Ab wheel rollouts

Ab wheel rollouts provide a great core workout with the use of a simple device: the ab wheel. Though the exercise may look deceptively easy, performing ab wheel rollouts from your feet is a challenge that should not be underestimated.

Prerequisites (for standing versions):
Wall plank ; hanging straight leg V-raises

Muscle up progression

I am not very naturally explosive at all, and it took me a long time to manage my first bar muscle up.
Though deceptively simple, the muscle up is quite a complex skill, involving two main compound movements, the linking of which requires not only strength, but fine timing.
 The basic movement involves performing a pull up, followed by a single bar dip, in order to get on top of the bar. The difficulty of the move however, resides in the transition from the top of the pull up position to the bottom of the dip position, and being able to do explosive pull ups helps with this!
Consequently this is a progression I really had to break down into small steps, in order to make it as gradual and painless as possible.

I hope the following will offer you a clear pathway to your first muscle up.
You might not have access to the equipment to perform some of the steps on this page, in which case just skip that variation. It will make the transition from the one to the next a little harder, but it should be well manageable nonetheless.

Prerequisites: archer pull ups ; modified russian dips

Back levers

Back levers involve the posterior chain, the core muscles, and the shoulder flexors (particularly the anterior deltoids). They are an intermediate bodyweight exercise which can be performed on rings, or on a pull up bar.

Prerequisites:
arm and leg lift plank, legs forward dips

Dragon flags

Dragon flags are an old Bruce Lee favorite which target the core muscles, but also can be quite taxing on the lats, triceps and forearms, depending on how you hold the bench.
This progression will show you how to gradually achieve full dragon flags.

Prerequisites:
leg lift plank, pull ups, hanging bent leg V-raises

L-sit

The L-sit (a.k.a. floor L-sit) is a core exercise which places quite a lot of stress not only on your core muscles, but also -isometrically- on your hip flexors and on your triceps.  It is a good idea to follow a progression in order to build up to the full exercise.

Prerequisites: 
Hanging straight leg raises, dips

Elbow levers

Double elbow levers are essentially a hand balancing skill where the body is held horizontal to the ground supported by your elbows. The exercise will challenge your core and proprioception.

Prerequisites:
decline plank ; crow stand

The crow stand

The crow stand (a.k.a. the frog stand) is a classic pose found in yoga. It is usually performed to develop hand balancing skills, and -in gymnastics- and as a building block towards the unsupported handstand and the planche. As well as developing your hand balancing skills, the crow stand will work your core stabilising muscles.

 Prerequisites:
pike push ups and plank.

Start Bodyweight on SparkPeople

There is now a Start Bodyweight team on SparkPeople.

For those you who are already on SparkPeople or if you are interested in a busy diet and fitness social network, you can join the team HERE.

SparkPeople bills itself as the largest online diet and healthy living community with over 12 million registered members.
It looks like a busy community, similar to Fitocracy in its gamification of diet and fitness, with numerous community options.

Flexibility for deep squats and one legged squats

picture by trokilinochchi

Squatting down with both feet firmly on the ground (not on the balls of our feet) is a basic, everyday human posture which an increasingly large number of us, particularly in Western countries, have lost the ability to adopt. To a large extent, this is due to the prominence of chairs and sofas, Western toilets, and high heels.

Look at children however, and you’ll see squatting down for what it is: a basic, fundamental human position which comes very naturally.

Deep squats and one legged squats are basic movements in weight training and bodyweight training. However, many people find these positions difficult at first, mostly because of the demands they place on flexibility.

Start Bodyweight on Fitocracy

Start Bodyweight now has its own page and support group on Fitocracy, the fitness social network.

Join Fitocracy HERE

Or go to the Start Bodyweight group page to join.

Also, keep updated about new developments to the site by following Start Bodyweight on Facebook, or following me on Twitter

Finally, here's a link to the Start Bodyweight Youtube channel.