How To Maximize Bodyweight Exercises With the Training EvolutionWriten by Joe Driscoll
Its a familiar story. Youve been doing a bodyweight exercise routine, or even weight training, and youve peaked and cant seem to make any more gains. Now youre bored with the routine and thinking of doing what most do when faced with this dilemma, quitting.
Before you do that, let me introduce you to the secrets of the training evolution, and how you can use it to make incredible gains in your training.
Nearly all traditional exercise is one-dimensional, this is true for bodyweight exercises as well as weight training. Even in an exercise that appears to have a lot of movement, youre rooted to the ground in a stable atmosphere, such as the pushup.
With pushups, the movement is all up and down, and this is true for the:
1 Arms
2 Shoulders
3 Hips
What normally happens is when you peak is this type of exercise, your body has learned and adapted to the motion completely, but this motion is really nothing like the challenges you are faced with in everyday life, even in something as simple as walking. Life isnt balanced, so training shouldnt be.
If you were to plug the pushup into a training evolution, it would look like this:
1 The basic pushup
2 Pushup, feet on stability ball
3 Pushup, feet on stability ball, hands on balance disks
This pushup example is a very simple example. The training evolution for many exercises can sometimes contain up to 15 or more stages.
By exercising in this manner, you continue to force the body to adapt and dont allow it to peak and become stagnant. Not only that, but by using the stability ball and balance disks you are now exercising in unstable atmospheres. Doing this will get the smaller micro-muscles of the spine engaged. These muscles can be referred to as the athleticism muscles and will increase your:
1 Quickness
2 Reactions
3 Strength
4 And much, much more...
In this manner of exercising, its most important not to rush the training evolution. Only go to the next stage when youre ready. Youll know when youre ready when a stage becomes easy and is no longer challenging.
About the Author: Joe Driscoll is a former Martial Arts world champion and the author of Conditioning and Beyond and several other books on fitness, conditioning and Martial Arts Training. Find out more about Joe and his training concepts at http://www.FightingShape.com