Bodyweight Workouts Vs Weightlifting Training: Which to do?

So you want to put on muscles, right? Well everyone tells you to lift weight. Do squats, deadlifts and benchpress. Well what about bodyweight exercises? Where do those fit in? I see some fit dudes that rely on pull ups and push ups and crunches. Well don’t be lost, I found a great article that should help you out from bodyweightbasics.com.
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At last, the question everyone wants answered: “What’s better: bodyweight training or weights?

The truth is that it does NOT have to be an “either/or” situation, bodyweight exercises and weight training can actually be combined into the same workout very effectively. BOTH training styles are useful, BOTH can make you very strong, and (in my opinion) BOTH can be a part of your training program… but there are reasons that you might want to choose one over the other depending on your situation.

Instead of arguing, let’s instead look at the different advantages and disadvantages of each training style. Let’s compare and contrast a few key elements:

Convenience:

Often times, people make excuses for themselves like “If only I had a gym…” , “If only I had more time to train…” , “If only I…”

You get the idea, excuse after excuse after excuse. The fact that bodyweight training can be done anytime, anywhere and without any equipment makes it a very valuable tool for building strength and fitness – and many of the excuses for not training are eliminated altogether.

Not to mention that without having to depend on gyms to get your workout in, you can also cut down travel time, which literally gives you more hours in the day, and it allows you to skip the membership fees and stop having to stand in line. You can train whenever you want so you can fit your workout into your busy schedule – not the other way around.

Of course, it must be understood that bodyweight training and weights each build a different “kind” of strength. If your goal is to “get stronger,” either will help you do so.

It is my opinion that the combination of weights and bodyweight training leads to the best overall development; they can compliment each other extremely well.

Progression:

One of the keys to super strength is progression – or the gradual increase of resistance. With “weights” your progression is a reflection of adding weight to the bar. If you are using more weight now than you were in the past you are undoubtedly getting stronger.

Progressing with Bodyweight training can be done through a variety of methods: These include adding sets, adding repetitions, adding “time (as in timed holds or isometrics)”, as well as form adjustments with specific exercises.

Movements:

Any movement you do with “weights” is going to be dictated by gravity. Given this fact, the resistance will be strongest in one direction – straight down. In some ways, this limits the “kind” of exercises you can do with weights. Bodyweight movements often train the body in different “ways” than weights – most often from a flexibility standpoint.

Really it’s going to come down to which exercises you enjoy, and the kind of strength you would like to develop. Bodyweight training also lends itself very well to “combo” movements, which are often difficult to perform with weights.

Choose what you want out of your workout and go from there.

It has been said that bodyweight training is a more “natural” way of training. I would agree, at least in some regards. The unnatural forces due to heavy weights (and any subsequent problems from them) can be avoided with bodyweight training. Weights do have their place, but bodyweight training can be a more useful choice for many people especially younger trainees.

Other Factors:
As I mentioned earlier, both styles develop a different “kind” of strength. One of the benefits of bodyweight training is that it can be used as a very efficient means of building tremendous lung power, which develops endurance at the same time as strength.

Sure, doing high-repetition bodyweight squats may not help you squat 1000 lbs. but on the other hand 1000 pound squats aren’t going to improve your bodyweight squat numbers either. Of course, plenty of weightlifters have destroyed their bodies in the name of building “strength.”

Regardless what you are training for, bodyweight training can be a very effective training tool; either as an addition to your workout or even as a workout all by itself. It all depends on what you need out of your workouts and quite frankly, the most important thing is to choose the training methods that you will enjoy the most.

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So I hope that helps clear up the debate for you. I do like to incorporate both into my workouts myself.

I actually took off a month from weight lifting just to devote to bodyweight workouts. This was great, it allowed me to come back and break through some of the plateu’s I was facing, plus I felt a lot more flexible.

Drop me a line over on Facebook and tell me what you think.

-Stan

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