- Bodyweight Training & Calisthenics: The Progressive Bodyweight Workout Book For Beginners & Beyond (Weight training & resistance workouts)

British certified fitness coach and author James Atkinson has published ten valuable books on his advice for encouraging good health – FITNESS & EXERCISE MOTIVATION, FITNESS FOR WOMEN OF ANY AGE, JIM’S WEIGHT TRAINING GUIDE. JIM’S WEIGHT TRAINING & BODY BUILDING WORKOUT PLAN, MARATHON TRAINING, TOTAL FITNESS FOR WHEELCHAIR USERS, HEALTH AND FITNESS TIPS THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE, HOME WORKOUT FOR BEGINNERS, HOME WORKOUT CIRCUIT TRAINING, RESISTANCE BAND TRAINING, and now BODYWEIGHT TRAINING AND CALISTHENICS. He covers all the bases with actionable results! James now encourages us to bring the ‘gym’ home – a feasible and impressive way to build strength and mobility at home without all the ‘tools’ that fitness gyms provide: instead, using our own body weight in a planned and progressive workout. As he states, ‘Bodyweight training is an excellent choice of resistance training for almost everyone. For the beginner or senior trainer it can be an entry point to fitness that will yield unbelievable results as body weight exercise is often more than enough to challenge previously unconditioned muscle groups with progressive overload, leading to results that can be superior to the same intensity of training from barbells and dumbbells, etc. In my experience, I believe that this is because of the functional nature of bodyweight training and calisthenics that lend itself to core stability, along with a bigger emphasis on or stabilizer muscles.’ One of the many reasons James’ book is so valuable is his instruction of functional muscle groups, explaining clearly how all muscle groups (back, legs, shoulders, biceps, triceps etc) work – a factor that makes fitness training educational and far more beneficial. His exercising with bodyweight include calisthenics and isometric training, both of which have a strong focus on muscular strength and growth.’ After some solid mental instruction, he moves on to physical guidance with The Big Five – Push=ups’ Pullups, Dips, Shoulder Press, Squats – explaining the dynamics and illustrating the exercises (excellent images that define the muscle groups visually!) - of each. All promises made in his intro are fulfilled – and we benefit! All of James’ books provide supportive encouragement to the reader for achieving and maintaining fitness, delivered in a user-friendly manner. This is one of the finest books for realistic, informed and results-producing fitness books this reader has encountered! Very highly recommended. Grady Harp, October 21

Very informative and good information on bodyweight training, need more exercise routines, I approved this message, good for beginners to workout to

Easily manageable for all levels. Convenient to work out at home and see results.

Simple and straighforward writing. Useful. I've already started doing some of the exercises. Sometimes we want the wrong things in such books. We want pictures and more pictures. This book has a nice mix of advice and suggestions that are vital to read. The pictures are very nice drawings. Few know that drawings are often better than pictures because of how certain aspects of the body, birds, animals, etc can emphasize certain characteristics. Nice book and worth the money. I am already doing some of the exercises.

Not a bad beginner book. However the editor needs more experience, some poorly formed sentences.

I've read some of the other books that fit along with this book, and I definitely should have started with the exercises illustrated here. I have started incorporating some of these exercises in my workouts, and they are working so nicely. Anyone wanting to ease their way into fitness, start here.

The summary before buying led me to believe I would get a book with plenty of exercises and variations of them (from modified to advanced). What I got was a book with 5 or six basic exercises with their progressions! Do not buy if your looking for a guide book to all types of calisthenic movements for a workout plan.

I am a big fan of Jim. He's been a great help to me in my journey to both lose weight and be healthy. This book comes at a time when I need it most. I sit at a desk at home all day and find myself being tired, stiff, and feeling crappy at the end of my day. This book, which I didn't know was coming, came out when I was looking into Calisthenics and Bodyweight training. I can do these things while on calls or whenever really. I had no idea where to start. Now I do! Thanks again Jim and keep it up! I will if you do!

I was expecting a lot more information on how to use your body for training, instead of the background information that was another person's journey to find out it was even possible. A more accurate description of the content would have been useful.

Recently purchased this book and honestly it’s really changed my view of exercising. I really look forward to doing my routines. Sometimes after doing 10 hr shift in a restaurant kitchen and I get home late I’ll do my exercise routine and it gives me a huge burst of energy. The book is very well written and the plans are excellent. You can stick with the prepared plans or adapt them to your needs. Very little equipment is required but I would highly recommend getting a pull up bar. In the 2 months I’ve been doing these exercises I feel a whole lot stronger, have more energy and I’m seeing pretty good results. No need for expensive gym membership, just get this book and change your life. You’ll never need to use a gym again.

Didn’t add anything to my workout. Bad explanation, few exercises, don’t even bother to read it

Good product,

The exercise progressions have written descriptions along with pictures of the start position and “top of movement” so they are easy to follow. Each type of exercise has several progressions, so this is great for beginners who will always have something to work towards. There is also information about isometric and eccentric training and how to use these types of training methods with the workouts. There are several full routines to follow but as a reader you are encouraged to create your own routine following the step-by-step guide and using the blank program cards that also come with the book.