Can you get ripped doing push ups

[TallBill]

You clearly haven't explored body weight exercises. There's lots of ways to increase the resistance to the point that you can build muscle reliably. One armed push-ups, pistol squats, various kinds of pull-ups, rings, etc. obviously you're still limiting yourself in some ways, but I wouldn't write it off entirely either.

So seven years of military, essentially body weight exercise and cardio five times a week plus high school and college volleyball and some boxing training. But I have no bodyweight exercise experience.

Everyone I see is low body fat but skinny. Granted this is all subjective but anyone who looks muscular typically lifts weights regularly.

Most of the guys selling bodyweight workouts actually lift weights.

Squats, deadlifts, bench, press, and cleans will do more for almost everyone than pushups and pistol squats.

 

[SlitheryDee]

So seven years of military, essentially body weight exercise and cardio five times a week plus high school and college volleyball and some boxing training. But I have no bodyweight exercise experience.

Everyone I see is low body fat but skinny. Granted this is all subjective but anyone who looks muscular typically lifts weights regularly.

Most of the guys selling bodyweight workouts actually lift weights.

Squats, deadlifts, bench, press, and cleans will do more for almost everyone than pushups and pistol squats.

I didn't say you had no bodyweight experience. I said you haven't explored what can be done with bodyweight exercises. I know that the military's fitness regimen is largely composed of bodyweight exercises, but I was under the impression that it didn't really concern itself with trying to achieve progressive overload for building muscle. It doesn't incorporate any of the more complex movements that are designed to put you at a mechanical disadvantage and increase the resistance you're subjecting your muscles to.

I agree with you generally though. It's loads easier to build muscle with weights, but I was kind of looking at it from a theoretical standpoint. If you can find ways to put your muscles under increasing loads, then you'll build muscle however you're managing to do that. Looking into the various kinds of bodyweight exercises that are possible reveals that at least up to a point it's possible to do that with them. At least it should be possible to build a physique that is equivalent to a 2-3 year weight lifter's through bodyweight exercises. After that I suppose the weight lifter will leave the bodyweight people behind because they can continue to increase the weight they are lifting far beyond what you can achieve even with more exotic bodyweight exercises.

 

[TallBill]

Well when you put it like that then yes, some results can be had. If you follow the PT regulation only then no it isn't very adventurous, but most units allow quite a bit of deviation.

If there is no option to lift weights then certainly bodyweight exercises can be effective, but in almost all cases weights are available and a better option.