Body Weight Training: A Panacea?

There has been a lot of good press lately about body weight training and I've run into a few people who believe it trumps lifting a barbell.  Can performing simple movements with just your own body weight replace the old iron when it comes to the myriad of health benefits resistance training provides?

Let's see.


It is difficult to find a cut and dry answer to this question. What used to be called "calisthenics" has resurfaced with a new name and promises of ending the need for gym memberships across the land.
While doing them can provide many benefits, it's a little hard to believe all the hype.

For years now, websites like Barstarzz have been promoting workouts using nothing but what you can find at a typical park.

I like the site and I love the positive angle that these folks bring to the table.  I love that they have a youth program and this sort of training is one of the safest kinds of exercise for kids to do.

The basic movements like varied push ups, pull ups, and planks are also great for midlifers, but does it really stack up against weight training for things like increased bone density, decreased blood pressure, or over all strength?

At the end of the day, can you be stronger than if you were spending the same amount of time lifting weights correctly?

The short answer is that it isn't the best choice for people in midlife and here is why.

When it comes to blood pressure, both weight lifting and calisthenics are lumped into the same category in most studies.  In the study 

Exercise and blood pressure level-does it matter how you exercise?

by Jing Fang and Michael H Alderman

12,402 subjects with a mean age of 47 were sampled and one of the interesting things noted was that resistance training seemed to mute the blood pressure reduction effects of aerobic training when done concurrently.  Again, both weight training and calisthenics where lumped into the same category.  I couldn't find a published paper pertaining to blood pressure in which the two were separated.  Based on the majority of studies, short aerobic burst training seems the most beneficial for blood pressure reduction.  So I deemed this one a tie.

For increased bone density the study 

The effects of power and resistance training on bone mineral density

by Gray, Rhonda Michelle  

premenopausal women were used to show that there is negligible difference between calisthenics and weight training when it comes to bone density increase.  The sample size and composition seem questionable.  

For example, would there be a difference if the study was done on men due to hormone levels?  

Regardless, a side note of this study was the drastically different increases in strength in each category.  

The weight lifting women got significantly stronger over the 48 week study.  This should not be a surprise to anyone familiar with the Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands principle.  The body is very specific in its adaptation to stress.  This means you will never be able to lift 1,000 lbs by lifting 10 lbs no matter how many times you lift it.  The body simply doesn't work that way and it is one of the biggest myths out there.

Another obstacle to overcome using only body weight training is what I call the squat factor.  Look at the pics of the elite of calisthenics users.  

Aside from the incredible upper body strength, you'll notice that most have disproportionately smaller legs and posterior chain. Now I'm not talking about calves because that is more of a genetically determined factor than hamstrings and quadriceps.  I mean from glutes to knees.

This small lower body trait allows these young people to do some pretty impressive body weight feats of strength, but they won't be as effective helping you move your furniture up to your third floor apartment.  

More importantly for midlifers is that we use our posterior chain to get up out of a chair.  These muscles are the prime movers in a proper squat.

This barbell staple is one of the main reasons calisthenics can't replace weight training.  

Squatting with weights builds your core like only a handful of other barbell movements can. 

It increases testosterone and growth hormone levels in men naturally.  

It helps us do one of the most basic things in life -- get up. 

And finally, it builds some pretty nice butts.  

In the end, we are really comparing apples to oranges again.

Calisthenics are a type of endurance training because we all quickly adapt to our body weight regardless of the movement. 

Then all we can do is increase the reps ad nauseam.

That is why we started lifting weights in the first place.  It was called progressive overload and is best shown in the story of Milo and the Calf.  Our bodies adapt to what we do with it. 

Training with body weight exercises is great when you don't have access to proper weights or when you are starting out from scratch.  At this point in time nothing can replace the benefits of weight training and the strongest men / women on the planet will agree.

Stay Strong!