single leg squats
Supported single leg calves raises
Lateral lunges
Advanced:
Box jumps
Single leg squats (pistol squats)
Single leg calves raises
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List of exercises
Core
Beginner:
Planks
Lying bent leg raises
Crunches
situps
Intermediate:
3 limb plank
2 limb plank
Lying straight leg raises
Hanging knee raises
Advanced:
L sit
Hanging straight leg raises
Human flagpole
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Creating your workout plan
If you are new to working out or have never done calisthenics I would
highly recommend looking into how to properly perform the listed exercises
while you begin to train. When I first began I would watch youtube videos on
how to do different exercises in my spare time or in the middle of my workout,
it should only take a couple days to get the form down and after that it’s all
muscle memory. Based on the training split you will want to pick 4 different
exercises within the same muscle group to perform. These 4 exercises should
be challenging for you, but you should be able to do about 5 sets of each
exercise and 6-12 reps per set. You will want to push your muscles to failure on
the final sets of each exercise, this means you’ve worked so hard you’re
physically incapable of doing another rep. If you do less than 6 reps a set you’re
not getting in optimal volume to create muscle hypertrophy (​the enlargement
of an organ or tissue from the increase in size of its cells) and if you’re doing
more than 12 reps per set the exercise isn’t difficult enough. Between that
range of about 6-12 reps per set while still pushing your muscles until failure is
the sweet spot.
An example of an intermediate chest day would be
5 sets, 6-12 reps of C
​ lose grip push-ups
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Wide Grip push-ups
5 sets,6 -12 reps of Parallel bar dips
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Diamond push-ups
You will find that the exercises that are more difficult than others, for
example the parallel bar dips being harder than close grip push-ups are easier
to do at the beginning of a workout rather than the end. The order in which you
do the exercises that you choose for your workout routines will be something
you learn over time. In general it’s good to warm up with easier exercises, then
do the hardest exercises in the middle of a workout and finish off by going until
failure on moderately difficult ones.
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Full Workout Plan Example
Monday: Chest, triceps and shoulders.
5 sets, 6-12 reps of ​Close grip push-ups
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Wide Grip push-ups
5 sets,6-12 reps of Parallel bar dips
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Diamond push-ups
Tuesday: Back and biceps.
5 sets, 6-12 reps of ​Pull-ups
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Chin-ups
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Close grip pull-ups
5 sets 6-12 reps of Wide grip pull-ups
Wednesday: Legs, core.
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Jumping squats
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Paused squats
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Supported single leg squats
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Supported single leg calves raises
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Lying straight leg raises
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Hanging knee raises
Thursday: Rest.
Friday: Chest, triceps and shoulders.
5 sets, 6-12 reps of ​Close grip push-ups
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Wide Grip push-ups
5 sets,6-12 reps of Parallel bar dips
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Diamond push-ups
Saturday: Back and biceps.
5 sets, 6-12 reps of ​Pull-ups
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Chin-ups
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Close grip pull-ups
5 sets 6-12 reps of Wide grip pull-ups
Sunday: Legs, core.
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Jumping squats
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Paused squats
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Supported single leg squats
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Supported single leg calves raises
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Lying straight leg raises
5 sets, 6-12 reps of Hanging knee raises
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After doing calisthenics for an extended period of time you will make
things that “normal” people perceive as difficult or even impossible look
easier than wiping your ass. After properly training for a year or two you
should be able to go from beginner to intermediate or intermediate to
advanced no problem. As long as you adequately feed your body, increase the
intensity, volume, and difficulty of your exercises over time as you become
stronger you will be able to accomplish whatever fitness goals you have.
Calisthenics is an amazing way to get into bodybuilding. It’s exactly how I
started, my first 2 years of training I exclusively did bodyweight exercises and
put on crazy amounts of muscle from it, prior to calisthenics I wouldn’t have
had the confidence to even walk into a gym and begin working out. I still do
calisthenics all the time and weighted pull-ups and muscle ups are my favorite
exercises by far.
You know yourself better than anyone else, you know your limits, you
know if you’re not working hard enough, it’s up to you to push yourself to
become the person you want to be, you’re the only one that has the power to
achieve your dreams. As you train you will begin to form mind muscle
connections and become more and more comfortable performing exercises,
become more comfortable with your body, what was once a chore will become
fun, and what was once an insecurity will become one of your proudest
accomplishments. Words can’t even explain how much i’ve grown since I
started working out and I would love to share that feeling with other people.
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I really appreciate all of you from the bottom of my heart, you’ve done so
many great things for me and have inspired me to become a far better person than I
ever would have expected and for that I am eternally grateful, i’m glad I could have
the privilege to do the same for you as you do for me.
I hope you all accomplish your goals, love you guys -Tyler Nichols