Pull ups, dips and squats
Discussion
Hi there, just looking for a bit of advice really, any help would be much appriciated. I dont have access to a gym and like most people, I work long hours, have a young family ect ect. I do a bit of training at home and do have access to a pull up bar and some dip bars (No room for weights and a bench) and was thinking of buying a dip belt and some plates and basing my workouts around 3 main excersises; weighted pull ups, weighted dips and pistol squats. I know its not ideal but would it be possible to build a decent physique by concentrating on these three excersises? Would also throw in some press ups, inverted rows and core work. Thanks in advance.
I'm a big fan of bodyweight exercises and, as you’ve probably read, the trick is to progress onto harder variations of each exercise.
Some observations from my own experience* from doing bodyweight stuff the last year or so:
-Sooner or later you'll not be able to progress with your legs like you would if you did barbell squats and dead lifts. Can you do pistol squats already?
-Pull ups are awesome for your upper body. I used to love over-arm grasp but changed to under-arm due to snags with my shoulder
-Do each rep slowly and controlled over six seconds for strength/muscle. Nothing wrong with having a session where you knock loads of fast reps out now and again
-I see bodyweight becoming more popular where I live. There are quite a few (eastern Europeans love it) who train down the park I go to.
Some observations from my own experience* from doing bodyweight stuff the last year or so:
-Sooner or later you'll not be able to progress with your legs like you would if you did barbell squats and dead lifts. Can you do pistol squats already?
-Pull ups are awesome for your upper body. I used to love over-arm grasp but changed to under-arm due to snags with my shoulder
-Do each rep slowly and controlled over six seconds for strength/muscle. Nothing wrong with having a session where you knock loads of fast reps out now and again
-I see bodyweight becoming more popular where I live. There are quite a few (eastern Europeans love it) who train down the park I go to.
- Disclaimer. I'm no expert and my job and sometimes life means that I do the routine in fits and starts. No doubt that I'd see great results if I stuck to things long term though!
Pistol squats are pretty challenging. Great if you can do them but once you start adding volume I'm not sure where you'd go from there. I can't imagine a weighted belt would work although you could perhaps hold a disc to your chest.
Pull ups and dips, if done correctly with progression (weight or volume) should work well I would've thought.
Pull ups and dips, if done correctly with progression (weight or volume) should work well I would've thought.
Hoofy said:
Give it a go. Why do you think it might not?
Not sure to be honest. Ive never done weight training before so am a total novice at this sort of thing. As far as i can tell these excercises hit every major muscle in the body, but i would of thought that i would plateau quite quickly.TheThing said:
Not sure to be honest. Ive never done weight training before so am a total novice at this sort of thing. As far as i can tell these excercises hit every major muscle in the body, but i would of thought that i would plateau quite quickly.
My advice is to find a routine and start with the exercises you can do comfortably and progress from there. You may feel like a plonker but starting easy and progressing is better than jumping in at the deep end and getting disheartened or injured.http://www.startbodyweight.com gives examples of a routine with progressions and Calistenics Movement's youtube videos are pretty good too.
TheThing said:
Hoofy said:
Give it a go. Why do you think it might not?
Not sure to be honest. Ive never done weight training before so am a total novice at this sort of thing. As far as i can tell these excercises hit every major muscle in the body, but i would of thought that i would plateau quite quickly.
As someone mentioned, investigate progressions. It's easier to train without thinking using weights. Just add more weight to the bar. With bodyweight stuff, you have to get a bit creative when things are either too easy or are too difficult to begin with eg push ups: knees -> feet -> raise feet -> backpack on back.
Anyway, have a read through this: https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb...
Pistol squats are impressive to look at but when you break it down, large components of that is flexibility and balance (not terrible things to improve) but if you're looking at building muscle and not that bothered about flexibility (who actually needs to have ankles that mobile or a body that can balance that well?) then try shrimp squats holding onto a chair - if it's easy then you already need to look at ways of making it harder ie making your body heavier (without eating more pies).
You can build a very very good upper body physique using pull ups and dips. I probably do in excess of 300 - 400 a week of each of these exercises year-round. They are the two core exercises for my weight training. Don't worry about doing weighted versions of these either, if you can start off with 5 pull ups and 10 unweighted dips you'll be doing very well, but the strength gains will come very quickly.
Thank you all for the replies. I appreciate the advice. I like the start bodyweight website and the reddit routine. Some good info on there. Im surprised I never stumbled across it before.
Weight belt and 40kg of plates have been ordered, so enough to keep me going for a while!
Any more info or links to decent websites would be most welcomed. Thanks.
mcelliott said:
You can build a very very good upper body physique using pull ups and dips. I probably do in excess of 300 - 400 a week of each of these exercises year-round. They are the two core exercises for my weight training. Don't worry about doing weighted versions of these either, if you can start off with 5 pull ups and 10 unweighted dips you'll be doing very well, but the strength gains will come very quickly.
Im glad you replied as I know from following the training thread for a while that you love a dip and a pull up! Im also a cyclist and you look like no other cyclist I've seen before. Do you eat children? I can Manage 12 pull ups from a dead hang with strict form. Not sure how many strict dips I can do, but from memory I think i managed 23 last time I tried. Weight belt and 40kg of plates have been ordered, so enough to keep me going for a while!
Any more info or links to decent websites would be most welcomed. Thanks.
Hoofy said:
I think I can do 20kg on a good day but some people might suggest that's only because I weigh 72kg.
As for the OP's plan, it'll work well for quite a while but has a downsides:
(1) No horizontal pulling. Maybe get some dumbells so you can do rows.
(2) No mention of shoulder pre-hab work. Get some resistance bands and do lots of pull-aparts to keep your rotator cuffs healthy. Otherwise, all the dips and pull ups (especially if you use a palms away grip) will likely shred your shoulders quite quickly. Won't happen if you're one of the lucky few with bullet proof shoulders, but most of us aren't.
(3) No hinge work at all. Your hips, glutes and lower back would be vastly weaker than upper body and quads after a while. That's a good way to set up for major muscle tears if you do any sport. Maybe get a heavy kettlebell and do single leg deadlifts?
ORD said:
Add 20kg to your weight and it's like a fat bloke doing a pull up!
As for the OP's plan, it'll work well for quite a while but has a downsides:
(1) No horizontal pulling. Maybe get some dumbells so you can do rows.
(2) No mention of shoulder pre-hab work. Get some resistance bands and do lots of pull-aparts to keep your rotator cuffs healthy. Otherwise, all the dips and pull ups (especially if you use a palms away grip) will likely shred your shoulders quite quickly. Won't happen if you're one of the lucky few with bullet proof shoulders, but most of us aren't.
(3) No hinge work at all. Your hips, glutes and lower back would be vastly weaker than upper body and quads after a while. That's a good way to set up for major muscle tears if you do any sport. Maybe get a heavy kettlebell and do single leg deadlifts?
Hi ORD, thanks for the reply. I don't know any body who trains so I do genuinely appreciate all the advice guys. As for the OP's plan, it'll work well for quite a while but has a downsides:
(1) No horizontal pulling. Maybe get some dumbells so you can do rows.
(2) No mention of shoulder pre-hab work. Get some resistance bands and do lots of pull-aparts to keep your rotator cuffs healthy. Otherwise, all the dips and pull ups (especially if you use a palms away grip) will likely shred your shoulders quite quickly. Won't happen if you're one of the lucky few with bullet proof shoulders, but most of us aren't.
(3) No hinge work at all. Your hips, glutes and lower back would be vastly weaker than upper body and quads after a while. That's a good way to set up for major muscle tears if you do any sport. Maybe get a heavy kettlebell and do single leg deadlifts?
I could do body weight horizontal pulls on one of my parallel bars. Maybe use the progressions posted earlier in the thread?
Could pull aparts be done with a towel or similar?
The weights that I ordered came with dumbbell bars as well so could use them for single leg dead lifts.
Again thanks for the advice guys. Any more would be much appreciated.
Resistance bands are great. I use them when travelling.
http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/band-workout
http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/band-workout
Also very basic changes to the standard exercise like
Offset arm pressup-moving one arm forward
Destabilised pressup-using a tennis ball or wobble ball under one arm or foot. Arms on Swiss ball
Destabilised squat - wobble cushion under feet
I had to do a bunch of the above type stuff during rehab from various rugby injuries
Link to a bunch of this equipment
https://www.physique.co.uk/Rehabilitation-Exercise...
Offset arm pressup-moving one arm forward
Destabilised pressup-using a tennis ball or wobble ball under one arm or foot. Arms on Swiss ball
Destabilised squat - wobble cushion under feet
I had to do a bunch of the above type stuff during rehab from various rugby injuries
Link to a bunch of this equipment
https://www.physique.co.uk/Rehabilitation-Exercise...
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 3rd September 11:09
TheThing said:
Hi ORD, thanks for the reply. I don't know any body who trains so I do genuinely appreciate all the advice guys.
I could do body weight horizontal pulls on one of my parallel bars. Maybe use the progressions posted earlier in the thread?
Could pull aparts be done with a towel or similar?
The weights that I ordered came with dumbbell bars as well so could use them for single leg dead lifts.
Again thanks for the advice guys. Any more would be much appreciated.
No worries- happy to help.I could do body weight horizontal pulls on one of my parallel bars. Maybe use the progressions posted earlier in the thread?
Could pull aparts be done with a towel or similar?
The weights that I ordered came with dumbbell bars as well so could use them for single leg dead lifts.
Again thanks for the advice guys. Any more would be much appreciated.
I would just get the bands, really. Cheap as chips and do wonders for a lot of people.
I get zero shoulder pain now that I use them all the time. No matter how heavy and often I lift, not even a tiny bit of discomfort.
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