Kenneth Leung - Suspended Bodyweight Training: Workout Programs for Total-Body Fitness

Text copyright 2015 Kenneth Leung and Lily Chou. Design and concept copyright 2015 Ulysses Press and its licensors. Photographs copyright 2015 Rapt Productions except as noted below. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized duplication in whole or in part or dissemination of this edition by any means (including but not limited to photocopying, electronic devices, digital versions, and the Internet) will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Published in the United States by

Ulysses Press

P.O. Box 3440

Berkeley, CA 94703

www.ulyssespress.com

ISBN: 978-1-61243-426-1

Library of Congress Control Number 2014943040

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Acquisitions: Keith Riegert

Managing editor: Claire Chun

Project editor: Lindsay Tamura

Editor: Lauren Harrison

Proofreader: Renee Rutledge

Indexer: Sayre Van Young

Front cover/interior design and layout: what!design @ whatweb.com

Cover photographs: studio AYakovlev/shutterstock.com; woman Rapt Productions

Interior photographs: Rapt Productions except page 7 Oleksandr Briagin/shutterstock.com, page 33 holbox/shutterstock.com, page 59 holbox/shutterstock.com

Models: Bryan Ausinheiler, Evan Clontz, Kenneth Leung

Please Note: This book has been written and published strictly for informational purposes, and in no way should be used as a substitute for consultation with health care professionals. You should not consider educational material herein to be the practice of medicine or to replace consultation with a physician or other medical practitioner. The authors and publisher are providing you with information in this work so that you can have the knowledge and can choose, at your own risk, to act on that knowledge. The author and publisher also urge all readers to be aware of their health status and to consult health care professionals before beginning any health program.

This book is independently authored and published. No sponsorship or endorsement of this book by, and no affiliation with TRX Suspension Trainer or any other suspended bodyweight training system, or any other trademarked brands or products mentioned or pictured, is claimed or suggested. All trademarks that appear in this book belong to their respective owners and are used here for informational purposes only. The author and publisher encourage readers to patronize the quality brands and other products mentioned and pictured in this book.

CONTENTS

Every few years there seems to be a new fitness gadget in the gym that catches peoples eyes. One of the more interesting ones to have come along is the suspended bodyweight trainer. Brands like TRX and Lifeline have reignited suspended bodyweight training, taking old-school exercises that were originally only done on rings by gymnasts and making them new school.

Theres a reason that almost every gym in America has added suspended bodyweight trainers. Suspended bodyweight training is both fun AND helpful. It turns stale exercises into challenging ones that will help rip your core. Even people who have no idea what theyre doing can try one out and feel the burn in their abs and glutes. Just imagine what a little instruction and training can do!

If youre looking to learn more about suspended bodyweight training to enhance your exercise repertoire, youve come to the right place. This book will serve as a guide to using devices like the TRX, rings, and other suspended bodyweight straps and will provide examples and explanations of exercises that will help build strength, stability, and flexibility for personal benefit, as well as for a variety of sports.

Suspended bodyweight exercise is the cornerstone of many modern training programs for professional athletes in virtually every sport imaginable, including football, baseball, basketball, combat sports, triathlon, and swimming. Athletic programs worldwide use suspended bodyweight training to supplement their strength and conditioning routines, and with good reason suspended bodyweight training is unique in that it challenges the stability of the performer, allowing you to improve your function through neuro-reeducation. By learning how to automatically stabilize your core, your apparent strength will surpass your previous plateaus. Youll become stronger and more toned, with a better overall build.

Whats amazing about suspended bodyweight training is that anyone can do it. As a trainer for collegiate and professional athletes, Ive used it to help give athletes more core feedback. As a physical therapist, Ive used it to help make exercises easier for rehabilitating patients. Essentially, suspended bodyweight training allows you to instantly adjust an exercises difficulty to whatever is most appropriate for your fitness level, whether youre a baby boomer who just wants to get up and down the stairs without pain or a college student whos working toward bulging biceps.

To give you a more meaningful workout, this book will help you understand basic exercise concepts. As an educator and a doctor of physical therapy, I try to make sure all of my patients know why theyre doing something so that they can protect themselves from injury in the long run. By knowing and learning about suspended bodyweight training, youll not only be able to ramp up the exercises as you progress, youll also be able to modify them to fit your needs. With this books easy-to-follow workouts and exercises with step-by-step instructions, youll get not only what everyone wants, but what your trainer and physical therapist say you need: toned muscles, a strong core, flexibility, and, most importantly, a fun and challenging workout.

Im one of the biggest cynics there is. Being in the fitness and health industry, Im bombarded with the newest, craziest fads you can think of: supplements that will help you get ripped with minimal effort, diets that promise to make you as fit as a caveman, vibration plates that will shake your fat off, electrodes that will let you work out while you sleep, and even magic bracelets that claim to align your energy. Hey, if it works for you, thats great, but I dont want to waste my time with something that doesnt make sense and especially something that doesnt work better than the placebo effect.

Whats the placebo effect? Its is when you believe something works youll have a psychological feeling that its actually working, even if what you took (sugar pill, magic bean, etc.) was a total sham. I want something that really does work. I want something that has been proven with science to work. Not only that, I want something that I can feel working immediately. Thats when Ill stick to it. With suspended bodyweight training, not only will you see results immediately or within the first few weeks, youll continue to see gains in your training as you progress because of the amazing amount of flexibility and variability that youll achieve.

When I first started using a suspended bodyweight trainer, it was just another toy. Ok, cool, I can do this exercise and that onenot bad. But the more I used it and the more familiar with it I became, I was able to do new exercises that worked my body like I had never felt before. My old workouts were like my first car: cheap but practical, and took me where I wanted to go. Adding suspended bodyweight training to my workout was like my dad giving me the keys to his brand-new BMW and saying, Go crazy, son! Now, all of a sudden, the good old push-up became a challenge again. I was able to add a ton of variety to my workouts, which not only made them a lot more fun, but worked my core at the same time. I guarantee that if you do the prone plank and jack knife exercise with a suspended bodyweight trainer, youll feel your abs shredding and your fat burning in less time than it took you to read this paragraph.