My favorite way, and arguably the BEST way I’ve benefitted from bodyweight training over the years, is to use bodyweight exercises as what I call -
Functional Antagonistic Balance Training. (Or FAB’s.)
This was arguably one of the most amazing discoveries I stumbled upon. Yeah I know, sounds fancy and may even make me sound important.
(Honestly, I don’t recall who I learned this from - it seems to me it was physical therapist Gary Gray or master performance coach Vern Gambetta, but I could be wrong. Strongman and Hand Strength expert, Jedd Johnson of the Diesel Crew actually refreshed my memory about 15 years ago in one of his grip training manuals about this concept.)
It made my training fun again and because it had been years, if ever, since I included some of these exercises in my programming, I made very rapid gains.
And as we know, gains (“GAINZ!”) are always good. (Unless of course they’re inches around your waist.)
One of the biggest frustrations of avid strength enthusiasts is discovering that when you’ve been training for long periods of time repeatedly using the same movements, the adaptation (results) slows down to crawl, and sometimes a standstill.
Part of this is due to accommodation - the movement in question becomes part of the body’s “normal.”
The other part is because structurally, the body has become unbalanced. There’s no longer a balance between muscles on opposite sides of the joints.
Unfortunately, these are the prices you [sometimes] pay for high levels of movement specialization.
And it’s also one of the reasons certain training systems, like Westside Barbell and the Chinese Weightlifters, use a battery of specialized assistance exercises.
Conversely, the Bulgarian Weightlifting team had a very high burnout and injury rate most likely because they did not include any of them.
Most people in the strength world are familiar with “agonist/antagonist” training.
In its simplest and easiest to use form, it’s balancing a push muscle with a pull.
So, for every set of bench presses you do, you need to be doing a set of Rows, or Chins, depending on whose philosophy you subscribe to: Biceps, triceps; Quads, hamstrings.
You get the idea.
However, one of the problems with traditional agonist/antagonist training is that it only focuses on the muscles involved in particular movements, not the movements themselves.
In other copyright, we need to train opposite movements, not at the joint-by-joint level, but by reversing the movement and then doing the opposite.
So, this is what I call Functional Antagonistic Balance.
I know it’s hard to picture, so here’s an example:
The Double KB Front Squat
What’s going on? What muscle actions are being performed?
Well let’s consider:
The legs are the prime movers - they’re moving from neutral into flexion (straight → bent); they're “accepting” gravity to a certain extent. On the concentric muscle actions, the legs are moving from flexion to extension (bent → straight), resisting gravity. (Hips, knees, ankles, all extending.)
The torso is being held rigid - an isometric muscle action - maybe held in slight extension to combat the downward pull into flexion of the kettlebells on the chest
The shoulders, elbows, wrists and fingers are all in flexion as well, resisting extension.
Now, what’s the opposite, the FAB movement?
Think about it this way:
The arms need to be the prime movers instead of the legs. They need to be loaded (shorten against gravity) in flexion.
The torso needs to be held rigid, in slight flexion
The shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fingers need to be in extension, resisting flexion (if at all possible)
So can you come up with an exercise that meets that criteria?
How about the Handstand Push Up?
That meets all the above criteria, especially if you perform it facing the wall, holding a hollow position, instead of the traditional back-against-the-wall position.
Of course, there are varying degrees of FAB as well.
If we kept the fingers in flexion using the same double kettlebell front squat example, we could use Parallel Bar Dips, again, holding a hollow position; or Parallel Bar Dips holding a “Tuck” or “L-sit” position for the legs.
Finally, keeping the fingers and wrists in flexion, we could even use Ring Pull Ups with a false grip. Again, hollow position, “tuck,” or “L-sit” all could be used here.
Here are some common exercises and their FABs:
1. Military Press → L-Sit Chins, Front Squat, Flexed Arm Hanging Leg Raises
2. Front Squat → HSPUs, Parallel Bar/ Ring Dips, Chins
3. Back Squat → Parallel Bar Leg Raises, Tuck Sit Chin Ups
4. Deadlift → Tuck Sit Chin Ups, Parallel Bar Leg Raises
5. Swing → Hanging Leg Raises, V-Ups, Walkout to Push Up
6. Snatch → Muscle Ups, L-Sit Pull Ups/ Chins (with false grip)
7. Clean + Press → Muscle Ups, L-Sit Pull Ups / Chins