4 Advanced Bodyweight Exercises for a Stronger Body

Guest post by Parth Shah

If you are training hard, and following a good diet, then it is almost impossible NOT to see any results. However, there comes a time when our bodies have adapted to almost everything in the book, and now we need more difficult exercises to get stronger.

The following are 4 of my most favorite advanced bodyweight exercises you can use to get stronger and challenge your workouts:

Advanced Bodyweight Exercise #1: Pushups

The first principle of making a bodyweight exercise more challenging is to lengthen your body. If you increase the distance between your target muscle (in our case, chest) and the object you’re trying to lift (your body), you decrease the mechanical advantage, so your body feels that it’s lifting more weight then it actually is.

Applying this concept to the pushup, we simply place our hands in FRONT of your chest instead of beside the chest. As you become stronger, move your hands farther and farther in front of your chest until they are in front of your head, on the floor.

Perhaps one day, you can pushups like this dude:

Advanced Bodyweight Exercise #2: Squats

The second principle of making an exercise more difficult is increasing the distance your body moves with each repetition. “Mechanical work” is equal to force (weight) times distance. When you move your body through a greater range of motion, it feels like it’s doing more work or taking on more load, and hence will get stronger.

How do we apply this concept to bodyweight squats, which are, frankly, easy for an advanced trainee. We can do quarter or half repetitions in between. So, perform a full squat by going all the way down, then come just half way up, and then go back down. Finish the movement by standing up straight.

Advanced Bodyweight Exercise #3: Pullups

One of the most tried and true ways to make any movement harder is to incorporate holds. Once you’re able to pump out a lot of pullups, you can use a 4-second hold on the top of the pullup to increase the stress placed on your muscles.

The 4-second hold is a commonly used technique in most weight-training workouts because trainees know that pausing at the top or bottom of a movement – or the part of the movement that places the most stress on your body – will help make the movement 10 times more effective, and hence increase strength and muscle development.

Advanced Bodyweight Exercise #4: Plank

The problem with the plank is that it’s static. For a beginner, staying static is hard, but advanced trainees need movement! And not just any movement. Moving in two directions is better then moving in one direction (and certainly better then not moving at all).

So, get into plank position. Hold for 5 seconds, then walk your hands and feet to the side. Hold for 5 seconds. Now, walk your hands and feet backwards. Hold for 5 seconds. Now to the left, and hold. And finally to the front and hold.

In other words, you are moving your body in a clock-wise direction while performing the plank!

Bonus Tip: Create your Own Exercise

An easy way to make any bodyweight movement harder is to reduce the amount of your bodyweight that is touching the ground. How do you do this? I’ll let YOU figure it out!

Train Hard!

– Parth Shah

About the Author: Parth Shah

Parth Shah is an average joe who’s dropped almost 30lbs using bodyweight movements alone. He loves working out at home, mostly with bodyweight training. For more information on his workouts and training methods, check out his blog at ShahTraining.com

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Awesome tips, Parth. If you enjoyed these exercises you should check out Craig Ballantyne’s 101 Bodyweight exercises and his bodyweight program.