You Can Build Mass with Body weight and Calisthenics

There is a growing consensus that if you want a coordinated, supple, mobile, functional body, the best way to get it is using your body’s own weight......

This is one of the reason's you'll see mostly body weight based training in my own training and personal training groups.


Body weight and Calisthenics are some of the best ways to build real strength and power.

Example- You can overhead press 100 lbs barbell, driving that weight above you and think you're pretty strong to pull off that feat.

How about pressing your entire body weight in a handstand push-up?

That's real strength. Your entire body has to be aligned, strong and coordinated to do that.

So, I think anyone can understand that body weight builds great strength.

Did you know also that you can build mass with body weight only?




Body weight Body Builder

Most bodybuilders wouldn't believe that it's possible.   Most would believe that lifting weights is the only way to build mass.  

In fact, most view calisthenics as warm-up moves or metabolic training.    

While there's nothing particularly wrong with weights as a mass gaining tool,

Calisthenics can provide just as much of mass building as weight-lifting can...  

But you need to understand the Ten Commandments of building mass with body-weight.  

And thank goodness my friend Paul 'Coach' Wade, author of Convict Conditioning 1  &  2,

is here to explain the 10 commandments of Calisthenics Mass Building in these two posts on the Progressive Calisthenics Blog.



Here's some of the highlights:

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COMMANDMENT I: Embrace reps!  

We're doing more than building neuromuscular patterns & strength so reps are required.





COMMANDMENT II: Work Hard!

This Commandment directly follows from the last one.

Using low reps, keeping fresh, and taking lots of rest between sets is a fairly easy way to train.

But pushing through continuous rep after rep on hard exercises is much, much tougher.

The higher the reps, the harder it gets.





COMMANDMENT III: Use Simple, Compound Exercises!

Again, this Commandment is related to the two which have gone before.

If you are going to push yourself hard on moderate-to-high reps, the exercises you are doing can’t be complex, high-skill exercises.

If handstands and elbow levers cause you to concentrate to balance, you can’t overload using them—your form would collapse (and so would you) before you were pushing yourself hard enough to drain your muscles.





COMMANDMENT IV: Limit Sets!    

If you keep work sets low, you are much more likely to genuinely give your all when you train.   

Add sets and you subconsciously pace yourself. And that's commandement 4 and the final training principle for building mass.

This is a just  sample of what you'll get in the first four commandments of calisthenics mass found on the PCC Blog.

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The last 6 will give you the rest of the tools to pack on slabs of hardened, dense muscle:  



COMMANDMENT V: Focus on Progress—and Utilize a Training Journal!

There you have it.

In reality, the previous four Commandments are worthless unless you harness them all to make progress—week to week, month to month, year to year.



COMMANDMENT VI: You Grow When You Rest. So Rest!  and COMMANDMENT VII: Quit Eating “Clean” the Whole Time!

Some interesting perspective on some misunderstood training concepts for muscle growth and mass.



COMMANDMENT IIX: Sleep More

The missing ingredient in the body builder's programming.  

Release your body's natural supplement stack with this one tool... more sleep.



COMMANDMENT IX: Train the Mind Along With the Body   and  COMMANDMENT X: Get Strong!

Two items that are never looked at by traditional body builders.  

The mind needs to be trained and the body needs to be strong for muscle growth and mass gain.



Check both articles out here:



Part 1- the First Four Commandments of Training for Muscle Growth



Part 2- the Last Six Commandments that discuss the missing ingredients for Real Muscle Growth



Finally,

Zach Even-esh has put together an amazing program to help you build mass with body weight only.  

Its called the bodyweight body builder and you can check it out here.



To Your Gains of Mass with Body Weight,
-Jamie