Essential Body Weight Exercises?

[One-Off]

I was thinking about this while on our recent vacation. I had no access to any equipment and really no time, being I was with the family on vacation. I was also thinking about it because now that I'm doing two intense runs (and one barbell day a week), my bodyweight day, which consisted of ten exercises and took about an hour to complete, has been put on hold- too much stress to add on a recovery day.

So I was wondering what 3-5 exercises that would take about 15-20 minutes to do, three times a week on those recovery days (or even every day) would be best? Also, surf specific would be good.

Tapping the muscle bound components of the erBB brain trust for recommendations and thoughts-

 

[Autoprax]

Pull ups, push ups, pistols.

 

[One-Off]

Pull ups, push ups, pistols.

I don't have the flexibility, balance or strength to do pistol squats. I'd have to settle for body weight squat with full ROM.

 

[billypilgrim]

I have mostly been doing body weight exercises, running and doing my yoga routines for the last few months. In addition to the above I would recommend, push-ups with a knee to elbow twist, single leg push ups, burpees, static hangs, type writer pullups, jump squats, plank crunches, wipers, hollow body holds, and wipers.

 

[CutnSnip]

pull ups, pushups, squats, burpees, lunges, star crunches, sh!t like that. pretty much all i do except deadlifting or whatever you call it w a hex bar.

 

[Autoprax]

I don't have the flexibility, balance or strength to do pistol squats. I'd have to settle for body weight squat with full ROM.

You can do approximations.

Start from a high chair.

 

[Mr J]

I've been working on pistol squats since about 2 weeks after my rotator cuff surgery, so about 9 weeks. With my arm in a sling I couldn't lift much with just one arm and didn't have my dumbells with me anyway, coz I relocated to Melbourne temporarily. I couldn't drive and in Melbourne don't need a car to get around - there are trams and shops within walking distance. Plus it gave me something more interesting to do than just a walk.

Not enough strength is the limitation for me. I started off with half one legged squats and the idea was that I could gradually get lower and lower. That approach didn't really seem to be progressing as well as I hoped. So I then changed it to resting my left hand on a plastic step about shin height. On the way down rest my hand on the step. Squatting all the way down then pushing with my hand on the step on the way up.

I was in a sling for 6 weeks and for a few weeks after I got rid of that my arm was too delicate to do anything, so I continued with the one handed plastic step method.

What I have been doing more recently now that my arm can be used just a little bit is to use two chairs. I very lightly rest my fingers on each chair seat on the way down. Take my hands off, pause for a while on one leg, then place fingers back on chair to push up. I'm hopeful that I will get there unaided in the not too distant future.

My routine has been 2 sets of 6 reps twice a day, every other day. Occasionally I go a couple of days rest because I didn't have the time to do them, but mostly that. I'm swimming 5 to 6 days a week in the sea, sometimes twice a day, so what with work I sometimes don't get the time to do them absolutely every other day.

The other body weight exercise I'm doing is yoga triangle and reverse triangle - great for the core and useful considering I can't do any planking yet.

 

[Chocki]

The Ultimate Guide To Bodyweight Exercise Training | GMB Fitness

Bodyweight exercise has hundreds of possible exercises out there. Check out our bodyweight training guide; whether you’re a total newbie or a seasoned athlete.

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Stop Skipping These 4 Key Movements

There's more to life than push-ups and squats. Here's 4 criminally underrated bodyweight exercise movement patterns you should be training.

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[One-Off]

The Ultimate Guide To Bodyweight Exercise Training | GMB Fitness

Bodyweight exercise has hundreds of possible exercises out there. Check out our bodyweight training guide; whether you’re a total newbie or a seasoned athlete.

gmb.io

Stop Skipping These 4 Key Movements

There's more to life than push-ups and squats. Here's 4 criminally underrated bodyweight exercise movement patterns you should be training.

gmb.io

If you had to choose 4?

 

[One-Off]

pull ups, pushups, squats, burpees, lunges, star crunches, sh!t like that. pretty much all i do except deadlifting or whatever you call it w a hex bar.

Even pull-ups require equipment. What would you do in a hotel room if you had 15 minutes? Out of courtesy to other guests, no jumping around.

 

[Chocki]

If you had to choose 4?

any that check that following four boxes: upper push, upper pull, lower push, and lower pull.

push ups, pull ups, reverse lunges, and glute bridge/unloaded SLDLs?

but tbh at our age we’d probably get the most bang for our buck from animal movements imo (Pareto principle)

as for hotel room pull ups

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[PRCD]

Tapping the muscle bound components of the erBB brain trust -

You've come to the wrong place.

 

[terdroamer]

I don't have the flexibility, balance or strength to do pistol squats. I'd have to settle for body weight squat with full ROM.

 

[Chocki]

I discovered gmb a longgg time ago looking for rings and parallettes tutorials. Always been legit ever since.

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Animal Flow is excellent. Here's how to tell if it's a good fit for you.

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[oeste858]

Even pull-ups require equipment. What would you do in a hotel room if you had 15 minutes? Out of courtesy to other guests, no jumping around.

I would do something like 30 sec each of:
1. squats, 2. controlled burpees (you dont have to jump), 3. bear crawls, 4. alternating lunges,
5. pushups, 6. mountain climbers, 7. dips (can use chair), 8. slow bicycle crunches,
9. scissor kicks, 10. planks.
Do 3 circuits with 30 sec rests in between. I think that's 16 min. Boom.
IMO Bear crawls (forward and back) are a very underrated exercise. Works a lot of different muscles at once.

edit: if you're going hard, you can do 20 sec of each exercise and 10 sec of rest

 

[Chocki]

I would do something like 30 sec each of:
1. squats, 2. controlled burpees (you dont have to jump), 3. bear crawls, 4. alternating lunges,
5. pushups, 6. mountain climbers, 7. dips (can use chair), 8. slow bicycle crunches,
9. scissor kicks, 10. planks.
Do 3 circuits with 30 sec rests in between. I think that's 16 min. Boom.
IMO Bear crawls (forward and back) are a very underrated exercise. Works a lot of different muscles at once.

Could agree more about crawling, as for 15 minutes in a hotel room when it’s not with a hooker? I’d probably fuck with just burpees tbh until I’d maxed out how many I could do in 15 minutes aka escalating density

 

[CutnSnip]

Even pull-ups require equipment. What would you do in a hotel room if you had 15 minutes? Out of courtesy to other guests, no jumping around.

yea no jumping - pushups, lunges, star crunches and squats. not much else you can do - maybe find two level things (edges of a desk,etc) to do dips on? headstands? - idfk lol..

 

[CutnSnip]

ftr - pistol squats - wtf.. so hard.

 

[shoaltoad]

lunges

 

[Autoprax]

You can do door pull ups with a towel

I hate body weight exercise.

I could only do when I got strong from lifting weights.