Archive for April, 2013

This list is courtesy of http://bar-barians.forumotions.net/t4039-calisthetic-books

Bodyweight Exercise Revolution by Adam Steer (digitial product)
Tacfit Commando by Scott Sonnon (digital product)
Tacfit Warrior by Scott Sonnon (digital product)
Tactical Gymnastics by Scott Sonnon (digital product)
No Gym Necessary by Virgil Aponte (digital product)
The Muscle Experiment by Mike Thiga (digital product)
Solitary Fitness by Charles Bronson
Convict Conditioning by Paul Wade
The Weightless Workout by Health for Life
Hardcore Fitness by Steve Hansen
Never Gymless by Ross Enamait
Gymless by Alistair Ramsay (digital product)
Dinosaur Bodyweight Training by Brooks Kubik
Building The Gymnastic Body by Christopher Sommer
7 Weeks to 100 Push-Ups by Steve Speirs
7 Weeks To 50 Pull-Ups by Brett Stewart
You Are Your Own Gym By Mark Lauren
Bodyweight Exercises For Extraordinary Strength by Brad Johnson
The Power of Push-Ups by Rodney C. Womack III
Animal Workouts by David Nordmark
Natural Fitness by David Nordmark
The Ultimate Guide To Push-Ups by David Nordmark
The Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsatsouline
Weight-Free Workout by Men’s Health Magazine
The Essence of Bodyweight Training by Juan Carlos Santana
Max Capacity Training by Samy Peyret
Body Sculpting Bodyweight Exercises for Women by Eddie Baran
Turbulence Training by Craig Ballantyne (multiple digital products)
Monkey Fit: 21 Functional Bodyweight Drills & Exercises by Tim Jones
Grinder Strength Pull-Ups by Brad McLeod (digital product)
Fitness On A Swing Set by Karen M. Goeller
Hand-Balancing for Muscular Development by Bill Hinbern
The Ultimate Guide To Handstand Push-Ups by Christopher Logan
Maximum Muscular Fitness by Dan Riley
The Gravity Advantage by Paul Zaichik
The Gravity Advantage Max by Paul Zaichik
The Power of One by Paul Zaichik
Ultimate Wrestling Power by Steve Preston (digital product)
Workout Without Weights by Eddie Lomax (digital product)
Parallettes One (P1) by Ryan Hurst & Gold Medal Bodies (digital product)
Rings One (R1) by Ryan Hurst & Gold Medal Bodies (digital product)
Lean Hybrid Muscle- Bodyweight Edition by Elliot Hulse (digital product)
Final Phase Fat Loss- Bodyweight Edition by Adam Steer (digital product)
Primal Blueprint Fitness by Mark Sisson (digital product)
Combat Conditioning by Matt Furey
Working Out Without Weights by Chuck Gaylord
NHB Strength Training by Lloyd Irving
Wildman Training Manual & Course by John Grube
The Body Weight Solution by Tim Bell (digital product)
The Silverback Program by Tim Bell (digital product)
The Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss by Adam Steer (digital product)
Ultimate Gymless Workout by Eddie Lomax (digital product)
Lightning Speed Fitness by Roger Haeske (digital product)
Death, Taxes, & Push-Ups by Ted Skup
Fit by Nature by John Colver
The Navy Seal Workout by Mark De Lisle
The Backyard Workout by Rhadi Ferguson (digital product)
The Bodyweight Blitz by Brian & Shawn Fitzmaurice (digital product)
TBK Fitness Program Tamir Katz
Lose The Weights! by Erik Boudreau
Gym-Free and Ripped by Nathan Kendrick
Bodyweight Power by Bryce Lane
Fitness Secrets of the Road Ninja by Bryce Lane
Bodyweight Bodybuilding Secrets by Zach Even-Esh (digital product)
Zen Martinoli’s 5 Minute Fitness by Zen Martinoli
Convict Conditioning 2 by Paul Wade
A Mighty River of Steel by Bryce Lane
Bodyweight Blast X by Ryan Cooper (digital product)
Overcoming Gravity by Steven Low
Felon Fitness by William Kroger & Trey Teufel
Free Machine Workout Push-Up Report by Stan Hersk (digital product)
7 Weeks To getting Ripped by Brett Stewart
The Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness by Stew Smith
The Special Ops Workout by Stew Smith & Mike Mejia
Hillfit by Chris Highcock
The Official Guide To Mastering Handstand & Handstand Push-Ups by HIT Richards

I have trained with conventional weights – barbells, dumbbells & machines at a gym for over 27 years. A year or so back I got into kettlebells & have trained mostly with those in the past 12 months. I have also done extensive weighted vest training in the past couple of years.

Recently I have been looking at diversifying my functional strength training. What I deeply miss from the conventional weights are the 3 basic lifts, squat, deadlift & bench having gotten my bench up to 400 lbs without a gym with barbells or a press machine how can you duplicate this?

Well this has led me to a few ideas for gear I will be setting up here at home with minimal costs.

First up is Sandbags…

Lets look at the “bulgarian bag” first. To buy a quality leather bag from suples will set you back a few hundred. If you are overseas like me it could cost you up to $1000 – clearly out of the question.

here is the site http://www.suples.com/

As you can see these are very well crafted and attractive but also extremely expensive.

Well the very simple solution is to make one from a car inner tube.

Now I wont go into the details here on how to make one – its all over the net already. There are knock off brands that are much cheaper than suples & chinese brands are available in real leather too.

Next up are actual sandbags. The beauty of sandbags is that you can use them for most exercises you can use a barbell for, including squats, deadlifts & benches. Plus a whole lot more of course.

The best thing to do is to go down to army surplus & pick up some heavy canvas bags. Fill these with a liner plastic garbage bag then fill multiple smaller freezer bags with the actual sand. Only fill them to 75% so the sand can still squish & move around. Seal it all up with duct tape. You can also use steel shot if you want an extra heavy sandbag.

Rosstraining.com has a great & cheap course on sandbag training.

With sandbags you can have a tonne of weight to train with for $100 worth of army surplus gear.

Next I’ll talk about weight vests briefly. I do not recommend training with a pack or making your own vest. The whole point of weight vest training is that it is ergonomic.

The problem for those of us outside the US is the cost of shipping a super heavy vest. For my MIR 140 lb vest it would have cost nearly $1000 to ship the thing here. I bought it without weight for $89.

I am buying $280 worth of steel bar which when cut down will fit perfectly into the vest to the full 140 lb weight. So a major saving.

next KEGS. Yep beer kegs filled with water, gravel or sand. Buy them of an auction site or from a local supplier.

You also want to google for home made suspension trainer. There are multiple sites & videos showing how to make these.

Finally the dragging sled.

Basically a heavy tire will do but the important thing is the harness. There are several configurations for harnessing. There are different options for the actual sled too.

Just have a good google & you will find a variation to suit you.

I personally will just use a tire but may have several configurations for the harness to maximize functionality.

So there we have it – a total functional gym for next to nothing. Hundreds of pounds of weight.