If you don’t think that you can get back in shape with only bodyweight
workouts, then the ShapeShifter workout guys have a big surprise for you.

You see, bodyweight exercises and workouts have been working for centuries.
Greek Gods and Olympic wrestlers trained with bodyweight only many years
ago, as did Spartan warriors. It’s only been in the last 100 years that man
has started worshiping commercial gym equipment.

But the truth is that you don’t need fancy machines or the expensive gym
memberships that come with them. No, the truth is that you can do incredible
bodyweight workouts – in the comfort of your own home or even at the park -
if you want to build muscle, burn fat, and get back in shape.

Let’s take a look at the key components of fat burning. First, you need to
move your body in an intense manner. That’s easily done with short sprints,
challenging (and fun) single leg exercises, and all types of advanced upper
body exercises such as chin-ups, dips, decline pushups, pullups, and
bodyweight rows.

Gain Muscle With Bodyweight Workouts?

You’ll often hear the question, “Can you gain muscle with only bodyweight
exercises?”, and with the list I just mentioned, the answer is a resounding
yes. And that’s even without getting all fancy with the new suspension
training systems available – such as the TRX or Blast Straps.

So yes, do your bodyweight exercises and you’ll get back in shape. Let’s
take a closer look at how you can specifically reshape your body with the
ShapeShifter style workouts.

First, start your workouts with a few total-body movements. The key areas
that you need to warm-up before any workout – whether bodyweight only or
weights – are the upper back, the pressing muscles, your torso, and your
lower body. I call this the 4 hot zones of the body, because they contain
the most metabolically active tissue.

You’re probably familiar with the phrase metabolism, and that simply refers
to your calorie burning potential. When you warm-up these 4 hot zones, you
are warming up your ability to dramatically increase your calorie burning.

Your goal with every ShapeShifter workout and fat blasting session is to get
the most muscle involved, so use prisoner squats, tripods, spiderman
exercises, and other warm-up level ShapeShifter bodyweight exercises to get
your muscles burning and joints prepared for the more advanced ShapeShifting
ahead.

Two rounds of a 5-7 exercise general bodyweight warm-up is what I recommend
for every one of my clients. Fortunately, you’re doing this warm-up without
any equipment, so you can prepare yourself anytime, anywhere. In the summer,
there isn’t any activity much better than doing a bodyweight workout on the
beach followed up by a swim in the lake or ocean. And with ShapeShifters,
that can be done.

But let’s move on to the metabolic circuits next. One simple way to get the
most muscle involved in your belly fat burning workout is to use what I
call, “The Big 7 Bodyweight Exercise Circit”. This is advanced, and
beginners will use only the Big 5, skipping the jumps and sprints.

The Big 7 starts with a jumping exercise. It could be box jumps (easier for
intermediate level fitness) or tuck jumps for advanced fitness. Super-
advanced ShapeShifters might even use a single-leg hop or jumping movement.
Do 6-8 reps for the jump and without rest, move immediately to the next
movement, the squat.

Beginners may use a lying hip extension (a very easy “form” of the squat),
while intermediate exercise variations include the bodyweight squat or
prisoner squat, or even bodyweight split squats. For advanced fitness
levels, you might challenge yourself with a single-leg half squat or full
pistol squat. Those are tough, but will shapeshift your butt big time.

The third of the Big 7 exercises is any type of pushing movement. From
beginner pushups right on through to 1-arm pushups or even handstand
pushups, you’ll choose a pushing exercise based on your fitness level. This
is about as straight-forward as it gets. Aim for an exercise that causes
fatigue in 10-20 reps.

Next you’re going to counteract all that pushing muscle work with a pulling
exercise that brings the shoulder blades together. Your best bets are
bodyweight rows or pullups. Unfortunately, if you have NO equipment at all
(and I mean nothing, not a strap or resistance band or dumbbell), it’s
almost impossible to train your pulling muscles. You simply need something
to pull against or pull apart. If you are stuck with nothing, you can do
stick-up movements against a wall. But hopefully you have straps and can do
bodyweight rows to work that metabolically active upper back musculature.

Now we’ll head back down to the lower body for a single-leg exercise. Our
beginners will stick with 1-leg lying hip extensions or step-ups.
Intermediates can use split squats or reverse lunges. And advanced fitness
experts can use Bulgarian Split Squats, 1-leg Deadlifts, or forward lunges.
The most advanced fitness levels might even use jump lunges. Good times.

We’re almost done our Big 7, with the penultimate exercise being a total
body ab movement. If you are lucky enough to have straps, advanced fitness
levels can do my current favorite ab exercise, kneeling strap “rollouts”. If
you don’t have straps, beginners will start with planks, and you can also do
side planks, mountain climbers, or stability ball rollouts if you have a
ball.

Finally, we’ll finish the Big 7 with a form of interval training. For
intermediates, you can do jumping jacks. Advanced fitness ShapeShifters can
do sprints, jump rope, or side to side lateral jumps. Of course, if you’re
lucky enough to have access to kettlebells, you could even do swings at this
point in the circuit.

That’s quite a circuit, isn’t it? You’ll do each exercise for 10-25 reps,
with little to no rest between each exercise. At the end of the circuit,
take a 1 minute break, and then repeat the circuit 2-3 more times for a
total-body, calorie burning ShapeShifter style workout. That will get you
sweating, boost your heart rate, and burn as many calories as you can in a
short time.

It’s much better than trying to use boring cardio to get back in shape. And
that workout doesn’t even cover all of the cool stuff that you can do.
That’s why you need to get the complete ShapeShifter’s workout program so
that you can tackle belly fat like a Superhero, and finally get back in
shape with workouts that are fun, fast, and effective.

Just say NO to cardio, and yes to ShapeShifting your body.