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Remember when you were in high school and your physical education (PE) teachers made you do push-ups, chin-ups and sit-ups? What about those long-forgotten Presidential Physical Fitness Tests, which required you to run different distances for time? Whatever happened to those “old-fashioned” exercises?
While free weights and machines can certainly make your clients stronger, they often target muscles rather than movement. In addition, many free-weight and machine exercises, such as lat pull-downs and biceps curls, are open-chain exercises, which use only one joint as the resistance is moved away from or toward the body using freely movable limbs.
In contrast, most body-weight training exercises are closed-chain exercises, which use multiple joints as the resistance is moved away from or toward an anchored body part. Closed-chain exercises, which are more functional, result in greater motor unit activation and synchronization and better strength performance compared with open-chain exercises (Augustsson et al. 1998; Brindle et al. 2002).
By performing body-weight training exercises, your clients will not only look better; they will also learn how to train three-dimensional movement, acquire a greater kinesthetic awareness and become empowered as they perform tasks with their bodies. Moreover, body-weight exercises make your clients’ workouts portable, an added benefit for people who travel a lot or for those who have trouble motivating themselves to go to the gym.
9-Week Body-Weight Training Program
Training is the same for the first 2 weeks of each 3-week cycle, with the third week used for recovery and adaptation. Have your clients do these workouts 2-3 times per week. As clients progress, initially increase volume (# of reps with body weight), then decrease volume and increase intensity (by adding additional weight) and recovery period.
Weeks 1 and 2
- chin-ups: 2 x 10 reps with body weight (or weight-assisted machine), with 1-minute rest
- squats: 2 x 10 reps, with 1-minute rest
- push-ups: 2 x 8–10 reps, with 1-minute rest
Choose two exercises each workout from traditional crunches, V-sits, stability ball crunches, reverse crunches, twist crunches and medicine ball crunches: 2 x 20 reps for each, with 1-minute rest.
Week 3 (Recovery)
Same as above, using 66% of # of reps from weeks 1 and 2 for each exercise.
Weeks 4 and 5
- chin-ups: 2 x 15 reps with body weight (or weight-assisted machine), with 1-minute rest
- squats: 2 x 15 reps, with 1-minute rest
- push-ups: 2 x 12–15 reps, with 1-minute rest
Choose two exercises each workout from traditional crunches, V-sits, stability ball crunches, reverse crunches, twist crunches and medicine ball crunches: 2 x 30 reps for each, with 1-minute rest.
Week 6 (Recovery)
Same as above, using 66% of # of reps from weeks 4 and 5 for each exercise.
Weeks 7 and 8
- chin-ups: 2 x 10 reps with 105%–110% of body weight (or of weight lifted using weight-assisted machine), with 90-second rest
- squats: 2 x 10 reps with 105%–110% of body weight, with 90-second rest
- push-ups: 2 x 10 reps with 105%–110% of body weight, with 90-second rest
Choose two exercises each workout from traditional crunches, V-sits, stability ball crunches, reverse crunches, twist crunches and medicine ball crunches: 2 x 20 reps with 105%–110% of body weight for each, with 90-second rest.
Week 9 (Recovery)
Same as above, using 66% of # of reps from weeks 7 and 8 for each exercise.
For guidelines on proper body position and efficient, safe execution, refer to the complete article in the February issue of IDEA Fitness Journal IDEA Article Archive.
References
Augustsson, J., et al. 1998. Weight training of the thigh muscles using closed vs. open kinetic chain exercises: A comparison of performance enhancement. Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, 27 (1), 3–8.
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