Weights, Calisthenics or both? (I)

My personal preference?... You guess it, I definitely prefer calisthenics. 

But always one to believe in taking the useful parts out of other disciplines to complement/ supplement my principal goals. My approach has changed over time. Started out almost 100% with just bodyweight exercises but last year has gone back to the gym and re-started with more running at the same time.

 

Weights 

Doing a benchpress, deadlift, barbell squat or bicep curl immediately makes most people equate these with bodybuilding or powerlifting. But the way I see it is to help in my overall strength training.

 

Pre-exhausting with dumbbell press to get the pushups and dips to failure without excessive reps above.

When short on time... combos like these are the most effective and productive.

 

Otherwise... to hit failure with bodyweight it would have taken maybe 5 sets of 30 diamond pushups and followed by 3-4 more sets of 20-25 dips.

The point is I'm not push/ pulling or lift to keep breaking PRs but will still rep it out with a vengeance for the intensity needed in most workout sessions. 

 

Superset of Dips+PullUps? Sure I do that all the time. But just as effective would be Dips+BicepCurls..

In both of these, one exercise works the triceps and the other the biceps...

 

"But you can always just do weighted calisthenics right?"

 

Sure. However there are a limited number of effective calisthenics moves where one can add resistance effectively and safely. I have seen too much stupidity with "creative weighted calisthenics"...

One important thing is always to train safe and stay away from unnecessary risk and injuries.

Oh.. and I may get some flak mentioning the importance of cardio... because some swears by just resistance training and believes cardio work is pointless. 

My philosophy of a total functional fitness package is to be able to run, jump, lift, pull, push + having stability and balance...

...which reminds me that's really what I did in the army 30+ years ago. Yes, if it comes to real functional fitness for a purpose... there is no denying that's what I got from the military years ago. Pound for pound there is nothing like hauling your ass with 40-50kg of gears and trudge 20km after jumping out of an airplane...

Today, life has gone back full circle to my younger days -- tuning my workouts in a similar manner but towards long term health and fitness goals.

And something I have been incessantly talking about... Proprioception and stability training. Nothing is more important with aging and able to balance. Building muscle mass alone (which is definitely important to fight sarcopenia) but getting all bulky and waddling like Big Bird of Sesames Street, isn't what I envision my future to be.

 

quote from good ol' Bruce...