People often fret that starting a programme of exercise is going to either involve joining a gym with contracts and fees and meatheads grunting and posing or buying lots of expensive equipment. Equipment that, most likely will rarely get used and simply take up room gathering dust. Mind you, dusting the equipment you don’t use is a form of exercise too.

I don’t subscribe to either of those views though as it is quite possible to put together a challenging, periodised, resistance exercise programme using only your own body weight as the resistance. Here’s a little programme I put together for a client new to exercise so that he could work out in between our sessions. Not an olympic bar, kettlebell, or indeed anything but his own weight, needed.

But of course, as time goes on, people get fitter and start to desire new challenges. There are only so many lunges and squats you can do. Actually you can do quite a lot of squats – I had a colleague once that ran a class called “A Thousand Squats”. It was just that. 1000 body weight squats in 45 mins. Try it if you like, but don’t blame me  if you can’t walk for a week after!

So when you feel you have reached a plateau in your body weight training gains are exhausted,  is the only option an olympic bar and a set of bumper plates (Eleiko of course)? Surely not! You simply make the body weight exercises more challenging. Here is my very effective body weight gym that I use for my clients. two very simple bits of equipment that will vastly extend the range of exercise you can do and developing full body, functional fitness. That ab wheel, properly used, is a killer!!

Have fun with your own body and get fit while you do it!! You’re welcome 😉