Ketogains Bodyweight Routine

BODYWEIGHT ROUTINE

 

This routine will cover the following goals:

  • Strength
  • Hypertrophy (provided your diet is in check)
  • Fat Loss (provided your diet is in check)

 

WEEKLY SCHEDULE AND PROGRESSION

This routine is meant to be done 3 times a week, with at least one rest day in between workout days. Note that the entire routine is to be done on a workout day; the pairs specified in the strength work below are not meant to be split up over the course of the week.

You perform the hardest exercise in each progression that you can do for 3 sets of 5 to 8 repetitions. Try to beat your previous numbers every workout. When you hit the upper end (so you can do 3 sets of 8 reps), you move up in the progression and start the next workout with 3 sets of 5 again.

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

I Don’t Have This Much Time!

This routine is about an hour long if you don’t mess around and do the work. As a general rule, you should try and find this time somewhere. Make it a priority.

Can you switch the order of the exercises?

Yes, as long as you leave the warmup in the warmup, the skill work in the skill work, and the strength work in the strength work.

Can I do this every day?

No. If it were more effective that way, we wouldn’t have made it a 3x a week routine.

How soon will I see results?

In your ability to do the exercises, expect progress to start about 2-3 workouts in. Physique progress, 4-6 weeks for you to notice it yourself, 12+ weeks for someone else to notice it. Provided your diet is in check.

Where’s the core work?

The bodyline work, the later stages of the L-sit progression, and pretty much every exercise works the core just fine.

Where’s the arm work?

How are you planning on doing pushups, rows, dips, and pull-ups without arms?

 

WORKOUT

  1. WARMUP (~10 MINUTES)

Move swiftly from one exercise to the next.

DYNAMIC STRETCHES TO GET THE JOINTS NICE AND LOOSE

Reps Exercise Comments
5-10 wall extensions If extremely tight, here are a couple regressions for wall extensions.
5-10 band dislocates Take a wider grip to make it easier. More info here.
5-10 cat-camels GIF
5-10 scapular shrugs GIF
5-10 full body circles
5-10 front and side leg swings
Wrist mobility exercises Do as many reps as you want.

 

BODYLINE WORK TO REMIND YOU OF THE PROPER POSITIONS

Seconds Exercise Comments
10-60 Plank Alternative: Forearm Plank
10-60 Side Plank Alternative: Forearm Side Plank
10-60 Reverse Plank
10-60 Hollow Hold
10-60 Arch Hold

 

It’s important to note that these bodyline drills are not meant to be progressed. Simply do one hold for as long as you can hold (somewhat) comfortably and move on. Once you can hold it for 60s, simply keep it like that.

If you’re not sweating yet, do 10-20 burpees  or squat jumps .

 

  1. SKILL WORK (~10 MINUTES)

Time allocated for the skill is including rest. So you just set a timer for 5-10 minutes and go practice on your handstand, resting as necessary. When time’s up, you’re done.

5-10 minutes Handstand progression

General Form Cues

  • Lock out your elbows and knees
  • Glue your legs together and point the toes
  • Hollow body (what does that even mean?). Don’t let an arch come into your back!
  • Elevate the shoulders (what does that even mean?). Try to cover your ears with your shoulder

Wall Plank
Put your feet up against the wall and perform a plank hold. Don’t let the hips sag! Keep working on getting the feet up higher and higher until you’re at the next progression.

Wall Handstand
Perform a handstand with the stomach towards the wall. This will help you learn the proper position while not having to worry about balancing. As this starts getting easier (you can hold it for more than 30s), slowly start taking off one foot from the wall at a time.

Freestanding Handstand
See general form cues.

2-3 minutes Support practice

The support will build basic strength to keep yourself up during L-sits and to perform dips. The rings support will also build some chest strength (the chest acts as a stabilizer) and condition the biceps tendon for more stressful endeavours like the back lever.

General Form Cues

In its most basic form, a support is holding yourself up. This can be with rings, a single bar, or parallel bars.

Progression

Parallel Bar Support (What if I don’t have parallel bars?)
Ring Support Hold

Rings Turned Out Support Hold  (RTO Support) (What if I don’t have rings?)
At first, it’s okay if the rings turn in slightly; aim to keep them at least parallel. Then as you get stronger, turn your thumbs out more so your support resembles the video more closely.

Equipment

  • Parallel Bars: Find two chairs of equal height and use those a parallel bars. If you’re afraid of them falling over, put some weight on the seats. Another option would be to use a counter top that makes a 90 degree angle, or two tables.
  • Rings: If you don’t have rings, the progression ends at Parallel Bar Support.

 

  1. STRENGTH WORK (~40 MINUTES)

Pairing two exercises means doing a set of the first exercise, then resting 90 seconds, then doing a set of the second exercise and resting 90 seconds, and then repeating until you’ve done all sets of that pair.

You can rest anywhere from 90 seconds to 3 minutes between pairs, whatever you like.

All exercises are to be done in a 10×0 tempo. That means 1 second down, no pause at the bottom, explode up and no pause at the top. When “exploding up”, it’s the intent that matters. If the actual movement is slow, that doesn’t matter. Just don’t artificially slow it down.

First Pair

  • 3 x5-8 Pull-up progression

Paired with

  • 3×5-8 Dipping progression

If you can’t do diamond pushups and horizontal rows yet (you haven’t met the criteria listed on the exercise page), simply skip these for now.

Second Pair

  • 3×5-8 Squat Progression

Paired with

  • 3×10-30s L-sit Progression

It is recommended to do barbell work for legs. If you have access to barbells (and a squat rack).

Third Pair

  • 3×5-8 Pushup progression

Paired with

  • 3×5-8 Row Progression

PULL-UP PROGRESSION

Prerequisites

Before you start working pullups, you should be able to do horizontal rows from the rowing progression. If you cannot do those yet, skip pullups for now.

General Form Cues

  • Body slightly hollow with straight legs throughout the whole exercise. Don’t cross your legs.
  • If you cannot get straight legs, it’s preferable to keep the feet in front of the body rather than behind.
  • Arms straight at the bottom. Don’t think about anything else, just straight arms. The rest will happen automatically.
  • Strive for chest to bar at the top. For this the forearms have to deviate from vertical, which may be a bit hard on the elbows, so build up to it slowly.
  • Keep the neck in a neutral position: avoid craning it to get your chin over the bar
  • It’s natural for your legs to come forward: this keeps your centre of mass under the bar. Just make sure you’re not violently swinging them upwards.

Progression

Pullup Negative 

Jump to the top of the pullup position, then slowly lower yourself until your arms are straight. Build up to 10s negatives.

Pullup 

See general form cues.

L-sit Pullup 

Hold your legs in an L-sit position, perform a pullup.

Pullover 

From a hang with straight arms, pullup while simultaneously bringing the legs up and spin around the bar. You’ll end up on top of the bar. To get back down, reverse the motion: roll forward and then lower the legs while performing a negative pullup to get to a hang.

Equipment

Doorway Pullup Bar, Tree branch, back of a staircase, bus stop… the opportunities for places to do pullups are endless.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I do pullups or chinups?

Either is fine. Chinups work more biceps, but that’s as far as the significant differences go. Contrary to popular belief, chinups hit the lats very well, as much as pullups do.

Should I pack my shoulders when doing a pullup/chinup?

No, because in a dead hang (no muscular tension) the muscles of your shoulder automatically fire to keep the shoulder in its socket. However, consciously packing your shoulders at the beginning of a pullup will probably make you feel a bit more stable. Just don’t worry about dead hangs being harmful unless you have a pre-existing shoulder injury.


DIPPING PROGRESSION

Prerequisites

Before you start working on dips, you should be able to diamond pushups from the pushup progression. If you cannot do those yet, skip dips for now.

General Form Cues

  • Straight or slightly hollow body. No bending at the hips!
  • Lock out the arms and depress the shoulderblades (what does that even mean?) at the top
  • Go as far down as you can
  • Elbows in

Progression

Parallel Bar Dips

What if I don’t have parallel bars?
See general form cues.

Ring Dips

What if I don’t have rings?
What does rings turned out/RTO mean?
Starting from a support position with the rings turned out, perform a dip. It’s okay if the rings turn in, just make sure you turn them out at the top.

Rings L-sit Dips
With your legs in an L-sit position, perform a dip. Make sure to turn out the rings at the top!

If this is too difficult, do them tucked and as you get stronger, extend the legs.

Equipment

What if I don’t have parallel bars?

You can use two chairs to do dips on. Put some weight on the seats if you’re afraid of them falling over. Another option is to find a counter top that makes a 90 degree angle, and do dips in that corner. You can also try to find two tables of the same height and do dips that way. Be creative!

What if I don’t have rings?

Beyond parallel bar dips, there’s not a whole lot of dipping you can do, except for weighted dips (which are a great exercise). If you don’t have rings or weights, we recommend you utilize the handstand pushup progression after mastering parallel bar dips.


 

SQUAT PROGRESSION

General Form Cues

  • Stand up straight at the top
  • Sit back down rather than bending through the knees. Think about keeping your shin vertical (it doesn’t have to be vertical).
  • Go as low as you can, preferably until the hips are below the knees
  • Don’t let the knees come inward on either the descend or the ascend; think about pushing the knees out

Progression

Assisted Squat
Grab something in front of you and use your hands to assist in the squat. Reduce assistance over time.

Squat
See general form cues.

Deep Step-up
Putting one leg up on a high object in front of you, put all of your weight on the front leg and step up to the object. Aim to minimize pushing off with the back leg. To make it harder, increase the height of the object, or hold some weight.


 

L-SIT PROGRESSION

General Form Cues

  • The preferable way to do these is one the floor
  • Depress the shoulderblades (what does that even mean?); don’t let the shoulders shrug up!
  • No bending of the legs
  • Straight arms

Progression

Foot Supported L-sit
Sit down on the ground with your legs straight in front of you. Put your hands next to your thighs and push yourself up (straight arms!), leaving your feet on the ground. Hold for the assigned time period.

One-Leg Foot Supported L-sit
Do a foot supported L-sit, but raise one of your legs up from the ground.

Tuck L-sit
Sit down on the floor with your feet close to your butt (you can bend at the legs). Put your hands next to your butt and push yourself up (straight arms!).

Advanced Tuck L-sit or One-Leg L-sit
Either tuck less than before, or stay tucked and extend only one leg straight like in a real L-sit.

L-sit
See general form cues.

Equipment

L-sits are best done on the floor. That’s right, no paralettes or anything.
The reason we like doing L-sits on the floor is because it leaves no room for cheating and really requires you to depress the shoulderblades.


PUSHUP PROGRESSION

General Form Cues

  • Body in a straight line from head to toe: don’t let the hips sag!
  • Lock out arms and protract the shoulderblades (what does that even mean?) at the top
  • Go down until chest nearly touches the ground
  • Keep the elbows in, don’t let them flare out
  • Don’t shrug up your shoulders to your ears, focus on depressing the shoulderblades (what does that even mean?).

Progression

Vertical Pushup
Standing next to a wall, put your hands on the wall and perform a pushup.

Incline Pushup
Finding some raised object, put your hands on said object and perform a pushup. Lower the height to increase the difficulty.

Full Pushup
See general form cues.

Diamond Pushup
Put your hands close together so the thumbs and index fingers touch, then perform a pushup.
If this is too difficult, put your hands a bit further apart.

Rings Wide Pushup
What if I don’t have rings?
Starting from a plank position on the rings, come down while allowing the elbows to come out to the side (the rings can turn in). Go until your forearm makes a 90 degree angle with the upper arm and come back up. Turn out the rings again at the top.

Rings Pushup
What does “turning out the rings” mean?
Perform a pushup on the rings. Turn out the rings at the top.

RTO Pushup
Starting from a plank position with the rings turned out, perform a pushup while keeping the rings turned out.
This will feel a lot like a pseudo planche pushup, but on rings.

RTO PPPU
What does “protracting the shoulderblades mean?
Starting from an RTO plank position, lean forward until your shoulders are in front of your hand. Perform a pushup while maintaining forward lean. Really protract and depress the shoulderblades at the top.

Increase forward lean to make it more difficult. Decrease forward lean to make it easier. You won’t run out of resistance anytime soon if you keep increasing your forward lean.


ROW PROGRESSION

General Form Cues

  • Straight body
  • Elbows in
  • Arms straight at the bottom
  • Rings/bar to chest at the top
  • Don’t let your shoulders shrug up

Progression

Vertical Rows
Perform a row, but with the body position vertical.

Incline Rows
The guy in the video is a little bit too arched. Try to keep a straight body.
Perform a row, but with the body position somewhere between vertical and horizontal. Go closer to horizontal to make it harder.

Horizontal Rows
I’ve got nowhere to do these!
See general form cues.

Wide Rows
It’s okay to flare your elbows on this one. On a bar: take a wide grip (1.5 times shoulder width) and perform rows like this.
On rings: while performing a row, bring out the elbows to the side up to a 90 degree angle.

Tuck Front Lever
The main points here are to actively depress and retract the scapulae, as well as keeping the elbows completely straight. There should be a strong activation of the lats (the big muscles on the outsides of your back) coupled with the depression.

Tuck Ice Cream Maker
The video shows a full Ice Cream Maker. For now, do these in a tucked position.
From the position in the top of a pullup, tuck your legs. Then, lean back while bringing the body horizontal. Lock out the arms (important!) and pause for a second in the tuck front lever position . Pull back up until your body is vertical.

Tuck Front Lever Row
From a tuck front lever position, pull up as far as you can while your body remains horizontal.

Advanced Tuck Front Lever Row
These are the same as tuck FL rows, but with the body less tightly tucked.

Equipment

Places to do rows

If you have a pullup bar, pull up a chair and put your feet on that to get you some extra height. Alternatively, hang rings from your pullup bar. Another option is to use a table to do rows .

Rings

It’s better to have rings for tuck front lever rows as they allow you to get more range of motion. However, they are not necessary and you can do them on a bar instead.

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Routine from the reddit /r/bodyweightfitness board.