Adding bodyweight calisthenics exercises at different intervals to your cardio will up the intensity of the cardio session… and burn more calories!

I know, I know… you were told the best way to burn calories was in the “Fat Burning Zone”, 65-85% of your Max Heart Rate.

In real world terms, this mean long, slow, boring cardio.

I have never seen a research study so widely accepted by the exercise community as the “Target Heart Rate” or “Fat Burning Zone”.

Why?

Because it is actually a prescription to work less!

Unfortunately for those who like to do their cardio while talking to friends, reading a magazine or catching up on the latest gossip on the TV… higher intensity exercise burns more overall calories during the session, and keeps on burning more calories after the session.

Just think about it this way, higher intensity exercise causes more disturbance in the body compared to its normal resting state… and therefore will require more energy to return the body to this normal resting state.

More energy used means more calories burned… and more calories burned means less fat!

Up The Intensity With Bodyweight Calisthenics Exercises

Here is an easy way to up the intensity for your cardio session… add bodyweight calisthenics exercises at different intervals.

Every once in a while, jump off the bike, treadmill or whatever you are using for your cardio session and perform some bodyweight calisthenics exercises like jumping jacks, mountain climbers, push up, free squats, etc…. then jump back on for more long, slow cardio.

This will accomplish a few things…

- Adding bodyweight calisthenics exercises will challenge your body in different, dynamic ways that breaks the monotony of long, slow, boring cardio… more challenge means more calories burned!

- Adding bodyweight calisthenics exercises will break your breathing and heart patterns, forcing your heart and lungs to work more… meaning increased cardiorespiratory improvement!

-Adding bodyweight calisthenics exercises will force you to recover from the more intense bodyweight calisthenics exercises while still under stress from the cardio you are performing… improving your recovery abilities!

- Adding bodyweight calisthenics exercises will create more metabolic disturbance in your body both during and after the cardio session… meaning less unwanted fat on your body!

If it your intention to get fitter, improve health and look better through exercise… adding bodyweight calisthenics exercises to your long, slow, boring cardio sessions is what your need!

Bodyweight calisthenics use only the weight of your own body as resistance to develop the ability to squat, reach, twist, lunge, jump, land, push and get up and down… allowing you to meet the challenges of sport, work and life with excellence.

Your body was meant to move itself around efficiently under a wide variety of circumstances… and training with bodyweight calisthenics greatly improves this ability.

Let’s look at some of the benefits of bodyweight calisthenics in more detail…

Bodyweight Calisthenics Can Be Done Anywhere… Indoors Or Outdoors

The weather is nice and you want to enjoy the outdoors… find an open patch of ground and you are ready to go.

Too cold or raining… stay inside and improve yourself with a bodyweight workout.

You go on vacation and the hotel doesn’t have a gym… no problem, your hotel room will do.

No matter where you are… you will have an effective physical training method at your disposal!

Bodyweight Calisthenics Can Be Done Anytime… Day Or Night

Want to start your morning off with a quick, energizing bodyweight calisthenics workout… go ahead.

After a stressful day at work or school… eliminate it with a bodyweight calisthenics workout and a hot shower before bed.

The point is, whenever you want an effective workout you can have one… your body never closes!

No Equipment Necessary… Or Very Little

For many bodyweight calisthenics exercises, the resistance of your own bodyweight is sufficient to promote fitness, health and physique benefits.

In some instances some other element will be necessary to complete the bodyweight calisthenics exercise… like a wall, a chair, a box, a pull up bar, etc.

However, in most cases… if you have a functional body, you have a gym!

The Exercises Are Adaptable To Any Fitness Level

Bodyweight calisthenics exercises are highly modifiable… able to be adapted from the beginner level to the elite athlete level.

By changing the angle, position or leverage point, the exercise can range from easy to extremely difficult.

This makes bodyweight calisthenics an excellent place to start a physical training program… and a highly effective training method for advanced exercisers.

Muscular Strength, Muscular Power And Muscular Endurance Can Be Targeted

Many opponents of bodyweight calisthenics exercise claim only muscular endurance can be effected… but they forget they are talking to a population where the majority cannot perform even 1 push up or pull up.

If a person who cannot perform any push ups whatsoever is capable of performing 10 perfect push ups after proper training… they are stronger!

Similar improvements can be made for muscular power.

Bodyweight calisthenics can be used to improve all aspects of strength… making them a highly effective tool in physical development.

Cardiorespiratory Endurance Can Be Improved While Burning Unwanted Fat

Not only can bodyweight calisthenics make you stronger… but they can simultaneously improve heart and lung power while burning fat.

Any activity that raises the heart and breathing rates will promote cardiorespiratory improvements… not just steady state aerobic exercise as many people are led to believe.

Bodyweight calisthenics stimulate all the muscles in the body and stimulate your heart and lungs… providing for the perfect environment to burn calories and fat!

Bodyweight Calisthenics Train The Body In The Way The Body Naturally Moves

Your body is made to move in all directions… up, down, back, sideways, twisting, etc.

Therefore, your physical training should strive to improve your ability to move in all directions under varied circumstances.

This cannot be accomplished by using isolation movements or being strapped into a machine.

Bodyweight calisthenics use natural movement patterns to improve natural movement patterns… improving fitness, health and physique!

Bodyweight Calisthenics Prepare The Body For All Other Training Methods

Bodyweight calisthenics exercise lays the foundation for every other fitness, health and physique training method… and therefore are an integral part of any physical training plan.

If you are just starting out, you should learn to control the weight of your own body before you try to control the weight of a foreign object.

If you aren’t efficient at moving your own body around… how do you expect to exceed at moving other objects around?

Use bodyweight calisthenics to learn and improve the movement of your body… and then introduce other training equipment into the plan.

Once you graduate to using equipment… maintain bodyweight calisthenics as a part of your over-all fitness training plan to optimize the effectiveness of your body.

These are just some of the benefits of bodyweight calisthenics exercise you will enjoy… culminating in the ability to live a better life in a better body!

Most people perform an abdominal workout made up exclusively of bodyweight exercises.

Sit ups, crunches, leg raises and about a million variations of these bodyweight ab exercises have been used by people all over the world to strengthen the core.

Undoubtably, this would lead one to conclude they believe bodyweight abdominal exercises have value and are effective for abdominal training.

But what about the rest of the body?

Why not use bodyweight exercises for a full body workout instead of just an abdominal workout?

It seems that while bodyweight exercise is FINE, even recommended, for an abdominal workout… other forms of training are better for the rest of the body.

This is just not so!

Bodyweight exercise can and should be used to strengthen and improve ALL parts of the body.

As a matter of fact, I believe bodyweight exercise to be the logical starting point for any well balanced fitness program… and should remain an integral part of physical training.

If you are one of the people who only employ bodyweight exercises during the abdominal workout… I encourage you to explore other forms of bodyweight exercise for the upper and lower body as well.

Bodyweight calisthenics exercise will strengthen and condition the body in ways resistance exercise doesn’t… and following a progressive bodyweight training program will take to new heights of fitness.

Ah, the mythical and magical 100 push ups.

Many people have trouble doing even one proper push up, so just imagine the glory of being able to do 100 push ups… straight and without breaks.

It seems that as soon as people become proficient at doing push ups… being able to do 100 push ups becomes the goal.

Is there anything magical about the number 100… no.

But being able to do that many push ups will set you apart from the crowd.

The First Time I Did 100 Push Ups

The first time I did 100 straight push ups I couldn’t have been more than 10 years old.

At the time, I already had been wrestling for years, and considered myself to be strong for my age.

It was off season, and to stay busy, my parents signed me up for Karate Class.

One day, two of the Black Belt instructors were testing themselves… seeing who could do more push ups.

I was in awe of these guys, and their abilities, so naturally I was watching intently.

I think one guy did about 50 and the other about 60… well shy of the 100 push ups of legend.

Since they saw me standing there gawking, they invited me to join in the contest.

I had never really tested my push ups ability before, even though I regularly performed push ups and other bodyweight exercises.

When I hit about 75 I glanced up at their stunned faces.

When I hit 100 push ups they stopped me… “They didn’t want me to hurt myself.”

That was the first time I did 100 push ups straight… and I still remember the look on their faces.

The Last Time I Did 100 Push Ups

When I got the idea to write an article about 100 push ups, I asked myself… “I wonder if I can still do 100 push ups straight.”

So I dropped and cranked out… 100 push ups!

Ok… I still do a lot of push ups in my training, but I don’t usually test myself like this.

I was amazed I could still do that many. (I’m now 38 years old)

I have to admit, it sure seemed easier when I was 10 years old… but nonetheless, I did it!

Here is one interesting observation…

The first time I did 100 push ups, I was trying to do the most I could… and was stopped at 100.

I could have done more push ups at the time.

This time, I was trying to do 100 push ups… and as I approached my goal the movement became very difficult.

I don’t think I could have done 101 push ups.

It could be because 100 push ups is a lot of push ups… or it could have been my mind/body connection giving me exactly what I needed to achieve my goal.

If I didn’t set my goal at 100… could I have done more?

Anyway, that was the first and last time I did 100 push ups.

Conclusion

Push ups are an excellent upper body builder, and when they are part of a progressive bodyweight training program like Workout Without Weights… watch out!

I have to admit, the reason I could probably still do 100 push ups was the research and workouts I was doing to write the book… if I had been doing some other training method (weight lifting) I probably wouldn’t have been able to do half that amount

If you can’t do 100 push ups… don’t worry about.

Perform push ups properly, regularly and progressively… and who knows how many you can perform!