Bar Workouts

Body weight exercises (8-10 main exercises, 1-3 sets each) have been the mainstay of my maintenance muscle training since turning 30 years old. They build muscle tone, flexibility, and help align the body. What this program tends not to do is tweak, pinch, or wrench tendons, bones, and muscles as sometimes occurs with muscle overload programs such as free weights and machines.Where did I look to come up with the bar workout? If you open your eyes, sometimes you see all of the answers before you.

Bruce Lee said, "Don't think, feel! It is like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory."

Bruce embraced "using what works and rejecting was doesn't." Had he lived to be middle age, he might have said the same thing I am saying now about not trying to change your body type. Bruce was a small (5'6") ectomorph who did lots of body weight exercises (he perfomed 50 one-arm chin ups). At one point, by using free weights and machines, he built himself up from 138 pounds to 165. Soon after that he changed his training and again got down in weight to where he could maintain speed and agility.

Small body types: Tall ectomorphs like Sifu Slim and short ectomorphs like Bruce Lee, don't easily bulk up with body weight exercises.

Jack LaLanne, a short mesomorph (medium build)[or perhaps an ecto-meso, thinner medium build] had an easier time than Bruce putting on muscle mass. Of course this is not to say that Jack didn't workout harder, smarter, and steadier than most anyone in modern history. Bruce and Jack were quite comparable in their work ethic and their desire for learning about fitness and inventing new training methods.

As heavy people often wish to reduce weight, smaller people often seem to want to get bigger. Bruce's normal weight was around 140 pounds. Adding 25 pounds is a lot of muscle weight for a 5'6 ectomorph to be carrying around. It takes a lot of eating, lifting, and sleeping. Not an easy plan for a man had a busy schedule and who suffered from dyslexia, migraines, sleep disorders, and a major back injury.

Bruce injured a nerve in his back doing an exercise called good-mornings which call for placing a weighted barbell on your shoulders and then bowing your torso down to waist height. I have seen very few doing these since the 1980s. Along the way, trainers largely put an end to this potentially dangerous maneuver. The doctors said Bruce would never again be able to throw a kick or perform Kung Fu. He made a remarkable recovery but was plagued with back trouble for the rest of his short life.

A few rules of the road for injury prevention and looking good

1. You were given a body type. Keep your body type because it's not going anywhere.

If you fight it, if you try to alter it, it will knock you out. You can not defeat your body type. Have you ever seen a shadow boxer knock out his shadow? And by body type, I mean bone structure and ability or non-ability to put on weight.

2. Ectomorphs and mesomorphs: stay lean and mean.

I hope Arnold Swarzenegger, a classic mesomorph, understands the following is just a comment, not a harsh jab at an idol. I saw (2008) a photo of Arnold, the Governor of California, with his shirt off. He looked pudgy and bloated. A personal goal for you might be to be leaner and more agile than that gifted, hardworking superman when we get to his age. He has a hard job and is known to smokes cigars in his tent next to the Capitol in Sacramento. He undoubtedly eats at finer restaurants than most of us. He has also paid more dues and some may think he deserves some time for cigar smoking. Since most of us will never achieve his superhuman status, we could try to outlast him in wellness. Is wellness supposed to be competitive? I don't know but I'd rather win a wellness competition than a pie-eating or cigar-smoking competition.

Besides a 1.5-year stint in Paris dining at 4-star restaurants in my early 20s, I haven't lived, as "large" (as in the good life, as in the high life, as in "la bonne chere," and "haute cuisine") as the affluent Arnold. I also have a much easier time with metabolism of fats, sugars, and proteins. I am a high-metabolism ectomorph and can still, in middle age, burn through the better parts of a 2-pound steak in 3-4 hours. I wish the lunchtime steak would find its way to the shoulders I worked out in the morning. Most of the steak seems to simply vanish.

"Hey, Arnold, though I may look like a toothpick, I do know some Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. All this means I would use my antelope physique to run for the hills if you ever wanted to go Conan on me. I voted for you, go easy on me when we meet." (Late edition. "I just saw a May of 2008 photo of you, in a designer business suit standing next to John McCain--you looked more streamlined! Way to go!")

Endomorphs, you wider, rounder people, don't try to be skinny. Just keep active. You have to find things you like doing. Hiking and swimming are probably the best exercises I know for any body type, and these are especially helpful low-impact cardio and long duration exercises for endomorphs.

3. When you're not fit or are over the hill (beginning around age 30-ish for full-time workers or busy parents) reduce or avoid old-school squats or other exercises which require stacking heavy weights on your shoulders or back. Sure you brag that you can do it today, but injured lifters were doing fine until one little slip put them in traction!

4. Warm-ups are key. Warm-ups precede stretching. After warm-ups and stretches do a light first set. Less weight or resistance, and fewer reps. This prepares the body for the next set and will tell you how your muscles and bones are doing at the moment.

5. Don't use stupid force and don't hyperextend anything. Use mature common sense.

6. Get better at your workouts. Gaining in reps and gaining in form in your reps is superior to gaining in resistance weight. Maintenance means keeping it, not maxing out.

7. Have fun.

Kids have much to teach adults. They tend to do things naturally, without inhibition. Watch how they do it. Do kids get in their own workouts, without even considering the notion of working out, via having fun? You bet they do. They are playful, competitive, and often fearless. Kids live in the "no-shame" zone when it comes to playing and getting in their exercise. Why don't adults? I'll leave that answer up to you.

Bars or no Bars?
(in outdoor Play/Sports Areas)

Which institutions have these wonderful play and exercise contraptions? (Horizontal bars for chin-ups, dips, push-ups, hanging and swinging, knee-ups, stretching.)

   Day care & Elementary schools: YES!
   Middle Schools: Mixed
   High Schools: Rarely

In the USA, why do most elementary school yards have climbing bars?

Because they are fun and they build strength, flexibility, and motor skills. They also keep kids busy and active while giving teachers a break!

Kids do what comes naturally and they do it freely. A good back stretch also promotes good posture. Hanging on a bar decompresses the spine which gets compressed as we sit long hours, in the same position, in our less-than-back-friendly desk chairs.

The Middle School Disconnect: Why do only some middle schools have climbing bars?

Are 12 year olds too hip or too square to climb around like they used to?

Do we want to tell our kids that being able to swing their bodies as they become heavier is not appropriate? Few high schools have outdoor climbing bars. Some have chin-up bars or challenge courses.

But really, after they graduate elementary school how many Americans will ever be able to freely swing their suspended bodies?

Only the very fit can swing freely or do a chin-up later in life. Other countries, especially those behind the curve in supersizing their bodies, do things differently. I have seen countless Asian adults, even Asian seniors, swinging on bars in public parks in America. Do they know something we westerners don't?

A good test of fitness is to be fit enough and light enough to do a few chin-ups. Start easy with a full warm-up, then practice with a spotter. You can also climb up to the top position of the chin-up and then lower down slowly--this is known as a negative repetition. Other tests for those already fit: hang for 30 seconds.

Swing 4-5 comfortable swings in a controlled motion.

BE THE BAR