Your Favorite Full Body Exercises (With No Equipment)

[MrHammer]

The good thing about bodyweight squats are that they can easily be done by office workers and others with sedentary lifestyles and while they're not as tough as a real squat, they will certainly help the average person lose weight and stay fitter.

I too very much enjoy heavy squats (and deadlifts). My current PR is 120 kg squat (x3) and 185 kg deadlift (x1). My current shape is not quite at those levels though, but I do try to get in at least 3x5x100 kg once a week. Squat legs are the worst, but at the same time a sign you're doing something right

[robblok]

The good thing about bodyweight squats are that they can easily be done by office workers and others with sedentary lifestyles and while they're not as tough as a real squat, they will certainly help the average person lose weight and stay fitter.

I too very much enjoy heavy squats (and deadlifts). My current PR is 120 kg squat (x3) and 185 kg deadlift (x1). My current shape is not quite at those levels though, but I do try to get in at least 3x5x100 kg once a week. Squat legs are the worst, but at the same time a sign you're doing something right

Id say for me deadlift is more taxing as squat. Though i have improved a lot im no longer totally dead after deadlifts but they do take my breathe away more then any other exercise

[MrHammer]

Yes the deadlift is a horrible lift Sometimes after a heavy session, I feel sick the next day. Some people say you're taxing your central nervous system very hard when deadlifting. I agree from experience and would only do them every 2 weeks. Otherwise I would substitute the deadlift with power cleans which certainly also take your breath away but isn't as taxing. If I only have short time, I usually upgrade my power cleans to 'clean and press' - now there is an exercise that will have you gasping for air.

[eeeya]

A Guy at work had the p90x videos.

I watched them all and while I prefer weights, some of the body weight stuff was interesting and gave me new ideas and insight for making up workouts when away from the gym.

Squats with your back against a wall and holding it for a minute left me sore the next day.

Burpees are good too.

Weighted..I'm into dead lifts these days. Love it probably call my ones Romanian though

....sent from my new fangdangled walkie talkie

[MrHammer]

Free weight is fine if you're already in ok shape and only need to be a little more fit, particularly if you're normal weigth, then it's cool.

Some of us though can only keep the weight off by lifting heavy and spending a lot of energy that way. It also makes you much stronger and in the long run probably also healthier as will have fewer back problems. I know that once I quit deadlifting and squatting for a while, suddenly I would start waking up with back pains if I had slept on a bad mattress. Never had that before.

[eeeya]

Yeah, I work manual labour on an oil rig. So I use deadlifts, squats and back extensions as insurance.

It also educates you how to lift properly when doing lifts at work. Always with the legs and straight back. I see some other guys lifting stuff at work and just cringe.

they wont last

....sent from my new fangdangled walkie talkie

[MrHammer]

Yes, that is also and added benefit for sure. Learning how to lift with your legs and your lower back straight.

[Kalbo]

Yes the deadlift is a horrible lift Sometimes after a heavy session, I feel sick the next day. Some people say you're taxing your central nervous system very hard when deadlifting. I agree from experience and would only do them every 2 weeks. Otherwise I would substitute the deadlift with power cleans which certainly also take your breath away but isn't as taxing. If I only have short time, I usually upgrade my power cleans to 'clean and press' - now there is an exercise that will have you gasping for air.

I only deadlift once a week. Damn near kills me. Even after all this time, I still feel like a bus has hit me the next day. As I've said before, it's one of the only exercises that I don't like doing.

[tropo]

Yes, that is also and added benefit for sure. Learning how to lift with your legs and your lower back straight.

There's not as much leg work as you may think. Most of the power comes from the hips and lower back. Bending the legs too much is not the way to deadlift.

Check out the world record (2009) at 3:10 in the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6jTyDglwZU

[robblok]

I must say that is not the way i deadlift.. not even close.. i go much deeper at the start seems that they use the back more.. my legs go much more parallel to the floor.

Edited April 20, 2013 by robblok

[tropo]

I must say that is not the way i deadlift.. not even close.. i go much deeper at the start seems that they use the back more.. my legs go much more parallel to the floor.

That could be a reason why you find deadlifts so hard - you're squatting the weight and not using your back and hips enough. I deadlift how the guys in the competition video deadlift.... only a fraction of the weight though.

The exact position will depend on the length of a person's legs, torso, arms etc. If you watch some other Rippetoe videos you'll see people not squatting nearly as deep.

Edited April 20, 2013 by tropo

[robblok]

Hi,

not saying im going that deep but i certainly don't do it like those guys. Anyway i can always try it. Did my first deadlifts with straps last friday and was able to do the 150kg 8 times instead of 5 - 6. Changed the whole game as no longer were my arms the weak point. I have a sore lower back as usual.. so I do think im using that too.

[tropo]

Hi,

not saying im going that deep but i certainly don't do it like those guys. Anyway i can always try it. Did my first deadlifts with straps last friday and was able to do the 150kg 8 times instead of 5 - 6. Changed the whole game as no longer were my arms the weak point. I have a sore lower back as usual.. so I do think im using that too.

After mentioning that you go quite deep, I've no doubt that your deadlift will improve quickly if you change your technique to be more in line with what the big boys do. The way I see it, you squat for leg strength and deadlift for back strength. You'll find that most lifters also tend to round their back somewhat when they're lifting heavy... I saw a long article on this point somewhere recently (I think T-Nation).

When you say your back was hurting, do you mean the muscles, or your joints (vertebrae, sacrum etc)?

[robblok]

Hi,

not saying im going that deep but i certainly don't do it like those guys. Anyway i can always try it. Did my first deadlifts with straps last friday and was able to do the 150kg 8 times instead of 5 - 6. Changed the whole game as no longer were my arms the weak point. I have a sore lower back as usual.. so I do think im using that too.

After mentioning that you go quite deep, I've no doubt that your deadlift will improve quickly if you change your technique to be more in line with what the big boys do. The way I see it, you squat for leg strength and deadlift for back strength. You'll find that most lifters also tend to round their back somewhat when they're lifting heavy... I saw a long article on this point somewhere recently (I think T-Nation).

When you say your back was hurting, do you mean the muscles, or your joints (vertebrae, sacrum etc)?

Neither vertebrae or joints .. i mean the muscle.. you know that strip in the lower back.. and hurt as in after a good workout not hurt as in working in the garden and twisting it.

[tropo]

Hi,

not saying im going that deep but i certainly don't do it like those guys. Anyway i can always try it. Did my first deadlifts with straps last friday and was able to do the 150kg 8 times instead of 5 - 6. Changed the whole game as no longer were my arms the weak point. I have a sore lower back as usual.. so I do think im using that too.

After mentioning that you go quite deep, I've no doubt that your deadlift will improve quickly if you change your technique to be more in line with what the big boys do. The way I see it, you squat for leg strength and deadlift for back strength. You'll find that most lifters also tend to round their back somewhat when they're lifting heavy... I saw a long article on this point somewhere recently (I think T-Nation).

When you say your back was hurting, do you mean the muscles, or your joints (vertebrae, sacrum etc)?

Neither vertebrae or joints .. i mean the muscle.. you know that strip in the lower back.. and hurt as in after a good workout not hurt as in working in the garden and twisting it.

I just had to clarify. That's a good type of back pain to have and not what most people refer to by "back pain". I can't say I've ever had that.

[robblok]

Now using some straps for dead-lift gifted by poanoi (thank you) I must say they do help a lot, not that I lift that much more but the fear of dropping the stuff and a lot of strain from the lower arms is gone.

Now I do 2 x 8 140 kg then 2 x 8 150 kg. I am totally dead at the end but love it once its done. I will see if i can progress even more.. I changed form a bit more to get it away from the legs and more to the back.

Will be getting a special trap bar too for variation of dead-lift / squat and to use for traps, its been fabricated today and i can pick it up from Ultimate gym. They make great equipment, i love the lat pully i bought there.

[tropo]

Now using some straps for dead-lift gifted by poanoi (thank you) I must say they do help a lot, not that I lift that much more but the fear of dropping the stuff and a lot of strain from the lower arms is gone.

Now I do 2 x 8 140 kg then 2 x 8 150 kg. I am totally dead at the end but love it once its done. I will see if i can progress even more.. I changed form a bit more to get it away from the legs and more to the back.

Will be getting a special trap bar too for variation of dead-lift / squat and to use for traps, its been fabricated today and i can pick it up from Ultimate gym. They make great equipment, i love the lat pully i bought there.

That's pretty high reps for the deadlift.

I would have thought a rep scheme like, for example, (130, 140, 150, 160, 170kg) x 5 would be more beneficial. I'm assuming that if you can do 4 sets of 8 reps at 140 and 150, you should be able to get 170 x 5... or close to it.

If you're tiring yourself out on higher reps with lighter weights it's difficult to get stronger... and also the chances of injury are higher because you tend to get sloppier when you're pushing high reps on full body exercises as you tire.

I do 10 rep sets if it is light and for warmups, but heavy is always 5 reps. I also do the 10 rep sets on RDL, but that's more of a supplementary exercise than a pure strength exercise.

[robblok]

5 reps would be the minimum as i like to grow from it its not about strength that is why i stay high in the reps. I have done 5 x 5 and grown so that would be the lowest amount of reps id want to do. But your right for an exercise like this it might be beneficial to go lower in the reps. I have always been one to stay a bit high in the reps as i feel its better for me.

You are right i'm hitting a plateau too haven't progressed much for the last 3 weeks on deadlift just a few reps and feeling. But still cant expect gain all the time.

[tropo]

5 reps would be the minimum as i like to grow from it its not about strength that is why i stay high in the reps. I have done 5 x 5 and grown so that would be the lowest amount of reps id want to do. But your right for an exercise like this it might be beneficial to go lower in the reps. I have always been one to stay a bit high in the reps as i feel its better for me.

You are right i'm hitting a plateau too haven't progressed much for the last 3 weeks on deadlift just a few reps and feeling. But still cant expect gain all the time.

The deadlift is a bit different from a regular exercise as it activates the whole body.

You can get a lot bigger on 5 reps, but then again deadlifts are not really a get bigger type of exercise and more of an overall strength exercise. You'd also be doing some sets at higher reps too, so you get a combination of both.The 5 rep system you use is different from the system I was suggesting. It's the Doggcrapp method where only the last set of 5 is a maximal effort. That last set is the one that counts. The one you using to gauge your progress. The one which will build your strength. The one that should always be climbing provided you're dialed into the program correctly. If I'm right, from memory your system was to use the same weight for 5 sets of 5?

I don't go full out on deadlifts because I don't want to injure my back which is a bit touch and go at the best of times, but if I had a really good back I'd be pounding these to the max.

[bangkockney]

Burpees are great. But I prefer bastards: a burpee followed by a star jump.

Press-ups, sit-ups, chins and dips. I know you stated no equipment, but arm-only rope climbs are awesome too. Grab a bergan for an additional challenge.

If you have a partner to exercise with, try Russian running, great when you don't have much space:

Mark a distance of 20m - 40m, one person at each end. First man sprints one length, when he reaches the second man, he sprints, whilst the first man does bastards. Second man completes sprint, shouts go, starts bastards and first man sprints again, this time doing 2 shuttles. And so on. Increase the shuttles progressively from 1 to 10 and then down to 1 again.

Give it everything you've got, and only stop if you complete the exercise or your heart and lungs explode out your chest.

Warning: this a real balls-out effort but you'll love yourself for it.

We used to do the sprints carrying ammo boxes sometimes too, or the metal boxes that mortar, 81mm rounds came in, filled with rocks. Obviously you can improvise.

I love circuits too, for a complete body workout, but low intensity on knees, ankles etc. Got plenty of exercises for your circuits if you want me to share.

[jambco984]

Burpees are great. But I prefer bastards: a burpee followed by a star jump.

Press-ups, sit-ups, chins and dips. I know you stated no equipment, but arm-only rope climbs are awesome too. Grab a bergan for an additional challenge.

If you have a partner to exercise with, try Russian running, great when you don't have much space:

Mark a distance of 20m - 40m, one person at each end. First man sprints one length, when he reaches the second man, he sprints, whilst the first man does bastards. Second man completes sprint, shouts go, starts bastards and first man sprints again, this time doing 2 shuttles. And so on. Increase the shuttles progressively from 1 to 10 and then down to 1 again.

Give it everything you've got, and only stop if you complete the exercise or your heart and lungs explode out your chest.

Warning: this a real balls-out effort but you'll love yourself for it.

We used to do the sprints carrying ammo boxes sometimes too, or the metal boxes that mortar, 81mm rounds came in, filled with rocks. Obviously you can improvise.

I love circuits too, for a complete body workout, but low intensity on knees, ankles etc. Got plenty of exercises for your circuits if you want me to share.

Please share.

I enjoyed reading what you do, reminds me of the training I used to do in the Navy.

What is "Russian running"?

[Helas]

Running and swimming are best exercise that is done without any equipments. Mostly i getup early in the morning and go for a walk and also do running there alone. The fresh wind is feel like the sound of heaven. That's why I think, I feel fresh and stay active whole day.

[MrHammer]

Now using some straps for dead-lift gifted by poanoi (thank you) I must say they do help a lot, not that I lift that much more but the fear of dropping the stuff and a lot of strain from the lower arms is gone.

Now I do 2 x 8 140 kg then 2 x 8 150 kg. I am totally dead at the end but love it once its done. I will see if i can progress even more.. I changed form a bit more to get it away from the legs and more to the back.

Will be getting a special trap bar too for variation of dead-lift / squat and to use for traps, its been fabricated today and i can pick it up from Ultimate gym. They make great equipment, i love the lat pully i bought there.

Have you tried deadlifting with chalk instead of straps? Chalk adds a good 20lbs for me. You can really lift heavy deads without a firm grip. I believe that when your grip starts to slip (from sweat in palms), the rest of your body begins signaling for you to drop the weight. It is almost like a reflex.

Straps are considering 'cheating' at least with powerlifters who put up their numbers ;-)

[robblok]

Now using some straps for dead-lift gifted by poanoi (thank you) I must say they do help a lot, not that I lift that much more but the fear of dropping the stuff and a lot of strain from the lower arms is gone.

Now I do 2 x 8 140 kg then 2 x 8 150 kg. I am totally dead at the end but love it once its done. I will see if i can progress even more.. I changed form a bit more to get it away from the legs and more to the back.

Will be getting a special trap bar too for variation of dead-lift / squat and to use for traps, its been fabricated today and i can pick it up from Ultimate gym. They make great equipment, i love the lat pully i bought there.

Have you tried deadlifting with chalk instead of straps? Chalk adds a good 20lbs for me. You can really lift heavy deads without a firm grip. I believe that when your grip starts to slip (from sweat in palms), the rest of your body begins signaling for you to drop the weight. It is almost like a reflex.

Straps are considering 'cheating' at least with powerlifters who put up their numbers ;-)

I don't care if its considered cheating as i do it for my body and hate it that grip is a limiting factor. I don't really care much about the numbers though right now doing 150 x 5 160 x 5 170 x 5 180 x 3 (aiming for 5). For me its not about the weight but about the exercise. My grip was limiting the other parts of the body to get the benefits so now its all good.

[tropo]

Now using some straps for dead-lift gifted by poanoi (thank you) I must say they do help a lot, not that I lift that much more but the fear of dropping the stuff and a lot of strain from the lower arms is gone.

Now I do 2 x 8 140 kg then 2 x 8 150 kg. I am totally dead at the end but love it once its done. I will see if i can progress even more.. I changed form a bit more to get it away from the legs and more to the back.

Will be getting a special trap bar too for variation of dead-lift / squat and to use for traps, its been fabricated today and i can pick it up from Ultimate gym. They make great equipment, i love the lat pully i bought there.

Have you tried deadlifting with chalk instead of straps? Chalk adds a good 20lbs for me. You can really lift heavy deads without a firm grip. I believe that when your grip starts to slip (from sweat in palms), the rest of your body begins signaling for you to drop the weight. It is almost like a reflex.

Straps are considering 'cheating' at least with powerlifters who put up their numbers ;-)

I don't care if its considered cheating as i do it for my body and hate it that grip is a limiting factor. I don't really care much about the numbers though right now doing 150 x 5 160 x 5 170 x 5 180 x 3 (aiming for 5). For me its not about the weight but about the exercise. My grip was limiting the other parts of the body to get the benefits so now its all good.

Competition deadlifters only do 1 rep. If you're training with 5 rep sets straps are necessary if the grip is limiting your weight/reps. That's not cheating but smart training.

Edited June 13, 2013 by tropo

[MrHammer]

Now using some straps for dead-lift gifted by poanoi (thank you) I must say they do help a lot, not that I lift that much more but the fear of dropping the stuff and a lot of strain from the lower arms is gone.

Now I do 2 x 8 140 kg then 2 x 8 150 kg. I am totally dead at the end but love it once its done. I will see if i can progress even more.. I changed form a bit more to get it away from the legs and more to the back.

Will be getting a special trap bar too for variation of dead-lift / squat and to use for traps, its been fabricated today and i can pick it up from Ultimate gym. They make great equipment, i love the lat pully i bought there.

Have you tried deadlifting with chalk instead of straps? Chalk adds a good 20lbs for me. You can really lift heavy deads without a firm grip. I believe that when your grip starts to slip (from sweat in palms), the rest of your body begins signaling for you to drop the weight. It is almost like a reflex.

Straps are considering 'cheating' at least with powerlifters who put up their numbers ;-)

I don't care if its considered cheating as i do it for my body and hate it that grip is a limiting factor. I don't really care much about the numbers though right now doing 150 x 5 160 x 5 170 x 5 180 x 3 (aiming for 5). For me its not about the weight but about the exercise. My grip was limiting the other parts of the body to get the benefits so now its all good.

Competition deadlifters only do 1 rep. If you're training with 5 rep sets straps are necessary if the grip is limiting your weight/reps. That's not cheating but smart training.

I never said it was cheating, but that powerlifters don't consider numbers put up using straps. It is two different lifts with and without straps. Without straps you work your arms more as you need to grip the barbell. With straps you are essentially just using your arms as cables for your pull. Straps are fine, some people (not robblok) may just risk injuries more with straps because they can lift more than they have grip strength for. Personally, I've never seen the need, but I don't do heavy 5 rep sets. Over 150 kg I only do doubles and singles.

[robblok]

It kinda depends on what you want, i like to train my legs back and lower back, you don't train them optimal if your grip is limiting this. If you think your grip is more important then the rest then don't use straps. I am just not that interested in my lower arms, its holding back the rest of the development of the body as your not using those muscles at the fullest.

[tropo]

It kinda depends on what you want, i like to train my legs back and lower back, you don't train them optimal if your grip is limiting this. If you think your grip is more important then the rest then don't use straps. I am just not that interested in my lower arms, its holding back the rest of the development of the body as your not using those muscles at the fullest.

It's just the difference between powerlifting and bodybuilding. Powerlifters don't train deadlifts as you do.

It should be mentioned that powerlifting is only about competition. It doesn't make any sense to train extremely heavy single and double reps unless you're trying to get your numbers up for competition. 5 reps are a lot safer and build more muscle. I would never go below 5 reps on deadlifts....(except last week when I injured myself on the last rep - so 4 reps only. )

[MrHammer]

It kinda depends on what you want, i like to train my legs back and lower back, you don't train them optimal if your grip is limiting this. If you think your grip is more important then the rest then don't use straps. I am just not that interested in my lower arms, its holding back the rest of the development of the body as your not using those muscles at the fullest.

It's just the difference between powerlifting and bodybuilding. Powerlifters don't train deadlifts as you do.

It should be mentioned that powerlifting is only about competition. It doesn't make any sense to train extremely heavy single and double reps unless you're trying to get your numbers up for competition. 5 reps are a lot safer and build more muscle. I would never go below 5 reps on deadlifts....(except last week when I injured myself on the last rep - so 4 reps only. )

Well, it is possible to just want to set records for one's own enjoyment while at the same time training for more bodybuilding purposes. Once in a while it is fun to see just how strong you are no? Since the vast majority of lifters don't compete, that is what most do anyway. Though sometimes, someone will brag about their massive squat and then when asked to show it, only do a quarter squat

[tropo]

It kinda depends on what you want, i like to train my legs back and lower back, you don't train them optimal if your grip is limiting this. If you think your grip is more important then the rest then don't use straps. I am just not that interested in my lower arms, its holding back the rest of the development of the body as your not using those muscles at the fullest.

It's just the difference between powerlifting and bodybuilding. Powerlifters don't train deadlifts as you do.

It should be mentioned that powerlifting is only about competition. It doesn't make any sense to train extremely heavy single and double reps unless you're trying to get your numbers up for competition. 5 reps are a lot safer and build more muscle. I would never go below 5 reps on deadlifts....(except last week when I injured myself on the last rep - so 4 reps only. )

Well, it is possible to just want to set records for one's own enjoyment while at the same time training for more bodybuilding purposes. Once in a while it is fun to see just how strong you are no? Since the vast majority of lifters don't compete, that is what most do anyway. Though sometimes, someone will brag about their massive squat and then when asked to show it, only do a quarter squat

I never feel compelled to test out my one rep maximum on anything. If you're going to get an injury, that's when it will likely happen, and with a heavy weight it could be a serious injury.... and especially if you're not used to doing one rep max lifts. You can use a one rep maximum calculator (there's many online) to extrapolate your one rep max from multi rep sets up to 10 reps and more. Sure, it's an approximation, but good enough. It's a far better way than risking injury.

As a bodybuilder I'm not too concerned about absolute numbers. I use the weights to stimulate muscle growth.... and in the safer range of 5 reps and up.

Just to illustrate my point, let's take the bench press. There's a big difference between how a bodybuilder would do reps on the bench press compared to how a powerlifter would. A bodybuilder will use a longer range of motion. A powerlifter will attempt to make the ROM as short as possible (arch the back, bring the bar low on chest) to push the most weight. To build muscle it's all about time under tension, and short range powerlifting style bench pressing is not the best way to build muscle, but it's fastest way to get injured because of the extra weight you will move.

Regarding squats, everyone will squat higher when they put the weights up for max efforts, this is why many of the best powerlifters train exclusively on box squats these days. Check out how all the top guys at Westside Barbell train for squats. The only time they do a free squats is in competition. Box squats save the back, save the knees and are always done to required depth. There's a 50 - 150 lb carryover to free squats in competition.

I don't know how old you are, but if you're getting on a bit you would do well to temper your desire to push for one rep maximums. You can get very strong on sets of 5 reps and up.

Edited June 15, 2013 by tropo