A lot of the questions I get asked pertain to the relationship between bodyweight and barbell training. Some of the hard hitters include: How do you merge both? Which is better? Is there a way to get gains with just bodyweight training? Or just barbell training? Being my contextually obsessive self, I have a hard [...]
A lot of the questions I get asked pertain to the relationship between bodyweight and barbell training. Some of the hard hitters include:
- How do you merge both?
- Which is better?
- Is there a way to get gains with just bodyweight training? Or just barbell training?
Being my contextually obsessive self, I have a hard time answering these questions because it’s like asking about ingredients in a recipe…without actually having a recipe.
And so, most often, I’m sure I answer in some snide philosophical tone that makes it seem like I’m dodging the question, even though in reality I’m just saving myself from my own self induced existential crisis. So before we start to tackle the bodyweight and barbell bucket, let’s start with some context.
BB + BW Combo: the barbell side of context
What does “bodyweight” training mean? “Barbell” training? We need to qualify these things before we do anything else.
Barbell training seems obvious enough, but it’s not. Bodybuilders, powerlifters, Olympic weightlifters, and even CrossFitters—all of these athletes use the barbell for a high percentage of their training, yet each athlete spats out differently.
Plopping bodyweight training atop an Olympic weightlifting ethos of pulling from the floor, putting things overhead, and squatting with a high frequency is different than plopping it atop a powerlifting ethos of more benching is different than training like ‘roided up bodybuilder that hits every muscle group hard once per week.
Qualifying barbell training is important because it usually determines (a) not only lifts that are prioritized, but also (b) training programming. The biggest implication of all of this being stress, and how to manage the stressors that each philosophy brings about.
If you’re a powerlifter that can’t give up bench pressing, then you’re in a different situation than a goonie like myself that holds no allegiance to any sort of sport. I can pick and choose my spots given my overall interests and goals, which is why I have barbell stones that err on the Olympic weightlifting side but aren’t fully immersed there.
BB + BW Combo: the bodyweight side of context
Qualifying bodyweight training is more frame of mind than anything else. One the questions we’ll eventually get to (and one I’m asked a ton) is whether or not it’s possible to get gains with just bodyweight training.
There are two unknowns to that question, and we’ll deal with this one first: what does “bodyweight” training mean to you? Doing a push-up is “bodyweight” training, but so is doing an iron cross.
Bodyweight skills, in my opinion, have tiers:
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LEVEL 0
Bodyweight squats, push-ups, inverted rows, etc.
LEVEL 1
Cossack squats, chin-ups/pull-ups, parallel bar dips, etc.
LEVEL 2
One arm push-ups, one arm chin-ups, pistol squats/shrimps, etc.
LEVEL 3
Levers, planches, handstands, and other floor/bar skills.
LEVEL 4
Basically the third level done on rings, and other advanced ring skills.
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This classification will pop its head back up again for different reasons, but primary point now is that if you have a LEVEL 4 frame of mind then you’re in a totally different place than someone with a LEVEL 0 frame of mind.
(For curious minds: the levels aren’t linear. You don’t have to accomplish LEVEL 2 before moving to LEVEL 3, for instance. The classification has a different purpose beyond progression.)
BB + BW Combo: the end game
The last initial contextual layer is qualifying the end game: what gains are you seeking? Prioritizing skill development is different than prioritizing hypertrophy is different than wanting a combination of both.
For instance, CrossFit merges barbells and bodyweight training, but I’d never do CrossFit. Yet I merge barbell and bodyweight training—see how context is an important thing to tackle?
This sort of reroutes back to the above two buckets, in a way. CrossFitters compete in certain lifts and events and not others. There are not a lot of high level bodyweight skills in the sport, as the muscle-up was a long time pinnacle of bodyweight investment. For a gymnast though, a muscle-up is a ground zero fundamental skill.
BB + BW Combo: recap of context
Before going anywhere with a barbell and bodyweight conversation, you have to hit those three layers of context:
- What kind of barbell training? What to do value? How does that determine how you’re going to train and the stressors you’re going to put on your body?
- What kind of bodyweight training? Where’s your head at? LEVEL 0?
- What’s the end game? Do you want to prioritize barbell training and use bodyweight as something “extra?” The reverse? What do you value and to what end?
And I think that’s a decent enough launch pad. We’re in a much better spot now to talk about merging both barbell and bodyweight training.