Bodyweight workouts for men are typically designed to build muscle. The idea is that the workouts develop strong, lean and athletic muscles.

One of the problems with bodyweight training programs is that your weight can sometimes be too heavy or too light. Take squats for instance. For most people their body weight won’t provide enough resistance to get a good workout within a ‘normal’ repetition range. Chin ups on the other hand typically give us the exact opposite problem, too much weight so that you can’t perform any good repetitions.

To get around these problems we can use a few different strategies that will accommodate both strength and weight issues. A simple way to add resistance to all of these bodyweight exercises is to use a weight vest. This can provide between 5 and 10 kilograms (10-20 pounds) of extra resistance to these exercises. As well as adding some weight we can also add some speed. Take normal squats and turn them into jumps and you are now doing more work in less time. This will increase the intensity of the workout in a hurry! With the lower body we can also do single leg work. One legged squats, calf raises, split squats, forward and reverse lunges are all examples of how you can increase the loading through your lower body. Once again you can add the power and speed element and making some of these exercises into jumps.

With the upper body you can use the weight vest to make things harder, but a lot of exercises for the arms, chest, back and shoulders will require that you make it a little easier to get the repetitions needed. To do this you can use suspension trainers such as Power Rings or the TRX. This way you can make adjustments to the angle so that you are pulling or pushing a lower percentage of your body weight. This is the same theory as doing pushups on your knees or toes.

Sample Body Weight Workout For Men

Warm Up with 3-5 minutes of skipping followed by 3 sets of 6 of squats, pushups and lunges.

1A) Pullups – maximum repetitions. (2-0-1) *This is your rep tempo, 2 seconds down, no rest, one second up*

2A) Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat – 15 repetitions – (3-0-1)

Rest 60 seconds and repeat for three rounds total.

2A) Power Jumps – 12 repetitions (1-0-1)

2B) Alternate Reverse Lunge – 24 repetitions each side (1-0-1)

2C) Overhand Inverted Body Row – maximum repetitions + Blast Set (2-0-1)

-> Blast Set – After last set, rest 30 seconds and do a final set to complete failure.

Rest 60 seconds and repeat for three rounds total.

3A) Dips – maximum repetitions (2-0-1)

3B) Single Leg Calf Raise – 12 repetitions per side (4-0-1)

3C) Triangle Pushup – maximum repetitions (2-0-1)

3D) Brace Tap Out – 15 repetitions – (1-0-1)

Rest 60 seconds and repeat for three rounds total.

Give this a go and let me know what you think. Body weight workouts might sound easy but after doing this you might have a different opinion!