This Bodyweight Workout Will Get You Shredded For Summer

Have you officially started your diet to get ready for summer yet? If not, then what the hell are you waiting on? I get that Pablo Sandoval is an Internet sensation right now, but that look typically only works if you’re a multimillionaire professional athlete.

When you decide it’s time to drop fat and get shredded for summer there are quite a few factors that you’ve got to take into consideration, and one of those factors can impact the others, creating a gigantic rubiks cube clusterfuck of possible fat loss scenarios.

For example:

How long you plan on dieting is going to determine just how deep of a deficit you get into. If you’re going on a 16 week diet, then you won’t have to drop your calories by a ton, and can still lift with quite a bit of volume and relatively heavy weights.

However, if you’re on an 8 week diet, then your calorie deficit is going to be much more intense. And because the deep calorie deficit, that’s going to impact how you train. In an intense deficit you’d be crazy to try and consistently lift near maximal weights, and with exceptionally high volume. You just don’t have enough calories to recover from that.

Essentially, your training and diet have to fall in line and support one another. Otherwise you’re spinning your wheels and going nowhere fast. Simple concept, but something that very few bros out there actually do.

That being said, there are few things you can do in the context of any fat loss program to help take it to the next level. One of those is using bodyweight workouts.

I’ve written before about why I love bodyweight circuits for fat loss, so I won’t waste the infinite space of the Internet repeating myself. However what I’ll do instead is show you an example of a badass bodyweight circuit you can start using to fire up your fat loss efforts.

A. Push-up x15

B. Single leg hip thrust x12 per side

C. Shoulder Taps x8 per side

D. Inverted row x10

E. Mountain climbers x30 total

F. Jumping lunges x20 total

8Go through the progression of exercises without stopping. Once you’ve completed one round, rest 60 seconds, and repeat 5 times total.

The beauty behind these types of bodyweight circuits, and why they work so well, is they’re built upon a few high level training principles, all stacked on top of each other. And like baking, when mixed just perfectly, lead to a beautiful end result.

  • Compound movements. It’s common knowledge nowadays that using compound movements is a metabolic must. With compound movements you’re forcing a high number of muscle fibers to fire at one time, which ramps up the metabolic intensity of the circuit, which = more fat loss.
  • Dynamic effort movements. like the mountain climbers and jumping lunges you’re taking that muscle fiber recruitment to an entirely new level. Because they’re placed at the end of the circuit, when you’re already fatigued, the amount of energy you’ve got expend to just do the movements is amplified. Meaning even greater fat loss efforts.
  • Giant sets. Giant sets are essentially long sets involving 5-6 exercises. They’re typically used for hypertrophy with heavier weights, but by utilizing giant sets in a dynamic body weight circuit we keep the heart rate high and take calorie burning to a whole new level.

Give these a try a couple of times a week, typically towards the end of a normal training session. They shouldn’t completely replace any sort of training you’re already doing. View bodyweight circuits as supplement above all else.

Tanner is a fitness professional and writer based in the metro Atlanta area. His training focus is helping normal people drop absurd amounts of fat, become strong like bull, and get in the best shape of their life.