Where does Weight Lifting come in?

With all of the emphasis on natural exercises, where do we stand on weight lifting? Is it to be avoided completely? Some bodyweight exercise “gurus” say yes, that weight lifting has zero use in the shadow of a good bodyweight calisthenics program. Die hard weight lifters (and most personal trainers, by the way) tend to gloss over bodyweight exercises, labeling them as weak and unable to facilitate any true gains in strength. Both extremes err.

We advocate natural exercising as the most important foundational exercise system. Weight lifting has its place as a supplemental system of exercise. It helps shape muscles in areas that might be hard to reach with bodyweight exercises. Doing weighted barbell squats once in a while provides a nice digression from endless free squats, for example (though I would recommend buying a weight vest if you want to add weight to your calisthenics routine). But use common sense.

Continually increasing the amount of weight you train with, while keeping the number of sets and reps the same, will lead to damaged tendons, joints, and muscles. It is not a very smart way to train at all. Train for endurance first and foremost, with exercises using just your own body, and you avoid most of the above-mentioned problems.

Also, consider that there are natural alternatives to most weight lifting movements. For example, instead of the bench press, you do pushups. But you don’t just do standard pushups, you do hindu pushups, dive-bomber pushups, diamond pushups, wide stance pushups, and the alligator walk. Do it a lot, and you will get stronger without getting too large. If, after you have done pushups for a long time, you want to add weight, just slip on a weight vest.

Likewise, instead of weighted barbell squats at the gym, you can do flat-footed or raised-heel squats, frog jumps, horse stance, lunges, po, and eventually work your way up to weight-vest squats.

Instead of the military press, which has ruined many a shoulder cuff, try handstand pushups. One of my all-time favorite exercises, handstand pushups are amazing, and there are many different ways to do them. They build incredible strength in the shoulders without the damage of the military press.

For a natural biceps (and back) developer, do a lot of chin-ups and pull-ups. For triceps (and chest), besides the pushups, do dips.

With a good bodyweight calisthenics program, you will feel very confident, knowing that your program is building strength, endurance and flexibility simultaneously. You may not get massive (click here for a secret about massive bodybuilders) , but that is not a particularly important goal anyway.

Large muscles of the weight-lifting kind tend to constrict rather than encourage movement. The bottom line is, weight lifting is recommended only as a supplemental system, not one's most frequent conditioning program.

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