Bodyweight exercises to put on a little weight

Dream101

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What's your guys take or personal experiences on bodyweight exercises to add a little bit of weight. I'm 145 lbs looking to get up to around 155-160 lbs just to gain a little strength and muscle for muay thai.

Has anyone been successful adding about 10 lbs with just bodyweight workouts? I do burn quite a bit of calories everyday from moving lots at work and practicing muay thai 3-5 times a week so I know I would have to have a caloric surplus. But is that kind of gain possible without weights?
 
Can but to make your muscles grow you need real resistance - so a real bodyweight strength program not just endless pushups. Look up r/bodyweightfitness beginner routine, overcoming gravity, or coach sommers programming.
 
You add weight by eating more calories than your body needs to maintain weight at your current activity levels.
 
You add weight by eating more calories than your body needs to maintain weight at your current activity levels.
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What's your guys take or personal experiences on bodyweight exercises to add a little bit of weight. I'm 145 lbs looking to get up to around 155-160 lbs just to gain a little strength and muscle for muay thai.

Has anyone been successful adding about 10 lbs with just bodyweight workouts? I do burn quite a bit of calories everyday from moving lots at work and practicing muay thai 3-5 times a week so I know I would have to have a caloric surplus. But is that kind of gain possible without weights?
Adding and removing weight starts in the kitchen. Period!

Bodyweight training is my focus over 90% and while I gain muscle mass it's not a focus of mine. If you want to gain weight, look at your diet.
 
Absolutely it is possible, but you'll need a true caloric surplus, and a legitimate bodyweight program.

What's your goals?

Most of my training revolved around bodyweight stuff for years and I added mass very slowly. Granted adding mass was not my intention nor was my intake anywhere near adequate, but I've added more mass in 6 months at the gym with a proper diet than years of fuckery with bodyweight stuff.

If you just want to get heavier, the gym will give you results faster (imo).

A huge drawback with bodyweight stuff is that it is very difficult to load the legs sufficiently. There is no bodyweight movement that compares to regularly squatting a heavy ass barbell. And bulking up your legs is one of the faster ways to add mass, so honestly while it is possible to add mass via bw stuff, if adding mass is your main goal then get in a gym.

EDIT: Went back and bolded the part that actually matters
 
Absolutely it is possible, but you'll need a true caloric surplus, and a legitimate bodyweight program.

What's your goals?

Most of my training revolved around bodyweight stuff for years and I added mass very slowly. Granted adding mass was not my intention nor was my intake anywhere near adequate, but I've added more mass in 6 months at the gym with a proper diet than years of fuckery with bodyweight stuff.

If you just want to get heavier, the gym will give you results faster (imo).

A huge drawback with bodyweight stuff is that it is very difficult to load the legs sufficiently. There is no bodyweight movement that compares to regularly squatting a heavy ass barbell. And bulking up your legs is one of the faster ways to add mass, so honestly while it is possible to add mass via bw stuff, if adding mass is your main goal then get in a gym.

EDIT: Went back and bolded the part that actually matters

Thanks. As I mentioned I would like to add about 10 lbs of solid muscle. My goal is to put on muscle and strength to benefit my muay thai training so my main goal is muay thai.

I practice muay thai 3-5 times a week and move a lot on a daily basis. And I have a family so my schedule is very busy. So I really can't make time to go to the gym. That's why I was wondering if bodyweight workouts are beneficial for the gains I'm shooting for. Buakaw's body type is ideal :)
 
You are not putting on 10 lbs of hard, thick man meat without getting under that barbell and eating.
 
Well, as I said, it can work but it is not the most effective,efficient way to put on mass. It will take a long time.

BTW even if you can't get into a gym that does not restrict you to BW movments, they let you buy weights you can take home you know :)
 
A huge drawback with bodyweight stuff is that it is very difficult to load the legs sufficiently. There is no bodyweight movement that compares to regularly squatting a heavy ass barbell. And bulking up your legs is one of the faster ways to add mass, so honestly while it is possible to add mass via bw stuff, if adding mass is your main goal then get in a gym.

Yeah the man has a point but if you venture past bodyweight lets say "SandBags" and shoulder them and walk up a hill and downhill and then switch shoulders and up and down and repeat x-amount of times that will work your legs.

So there is a point where depending on where the person is at, their focus, and what they want to accomplish that they need to look past bodyweight and adjusting leverage and think about how can I add resistance and make it more challenging where I am making more gains.
 
One way is when doing push-ups, perform each repetition up very fast/explosively, then lower yourself into the down position over 5-6 seconds, do up to 12 at a time. You can apply this to a lot of calisthenics. Like other posters have said though, you won't gain any weight without eating more.
 
What's your guys take or personal experiences on bodyweight exercises to add a little bit of weight. I'm 145 lbs looking to get up to around 155-160 lbs just to gain a little strength and muscle for muay thai.

Has anyone been successful adding about 10 lbs with just bodyweight workouts? I do burn quite a bit of calories everyday from moving lots at work and practicing muay thai 3-5 times a week so I know I would have to have a caloric surplus. But is that kind of gain possible without weights?

Any reason why it has to be bodyweight only?
 
Yeah the man has a point but if you venture past bodyweight lets say "SandBags" and shoulder them and walk up a hill and downhill and then switch shoulders and up and down and repeat x-amount of times that will work your legs.

So there is a point where depending on where the person is at, their focus, and what they want to accomplish that they need to look past bodyweight and adjusting leverage and think about how can I add resistance and make it more challenging where I am making more gains.

The only problem with the sandbag idea is that it has been shown that very high rep ranges (20+) have very limited hypertrophy benefits. The walking up and down hills with sandbag(s) is surely more of a conditioning drill. The OP needs to find a way to load his lower body in a way that 8-12 reps is quite challenging. The easiest way to do that is obviously a barbell.
 
Your goal shouldn't be to put on weight, heck it shouldn't even really be to put on muscle. Your goal should be to get stronger. You'll probably gain weight while doing that (with some of that being muscle) but that's a side effect.

So that said, to get stronger you have to be able to progressively increase the loads you are moving/lifting which tends to be tougher with bodyweight exercises. You either have to progress to harder variations (e.g. pistol squats, one-arm push-ups) or start adding weight (e.g. wearing a weigh vest). The drawback to harder variations is that there is usually a skill component to master as well and. If you are going to add weight why not just lift weights in the first place?
 
Hit the high tension movements like others have pointed out (one armed push-ups, pistols, weighted pull-ups etc) and eat like a beast. Won't be as easy as with the barbells but will get you there slowly.

High volume , like 5 sets of 5-8.
 
Get yourself some chicken, rice, potatoes, steak, fish, pasta, eggs, milk etc. Eat it. Eat more of it. And then eat some more after that.

Or get a mass gainer and slam them down. Easy way to smash 600+ quality calories.

Youd do yourself better to pick up some heavy ass weights too, but you need to eat to grow.

You have kids? Have them sit on your back while you do pushups. Put them over your shoulders and squat.
 
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