With December coming on, it's getting colder and sharper outside. This is when I'm looking to do my running and exercising indoors, without going out into the falling snow.

With that in mind I've focused this issue on bodyweight exercises. If you're away from your normal workout equipment over the holidays or don't want to brave the ice, snow, and roads, just workout inside with just your body.

The exclusive article in this issue is Tips for Bodyweight Workouts at Home. It has tips for putting together a program from these exercises, and some novel ways to work them into other training you're doing. See what's new at www.Complete-Strength-Training.Com.

1) Push-ups - An Awesome Basic Chest Exercise

Push-ups are one of the most basic equipment-free exercises around. This article takes you through correct push-up form, with some suggestions for your workout.

There are also many different variations on the basic push-up that target different parts of your upper body. See which one fits you best, check it out, and do it!

2) Pull Ups - For Your Arms and Back

Pull ups are a great upper-back exercise and tire out your arms too. All you need is a bar to get going.

How to do pull ups, fun and interesting variations, and ways to increase (or decrease) their difficulty are all in this article. If you want to find out about pull ups, it's your ticket.

3) Chin Ups - Arms, Shoulders, & Chest

After pull ups, chin ups are another excellent upper body exercise. Easier than pull ups, they focus more on the lats, arms, & chest than the back muscles. These are a great way to work up to pull ups, or just do on their own. Try 'em out and see how sore you get.

4) Burpees - Two Bodyweight Exercises in One

Burpee exercise is full body aerobic exercise that incorporates push ups and jump squats. Here's the correct technique for burpees, and different kinds that'll keep them interesting and new.

One of the reasons burpees are such a capital exercise is their explosiveness! You're not gonna be doing these puppies slow; it'll have be intense.

5) Tips for Bodyweight Workouts at Home

OK, now you've got a list of exercises you can work anywhere. But, weaving them together into a good workout that'll get done regularly is a little more complicated. So, when you start working out, try...

• Working on endurance first. Be able to do them for 12 - 15 reps, then work on making them more difficult. Not before.

• After 12 - 15 reps become easy, do increase the difficulty somehow. Add weights or pick a more difficult version of the exercise.

• When you work out at home, clear away the distractions. Keep your pets out of the room, and keep your kids, significant other, and TV from distracting you. You're going to workout, not have a conversation.

• Make it fun. Play some epic music, like the soundtrack from The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, or even Rocky if that's your cup of tea. Whatever keeps you fiery & motivated!

• Be sure to record your workouts and track your progress. Don't become sloppy and too relaxed just because you're at home.

• Have a set, regular time to exercise. "I'll get to it later", means later never comes. Set a hard time, and just do it.

You can start you workout with just pull ups and burpees. Pull ups are the easier of the two bar based exercises, and burpees incorporate push ups and squats. Simply, hit your whole body.

Start off slowly. For the pull ups, do 3 - 4 sets of 8 - 10 reps each. If you can't do that many, do as many as you can and then start doing 'negative' reps. Jump up with momentum to get all the way up to the bar, and then keep tense and let yourself down slowly.

For burpees, start out by doing 30 second intervals of burpees interspersed with 30 seconds of rest. Do this for 4-5 minutes, which if you're just in OK shape is brutal. Keep a vague track of how many you do, or just increase you interval's time over the next few weeks.

Then take a break and see if you can do another 4 - 5 minute set in a few minutes. Not too complicated, but efficient: 3-4 sets of pull ups, 2 sets of 4 - 5 minutes doing burpees.

If you're out of shape than this'll be more than enough of a workout. If that's easy, start adding weight to make it more intense. A good, tight backpack is great for adding weight to the burpees.

Go out there, try it, and start sweating. Or rather, turn on some awesome music and start sweatin' inside, right here!

Starting Strong brings you the latest additions to Complete-Strength-Training.Com & select articles about how to get STRONG.

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See you next month!

Aaron

www.Complete-Strength-Training.Com