Bodyweight training - not as lame as I thought - part 2

Last week I spoke about my recent foray into bodyweight trainig following my shameful realisation that I couldnt perform a one-arm press-up on my left side.

Years of barbell bench pressing appeared to do me no good, as one particular (smaller) trainer at our studio happily bashed out a number of bodyweight feats which I immediately failed at. This left me utterly emasculated, but eager to rectify things. 

So, I decided on 3 basic bodyweight exercises to master;

-The one arm press up

-The pistol/single leg squat

-The lever

And set out a plan of attack.

As I mentioned in part 1, bodyweight training lends itself to higher frequency, submaximal training. In plain English, the best way to master many bodyweight drills, is to perform them as frequently as you can without ever fully exerting yourself on each set. 

In essence, these movements are skills to be practised rather than trained to exhaustion. 

So with that in mind I came up with regressions (easier variations) of each exercise and set out to perform them in a circuit fashion as many times throughout the day as possible. Well known coach Pavel Tsatsouline calls this type of training "greasing the groove", the idea being that the constant, submaximal exposures to the movement makes you more and more efficient at it without overly taxing your body.

This circuit is done every day in addition to my regular strength training sessions.

Here's a quick video of the regressions I used to improve my one arm press up. In the next few posts I'll share the ones I used to improve the lever and pistol, and some thoughts on how to build it into your own training.