This is Part II of our series of bodyweight articles. If you missed Part I, click here.
Before asking where to start, let’s look at why bodyweight strength?
One of the biggest advantages of bodyweight training is that you can do it anytime, anywhere. When practiced for strength using StrongFirst principles, it carries over to other modalities. And when done well, the possibilities for progress are endless.
Pushups, pullups, pistols, handstands—the list goes on. There are countless skills to learn and progressions to pursue. The one-arm pushup is one of the most sought-after, yet often considered impossible.
With so many impressive movements available, it’s easy to see something you want to do and immediately start working toward it.
But before you chase the skill, you need to know where you are.
That is where bodyweight strength training gets interesting.
Your body is the first piece of equipment you ever owned. Learning to control it, stabilize it, move it, and create tension with it carries over to almost everything else you do.
Bodyweight strength isn’t simply about doing more pushups or pullups. Done well, it develops strength, control, balance, coordination, mobility, stability, and body awareness. It can also expose weaknesses that may not be obvious when training with external loads.
Someone may be very strong with a barbell or kettlebell and still struggle with a pistol squat. Someone may perform plenty of regular pushups but lack the tension and control required for a one-arm pushup.
That doesn’t mean one form of training is better than another. It means your body is giving you information.
That feedback can make the goal easier to achieve.
Where Should I Start?
This is where many people get ahead of themselves.
They see the movement they want to master and immediately begin working on the hardest progression they can find. I understand the excitement of a new goal, but the end goal isn’t necessarily where you should start.
When I coach someone, I don’t begin by asking, “What’s the hardest thing you can do?” I want to know what their body can do well.
I assess movement patterns and positions for compensations, then test the skill or a variation to see what happens.
Sometimes the limitation is strength. Other times it’s mobility or control. The strength may be present, but the person can’t maintain the required position. Sometimes the assessment exposes an issue that seems unrelated to the movement they wanted to learn.
That’s why finding a true baseline starts with identifying weaknesses and missing links.
Your baseline isn’t simply your maximum reps or the hardest progression you can force your way through, but the reps or progression you can demonstrate with proper technique.
Just because you can complete a movement doesn’t mean you’re ready to train it. You might grind out one ugly repetition, use momentum, change your position, or work around the part you can’t control.
You may get the rep—but what did the rep tell you?
- Did I own the movement?
- Is it repeatable?
- Can I maintain the required position and tension?
- Can I control the entire range?
- Did I simply find a compensation to get from point A to point B?
Social media often encourages us to pursue advanced movements before developing the necessary foundation. It has normalized chasing the “fancy stuff.” The more advanced a movement looks, the more impressive it appears.
But impressive and appropriate aren’t always the same thing.
Don’t confuse being able to do something with being ready to train it.
I would rather see someone perform an appropriate progression beautifully than struggle through one beyond their current ability. It may not look as exciting, but it produces something more valuable:
Strength you can keep and continue to improve for decades to come.
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Find Your Baseline
A baseline gives you a place to start and something to compare against as you progress. But it isn’t just one number.
- Strength
- Mobility
- Stability
- Control
- Position
- Tension
- Balance
- Skill
These qualities work together. A weakness in one area can become the limiting factor in another.
That’s why I prefer to assess movement patterns before prescribing a progression. Once I identify the missing link, I can give the person something productive to train and then retest.
Assess → Test → Identify the missing link → Train → Retest → Progress
This process isn’t only useful for coaches. It’s something I want students to learn for themselves.
Think Traffic Lights: Red, Yellow, and Green
A simple traffic light system can help you evaluate progressions. Video your test and assess your movement using these three categories.
You have the strength, control, mobility, and position required for the selected progression. You can perform it with quality and repeatability.
Continue training that progression until you fully own it.
🟡 Yellow light: Proceed with caution
You’re close, but something still needs work.
You can perform the movement, but positions may change, tension may be lost, or repetitions may be inconsistent. This feedback tells you where to regress or reassess.
Find what is missing, clean up the movement, build consistency, and retest.
🔴 Red light: Stop and reassess
The progression is currently beyond your ability.
Rather than pushing toward the next progression because it looks better, go back and find the missing piece.
A red light isn’t a failure.
It’s feedback.
My preferred method for myself and those I coach is to establish strength and mobility baselines before training. This helps me train smarter, determine whether I need additional warm-up or preparation, and know when to regress based on how my body responds that day.
A Sample Assessment: The Pistol Squat
I selected the pistol squat because it has many moving parts. It requires strength, balance, mobility, and flexibility, making it a useful example of the assessment and traffic-light systems.
Start with a feet-and-knees-together squat.
- Can you get below parallel?
- Do your heels stay down?
- Do you need a counterbalance?
I begin with the feet because limited ankle dorsiflexion is a common limiting factor. It can restrict depth and cause the heels to lift.
If ankle mobility is the limitation, add appropriate mobility work and retest.
Did the outcome improve?
If yes, continue the assessment. If not, that’s your red light—you’ve found a limitation that needs more attention before advancing.
Next, from the bottom of the squat, extend one leg straight.
- Can you balance?
- Can you keep the extended leg straight?
- Can you do it on both sides?
Now we’re gathering more information.
If balance or stability is an issue, continue assessing up the chain—ankle, knee, hip, and one-legged stability. Depending on what I find, I may use drills such as a tactical frog, Cossack stretch, goblet squat, or one-legged balance work before retesting.
If you can control the bottom position, try to stand back up.
- Can you maintain the position?
- Can you control the entire movement?
- Does the extended leg cramp?
Again, the goal isn’t simply to get the rep. We’re looking for the missing link.
If mobility is good but strength isn’t sufficient to stand back up, that may be a red light for the pistol—but it doesn’t mean we stop training. We choose a progression that addresses the limitation, such as a one-legged stand from a box, and gradually lower the box as strength improves.
The assessment becomes a process of elimination. The traffic lights help you determine whether you can progress, need to clean something up, or should choose a different progression.
Earn the Next Progression
Progressions aren’t meant to be raced through. The goal isn’t to collect exercises or check boxes until you reach the final movement.
The goal is to own the progression.
Two examples below cover one-arm pushup and pistol squat.
OA Plank → OA Wall Pushup → Elevated OAPU → Band-Assisted OAPU
Feet/Knee Together Squat → One-Legged Active Lowers → One-Legged Stand-Up from Box → Kickstand Squat → One-Legged Deadlift
There is a difference between getting through a movement and being strong enough to control it.
I want you to understand what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and what you’re looking for before moving forward.
The final movement may be the goal, but the progressions along the way are where much of your strength is built. A finely tuned progression, performed consistently, creates a foundation for many feats of strength.
Owning the progressions develops balance, full-body tension, and strength that carries over to other skills.
The one-arm pushup can improve strength that carries over to the military press and bench press. The pistol develops balance and trunk strength that can contribute to stronger squats and deadlifts. Unilateral skills can also expose and improve asymmetries.
Bodyweight Strength for the Long Run
There will always be another impressive movement to chase. That’s part of what makes bodyweight training fun.
But I don’t want to train only for the movement that gets the most attention.
I want strength with longevity and carryover. I want the control and mobility to use that strength safely and continue growing stronger.
I want students to understand their bodies well enough to recognize when something isn’t working, when something needs attention, and when it’s time to move forward.
Whether you’re a coach assessing a student or learning to assess yourself, the process is the same:
- Start where you are.
- Find the weaknesses and missing links.
- Use the red, yellow, and green light system to guide you.
- Choose the appropriate progression.
- Train it and track your progress.
- Once you own it, advance to the next progression.
The goal isn’t simply to reach the final skill. It’s to become strong enough, skilled enough, and aware enough to own it when you get there—and maintain it.
That is when it becomes your new baseline of strength.
In our new online course, you’ll see this process applied to the one-arm pushup and pistol: how to create whole-body tension, select the right progression, recognize when position or control has been lost, and advance only after earning the next step.
Do not start with the hardest variation you can survive.
Start with the hardest one you CAN OWN, then progress over the weeks to a harder variation or increased reps/sets toward a new PR.
Stay tuned for Part III.
