In previous articles I have tried to explain why bodyweight conditioning is a superior form of training. I have talked about gymnasts and how they are able to develop incredible strength, like that of an animal, using nothing but their own body weight. Another example of athletes who are in incredible shape with great athletic ability are wrestlers. And by fighters, I don’t mean today’s professional fighters. Most of these are more artists than athletes. However, there was a time when professional wrestling was a real sport. Real wrestling, unlike WWE, requires strength, endurance, and flexibility. At the turn of the last century, some of these wrestling matches lasted for hours. How did these athletes get into the shape required to do this? You guessed it. Most of them used some form of bodyweight exercises.

One of the biggest proponents of natural bodyweight conditioning was a professional wrestler named Karl Gotch. He wrestled in the 1948 Olympics and turned professional thereafter. He was known for being in incredible shape and being an absolute maniac when it came to conditioning. Here are these thoughts on training:

“I don’t like lifting weights for wrestling,” says Karl. “I think you should do gymnastics-type exercises that use your own body weight. Take a gymnast, for example. He’s the only athlete who, without weight training, when given his own body weight and asked to push it above the head, it will BANG and press it with no problem. You have to look at animals in the wild. That’s what I did. I watched how they moved and figured out how to do similar movements. When I was a kid in Belgium, a doctor a my friend took me to the zoo to observe the animals he said that they were the ones who knew how to train he was right so I started to put together a way to train…but I don’t want to take credit for it how can you take credit for exercises and ideas they have at least 3000 years old?

The bodyweight exercises Karl is talking about are probably the kind that Indian wrestlers used to perform (and still do). Exercises such as Hindu squats and Hindu push-ups, among others. Also, a lot of Yoga actually has its roots in wrestling, I think.

Regardless, for most of his wrestling career, Karl was a fierce advocate of bodyweight conditioning. However, he had an open mind and DID decide to train exclusively with weights. In his mind, how would he know if his natural methods were superior if he didn’t try another way? He worked diligently at it, and was once able to squat 700 pounds and bench 400+. Pretty impressive. However, what Karl discovered is that weight training did not give him CONDITIONED STRENGTH. I mean, the strength he gained allowed him to lift weights, but that’s about it. When he participated in a wrestling match, he would get tired after a very short period of time. Again, this is the key. In my opinion, man-man exercises like weightlifting don’t train your body the way nature intended. You CAN achieve a certain look with it, which is fine. Ultimately though, it’s a fake look. Karl would call it fake muscle. All that muscle you gain may look good, but none of it is worth it. What can you do with that? If you get tired playing tennis or a muscle hurts lifting a bag of groceries, who cares? If you want to get into top shape, the strength you have must be balanced with endurance and flexibility. The way to achieve this is with a bodyweight conditioning program.

So the question is, what exactly do you want? Chances are you’re not a wrestler (or gymnast) and never plan to be. However, what do you look for in an exercise program? If you want to achieve a healthy, natural, athletic body that is strong, flexible, and possesses great endurance, bodyweight exercises are the way to go. Always remember, animals in the wild don’t need to use machines or weights, and neither do you.