I'm curious as to what is your chosen sport BJJ, Judo etc, and do you lift weights or use bodyweight or both?
both (Judo and BJJ,but mainly judo) lift weights. with some body weight exercises- box jumps,chin/pull ups,dips etc,
BOTH!! You need to be comfortable with your own body, so Calisthenics are great, if you want to maintain strength or get stronger, lift weights, too! you should be strong enough to use your Calisthenics as cardio. if your Calisthenics are working as strength training, you need to be a bit stronger for your body size.
I would love to do both. But my work as a scout and traveling to certain obscure places doesn't allow me time and access to a gym. So I do bodyweight and I do BJJ. Works pretty well though I do miss weights.
If you don't mind the extra luggage, have you considered a kettlebell? They won't build your squat to 500lbs but they'll give you an awesome workout if you're looking for a little more than bodyweight exercises or just to simpy try something new. TS, if you have the time, do both. Strength training is great but cross training with calisthenics is ideal. You can't go wrong with getting the best of both worlds.
I used to lift but lately I have switched to a bodtweight program due to time constraints. I still have a little trouble doing the handstand pushups for cardio though. I guess i'm not strong enough?
Burpees, burpee pull ups, burpee box jumps, divebombers, diamond pushups, pistol squats, spiderman pushups, hanging sit ups... your possibilities are endless. P.S. More burpees.
could you clarify on what burpee pull ups, divebombers and hanging sit ups are? and why are burpees so good?
YOu will notice a huge bias in favor of lifting on Sherdog. I personally think that body weight exercices sould be a priority. All else equal, I strongly believe that pull ups and planks will pay more dividends in grappling. EDIT: you will also notice that people around here downplay the risk of injuries associated with say, squats and olympic lifts without appropriate supervision at least at first. They are both extremely beneficial, however I don't think that most people could locate a legit coach even if they tried. I know I couldn't. It's very easy to mess up your spine doing squats or your shoulders doing snatches if you don't know what you are doing. Just my 0.02.
To guy above, I find that generally sherdog is anti weights and more pro of just technique and body weight stuff. Bjj is my art of choice and I believe in all three weight lifting, bodyweight exercises and running cardio. When doing all those plus class (and proper nutrition) I feel at my best.
After my last fight I started lifting and the benefits were pretty big. Unfortunately because of school I don't have enough time so I've been doing BW stuff. Even when I was lifting a lot I still did a good amount of BW exercises. If I had the time and resources I would do both with an emphasis on lifting.
Depends on the season of my training for me. I do both either way. During comp season, body excersises and a lot more bjj. Off-season, heavy lifting and and a session or 2 less bjj due to working full-time. BJJ is always the main focus.
Me personally, I prefer weights over bodyweight exercises, but I like to use sandbags. One thing to think about is this: do you want to get better at moving yourself around an object or moving said object? By that I mean, hip escaping or spinning around an opponent would be moving yourself, but cross facing an opponent down, guard passing and just generally smashing guys tend to involve more of you moving them. This is an oversimplification, but basically think of it as either being the bull or the matador, both can be dangerous. Another thing I've had to contend with are tendonitis injuries. When you start really getting into high rep bodyweight exercises you have to think about overuse injuries. When I lift weights my tendons/ligaments feel better and I notice I don't get injured as much. The only bodyweight exercises I do is at practice during warm-ups.
Burpee pull ups are regular burpees, but when you jump up you do a jumping pull up. Hanging sit ups are just what it sounds like. Hang from a bar upside down and do your sit ups. Or if you wanna make it a little more difficult and have a heavy bag available, jump guard on the bag holding your weight with your legs, let your head go all the way to the floor then sit all the way up. And repeat. This works with a partner too if your bored before class. Divebombers are kinda hard to explain in words unless you know what Hindu pushups are... but they're a pain in the ass. So here's a video. [Yt]ttk8RdiIHzA[/MEDIA] Burpees are pretty much the epitome of a great bodyweight exercise though. There are so many variations and they work so much of your body from core to legs to chest to triceps hell if there was a way to add bridges to them it'd work everything from neck down.
