PERFORMANCE MENU
JOURNAL OF HEALTH & ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE
Bodyweight Skill Integration
Pudgy Stockton
Jim Bathurst
I admire the strongmen and women of old. Here were
people who could move a mountain of iron yet could
also control themselves in various bodyweight strength,
acrobatic, and balancing skills. And why shouldn’t they
(and we) be proficient with both the weights and our
bodies? As it’s been said, “Handbalancing to a bodybuilder, a weightlifter or any barbell man, is as natural
as a duck taking to water.”
Both weight training and bodyweight skills create muscular tension and test the body’s ability to coordinate
itself in a single task. Yet I feel being able to move and
control your body builds a unique strength and coordination that weights can’t quite match, and vice versa.
This is the reason I’ve included various bodyweight skills
alongside my weight training for quite some time. I also
include both in my workouts because I enjoy training
each one. Is any other reason really needed?
Now when I talk of bodyweight skills in this article, I’m
talking of both static positions (e.g. planche, handstand) and those requiring joint movement and range
of motion (e.g. one arm chin, one arm pushup). The
Bert Assirati
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term skill also assumes an above average amount of
strength and/or balance to perform.
When I name a skill, I’m also referring to any lesser progressive skills and exercises. So this means easier skills
that match one’s current strength level as well as any
other work one might do to achieve the named skill. I
have not elaborated greatly on all these progressive
exercises and skills, though, as it would turn this article
into a very long list of tutorials.
Strength Skills:
Complementary Combinations
When attempting to integrate bodyweight skills into
your workout, the first inclination is to continue your
regular weight training routine and tack on the various
skills wherever you see fit. Problems often arise, as you
may do too much work during the week and not allow
the body to properly recover. You may also fatigue the
body too much during a workout and interfere with
other exercises in your program. Another problem is
the lack of focus you’ll feel when trying to cover several dozen different exercises in the same training week.
A better alternative comes in understanding how
various bodyweight skills and weight training exercises
complement each other. Working on one will show a
carryover and improvement in the other. Instead of including both during a training session, you can switch
back and forth as needed. It’s the concept of “same,
but different.” The same general movements and muscles are worked, but in different ways. You’ll still need
to spend time practicing the skill, working through its
various progressions, and learning its subtleties, but
now you won’t feel that you’re completely neglecting
a skill as you work on a complementary weight training
exercise.
Planche
Weighted Dip
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but should get
you thinking about the various combinations you can
put together. I’ll elaborate how to work these combinations into your training routines later in the article.
Planche: Weighted dips, weighted pushups, decline
and flat bench pressing (barbells and dumbbells)
I’ve found working weighted dips to be one of the best
exercises to compliment planche work. The dip builds
up the strength in the pressing muscles of the chest,
shoulder and triceps at a similar angle. Also important
is the fact that the scapulae can move freely during
the exercise. In fact, I find it essential to make sure to
press up as much as possible at the top of the dip, mimicking the press needed when holding the planche.
Working on weighted pushups also allow for scapular
movement, as well as the added challenge of keeping the midsection tight. They generally don’t allow for
as much added weight as a dip, though.
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The decline and flat bench press are included because they will improve general pressing strength. In
fact, it’s often said that some Olympic gymnasts who
posses a high level of planche strength can benchpress nearly twice their bodyweight the first time they
try. While this may be just an urban legend, the exercises should help the planche to some degree. They
do not allow the scapulae to move as freely as in the
weighted dip, though.
One arm pushup: One arm dumbbell chest press,
weighted dips, any bench press (especially closegrip)
The one arm pushup is a skill requiring good horizontal
pushing strength and the ability to generate tension
through the body. The one arm dumbbell chest press
accomplishes both of these things. There is a differ-
Front Lever
The common factor among all these skills is the need
for a high level of back strength. While the weighted
chin-ups and pull-ups seem to be the most complementary to other vertical pulling skills (such as the one
arm chin-ups/pull-ups and muscle-ups), one should
not discount heavy rowing to help these skills as well.
Rowing will especially help you pull the elbows back
and finish strong and high above the bar for the one
arm chin-ups/and pull-ups.
The front lever is a skill that requires a great deal of
upper body tension and a lot of back involvement.
It is often said that the skill doesn’t even need to be
trained; that heavy pull-ups will be sufficient to build the
strength. I’ve found this to be true to a certain degree.
You’ll still have to practice the front lever, but once you
can do a pull-up with 100 extra pounds around your
waist, you’ll find the front lever much easier! The pullover is also included in the list as a complement to the
front lever. Muscle recruitment is very similar, even if the
midsection is not stressed to as great a degree.
One Arm Push-up
ence, though, in the exact tension needed throughout the body. The one arm pushup requires cross-body
tension from the pressing hand to the opposite foot
while the one arm dumbbell chest press requires tension from the pressing hand to the same side foot. Despite this, learning to keep a unilateral tension in the
body while pressing will help the one arm pushup.
The back lever will also come about with heavy weighted pulling and rowing exercises, even easier than the
front lever in my experience.
Pull-up
The bench presses and dips are again included, as
they will increase general pressing strength in the horizontal direction. The close grip bench press is particularly recommended, as the arms are close to the sides,
just like the one arm pushup. Such a position focuses
on and helps strengthen the triceps.
Front lever, Back Lever, Muscle-Ups, One arm Chinups/Pull-ups: Weighted Chin-ups/Pull-ups, One Arm
Rows, Weighted Rack Rows, Bent-over Rows, Pullovers
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Now in the choice between chin-ups and pull-ups you
should definitely work both, but I’ve found a better carryover to the front lever with weighted pull-ups due to
the similar line of pull and muscular recruitment of the
back and biceps. Specifically, I keep my elbows about
shoulder width apart when I pull instead of flared out to
the side. This feels remarkably similar to a front lever.
Pulling in this manner will also carryover very well to
the muscle-up (on the rings or a bar). The muscle-up
is another skill that some may find doesn’t need to be
trained often (or at all) if one is doing heavy pull-ups.
Building up your maximal strength through weighted
pull-ups will allow you to fly through the sticking point
of this skill—the point where one transitions from pull-up
to dip.
Handstand pushups, Simple Handstand Press:
Military press, Push press
The military press and handstand pushup are perhaps
the most obvious of the skill-weight training combinations. Each is going to increase your vertical pressing
strength in a very similar way. Make sure to work the
handstand pushups in a full range of motion with shoulders lowered all the way down to the hands in order to
see the greatest carryover to the military press.
The biggest difference to point out is a greater demand for torso stiffness and stability with the military
press, while the handstand pushup, especially freestanding away from a wall, will require a greater sense
of balance.
The push press has the advantage of putting the
weight over the head with help of the legs, then lowering it down slowly. This is quite similar to the progressive
Handstand Push-up
Handstand Press
Military Press
means of learning a handstand pushup where one
lowers oneself down from the top of a handstand to
the floor.
The simple handstand press, where one presses into a
handstand from a squatting position, will greatly benefit from the increased shoulder strength that the military and push press provide. Practice will still be needed though to learn the balance for this skill.
One arm handstand pushup: One arm shoulder press,
One arm push press
Both the one arm versions of the handstand pushup
and overhead press have different techniques then
their two arm brethren. Most notably is the ability to
“press off the lat.” By flexing the lat you can create upper body tension and control the movement better.
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Straight arm cable pull-downs to the side of the body
most closely mimic the motion and unique muscular
stress of the iron cross. Even still, there are ways to cheat
the movement and give a false sense of progress towards the iron cross. In addition, shoulder positioning
and balance on the rings still needs to be learned.
Pistol
With any one arm handstand pushup work, you have
the advantage of using the other arm for assistance something that is too awkward to do smoothly with the
shoulder press. But with the one arm shoulder press,
as with the two arm version, there’s the demand for
greater muscular tension through the midsection.
The other complementary weight training exercises
listed will help to build up general strength in the chest
and back, which are the two largest muscles activated during the cross. Exercises such as weighted ring
dips, especially focusing on the hands turned out, offer a close approximation of the muscular stress of the
iron cross.
Ring Dip
The one arm push press will also allow the arm and
shoulder to experience a higher load and degree of
tension, which is essential for controlling the negative
motion of any one arm handstand pushup work.
Pistols: Weighted squats, lunges, step-ups
When learning how to do a one legged squat, I have
found the biggest limiting factor to be strength, not
balance. And the more strength one has in their legs,
the more one can focus on the balance. With that
said, deep, weighted two legged squats are arguably
the best exercise for the quad-dominant one legged
squat. It should be noted that I’m referring to high-bar
Olympic squats and not low-bar squats, which are hip
dominant.
Just about every other heavy, weighted exercise you
do for the legs is going to help the pistol along in some
way. Unilateral work such as lunges, especially overhead versions, will work to build up stability in the frontal plane. This should prove helpful if side-to-side balance in the pistol is a problem.
Iron Cross: Straight Arm Cable Pull-downs, Weighted
Chin-ups/Pull-ups, Weighted Dips (especially on rings)
Of all the skills discussed so far, the iron cross will be one
that requires the largest amount of specific skill training
in comparison to its weight training complements. This
is due to the highly unique activation and synergy of
the muscles of the upper body.
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I find one can include these types of skills in their workout at the very beginning when fresh. Training the skills
for just a short period of time at the start of each workout will help to keep the skill familiar, yet prevent excess fatigue for the rest of the workout to follow.
You may also practice these skills on the off days for
10-15 minutes. I’ve found that such small blocks of time
taken on your rest days to mesh well without interfering
with recovery.
You can also integrate the skills in short amounts of time
throughout the day—a method commonly referred to
as “greasing the groove”. Here you try to get as much
quality work done throughout the day while staying as
fresh as possible.
Remember that we are trying to teach the body how
to delicately balance, so the quality of the practice is
diminished when overly fatigued. So whichever method you choose, stop practice when you become tired
and your form becomes consistently worse.
Integration and Periodization of Skills
I don’t write this section to fully explain the various
forms of periodization; there are numerous articles
written on that already. I am also not giving complete
sample programs. In an article that already presents
the reader with several options to think about, I would
like to continue by offering several more ideas.
Handstand
Elbow Lever
Balancing Skills
When talking of balancing skills, I include such skills as
the handstand, the headstand, and the two arm elbow lever. These are skills that require one to learn a
delicate balance while inducing relatively minimal fatigue of the body during each attempt.
I also include one arm variations such as the one arm
handstand and one arm elbow lever. These tend to be
more strenuous though, so one should take note of the
accumulating fatigue and plan accordingly, whether
in less volume or different placement in one’s training,
to prevent them from interfering with other workouts.
I do not include such skills like the planche in this group.
Although it requires balance to perform, it is very fatiguing for most. You may reclassify certain skills based
on your strength level, though.
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Basic Integration
Let’s look at a simple four-day M-Tu-Th-Fr, upper/lower
body split. Let’s assume we are able to both a front
lever and a planche at this point and would like more
proficiency at a handstand.
Monday – Upper
Weighted dips
Front lever
Tuesday - Lower
Handstand work
Weighted squats
Weighted lunges
Thursday – Upper
Planche
Weighted Pullups
Friday - Lower
Handstand work
Pistols
Deadlift
Notice how planche holds have taken the place of
weighted dips as we moved from Monday to Thursday, while the front lever is replaced with weighted
pull-ups. Handstand work is placed at the beginning
of lower body workouts, but again may be placed just
about anywhere if the volume is monitored.
Or perhaps we’re working a M-W-F, total body workout. A sample routine might look as such:
Monday
Bench press
Chin-ups
Lunges
Wall Ball
Olympic Lifting and High
Intensity Interval Training
Tuesday
Handstands throughout day
When working the Olympic lifts, High Intensity Interval
Training, or any other training modality that stresses the
whole body at once, the bodyweight exercises can
be integrated in several additional ways. Whichever
you pick, care must be taken to track total volume
and allow for adequate recovery.
Wednesday
Military Press
One Arm Rows
Deadlift
Thursday
Handstands throughout day
Friday
Planche Holds
Muscle-Ups
Front Squat
You can devote as much or as little time to the bodyweight skills as you want. In the example above,
there’s only one workout containing bodyweight skills,
with handstand work done on the off days. You could
just as easily include different bodyweight skills in two
workouts, or even once every two weeks. The decision
will be based on your goals.
One way to handle things is an AM/PM split where the
total body workout is done in one half of the day, and
the bodyweight skills done in the second half. This will
allow for sufficient time to rest and recover between
sessions. Keep in mind, though, that some level of fatigue will still exist. Placing an Olympic lifting session as
the first workout in the day will help prevent any bodyweight skill work (done several hours later) from fatiguing the muscles and affecting power and technique.
On the other hand, a high intensity interval training
session may be best placed as the second workout in
the day, so that strength is not compromised for the
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bodyweight skills. One can then just grind through the
interval session with minimal compromise of training effect.
I would recommend only working two or three skills
a day in this way in order to control fatigue. For example, work one pushing skill, one pulling skill, and a
lower body skill. Alternate the different skills practiced
throughout the week if needed.
Undulating and Conjugate Periodization
In a training program where the intensity and reps
change often, or one that calls for both dynamic and
maximal efforts, the bodyweight skills are easily adjusted. Rather than working at your maximal level for the
skill, use an easier progressive exercise and change
the repetitions or the speed at which the exercise is
performed.
Let’s look again at a four-day, upper/lower split, this
time the max effort days have a greater recovery surrounding them. We’ll assume again that the planche
and front lever are maximal efforts. Pay particular attention to the fact that the muscle-up is used for a pulling motion on the upper dynamic day.
Monday – Lower Max
Tuck Planche Push-ups
When dealing with time-based skills, such as how long
one can hold a planche or a front lever, simply take
the percentage of maximal time held. Again, it’s not
perfect, but it will give you something to measure if
you so choose.
Deloading (Back Off Periods)
When taking extended time to fully recover, simply
pick an easier variation of the bodyweight skill you
are working if you want to decrease the intensity but
maintain the same volume. You can also decrease the
number of repetitions or total number of holds for the
skill if looking to maintain intensity but decrease volume.
Pistols
Deadlift
Wednesday – Upper Max
Front Lever
Planche
Friday – Lower Dynamic
Jump split squats
Speed box squats
Saturday – Upper Dynamic
Tuck planche pushups
Muscle-ups
This particular routine happens to be fairly heavy on
bodyweight exercises for the upper body, but one
could just as easily substitute a speed bench on Saturday for the planche work.
Of course, one can have maximal and submaximal
bodyweight skills in the same workout. For instance,
working the planche as a maximal effort, and adding
tuck planche pushups at the end for higher repetition,
accessory work.
While this guide is not perfect for instances where one
uses a dynamic exercise (pushups) to work on a static
position (planche), it at least helps quantify the difficulty of progressive exercises.
If your maximal effort for a skill is one of the most basic
progressions, it would be wise to pick an easier bodyweight exercise (pushups, chin-ups) or light weight
training exercise to work.
Conclusion
The decision to start training for various bodyweight
skills is completely up to you. I recommend them for
the variation they provide, the well-roundness they
can give to one’s athleticism, and just for the fun of
them. Whether you’re just adding these skills into your
routine, or have been working them for years, proper
planning and integration will help to maximize the efficiency of your training and prevent overtraining, stagnation, and frustration.
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