Bonveda's Blog

I'm a big believer in bodyweight training in all of its forms (yoga, isometric exercises and bodyweight exercises) as being the best path to superior fitness and health. I didn't always think this way however. When I look back its actually been a long journey from there to here. What follows is how I cam to these conclusions. This is my story.

I started to get interested in fitness in high school. I started to play basketball and I wanted to get in better shape for it. So, what did I do? I didn't really know anything about exercise at the time (I mean, I'd never really done it before) so I did what most people do. I started running and weight lifting. I actually bought one of those York home gyms you see in the back of the Sears catalog. You know the ones. The ones with the plastic weights? I didn't even consider just doing a program of bodyweight exercises. The thought didn't even cross my mind.

Well, I was pretty diligent about my fitness program and I started to get in better and better shape (or so I thought). I could lift heavier and heavier weights and I was able to run further and faster. However, one incident stands out in my mind that should have been a warning flag for me, but I didn't clue in. Before I started doing the weight lifting I tried to do a handstand in my room. I'm not sure why, I just did. What happened? I collapsed in a heap on the ground. I just wasn't strong enough. That's OK, I thought to myself, I'll get stronger with my weight lifting. However, after lifting weights diligently for 6 months I decided to try it again. What happened? I collapsed again! A simple bodyweight exercise like a handstand was completely beyond me. All of the weight lifting I'd done hadn't helped me at all! I couldn't understand why.

When I left High School I kept exercising, even joining Gold's Gym for a time. No bodyweight training for me. My workout routine was still made up of weight lifting and running. However, another incident would soon pierce my thick head and lead me to question how "In Shape" I really was.

I took up Judo for a time and I really enjoyed it. However, I kept getting hurt! I can remember being rolled once and really scrunching up my shoulder. For awhile I couldn't fully extend my right arm. What was going on? If I was TRULY strong, shouldn't I be able to practice my Judo without getting hurt?

My epiphany finally occurred when I was taking a Yoga class. In yoga you have to hold several bodyweight postures for time, typically a minute. The postures look easy, but they are anything but. I remember trying to hold a "triangle" posture. I could barely hold it for 10 seconds, never mind 60. "Ok", I thought to myself, "what is going on here? Why can't I, who does exercises like leg extensions and weight squats, hold this posture and girls with seemingly NO muscle can?" Another thing I realized was just how sore and clunky my body felt. Nothing seemed to work together. This is why I first started to put it together that perhaps weight lifting and all of the "Man Made" exercises I'd been doing were not all they were cracked up to be.

At this point I abandoned the weight training (and the running, that's another story) for a system of bodyweight training. I started doing simple things like pushups first, but right off the bat, I could see what I had been missing for so long. Bodyweight exercises, even simple ones like a basic pushup or bodyweight squat, work your entire body as a unit. What's more, they seem to work your body and muscles at a much deeper level than more modern forms of training like weight lifting. This is why a person who is fantastic on the lat pull down machine in a gym will NOT be able to perform a pull up. However, the person who can do a pull up can handle the lat pull down machine with no problem. From then on, it was bodyweight training in all of it's forms for me and I've never looked back.

David Nordmark is a Vancouver based fitness enthusiast and trainer who also run the website Animal-Kingdom-Workouts.com, a fitness site with a unique twist. Visit his website for more information bodyweight exercises like yoga and isometric exercises, as well as other forms of Bodyweight Training.

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