Anyone else using bodyweight exercises to build and sculpt? Share your routines!

I started out following Mark Lauren's program "Body By You" back in June. I finished that program last month and now I'm doing "Convict Conditioning" by Paul Wade. I had great results with Body By You and so far I'm loving Convict Conditioning as well!

I do pole dancing too, and a fair bit of my time in the gym lately has been to build strength for the pole and trapeze. I love stealing moves from aerial and pole conditioning classes.

I do some weight lifting to get stronger for those activities, but there are some aerial conditioning exercises I try to incorporate that are purely bodyweight based.

For hanging exercises, I do:

• Assisted pull-ups, because I can only do 1 legit pull-up (I prefer using a resistance band for assistance vs the pull-up assist machine. I find I keep my core better engaged that way, which actually makes the pull-ups easier). 3 sets of 5 reps.
• Shoulder shrugs - just hang from a bar and slowly draw your shoulders down away from your ears, engaging your lats. Super important muscle engagement for pole. 3 sets of 10.
• Single arm hold. Having your feet on the ground or a box is a good way to adapt this exercise if you can't hang from one arm yet. If your feet are on a box or the ground, try to have your body in a sitting position. If you are fully in the air just tuck your knees to your chest or have them out straight for an extra challenge. The free arm is extended to the side. Hold for 10 seconds per side. 3 sets.
• Single arm shoulder shrugs. A combination of the previous two exercises. Just 10-15 each. Could be broken into sets, though.
• Hanging knee/leg raises. Hanging from the bar, tuck your knees to your chest. Increase difficulty by straightening your legs - you can keep them straight the whole time, or tuck with bent knees and straighten at the top keep them straight while you lower. 3 sets of 5-10
• Skin the cats. I'm not very good at these yet, so I tend to just try to do 5-10 total. You can check out videos on this one, and you can do it on a bar if there's enough room to flip over or from gymnastics rings.
• Straddle inversions. This one I don't do at the gym, only the pole studio or circus school, but it's a vital move for aerial pole work. On trapeze I'll do 10 total. On pole I'll do 5 on each side of the pole.

For floor work:

• Inchworms with push-ups. I just go back and forth across whatever floor space I have available.
• Walking lunges
• Banana roll with crunches and stretches. So from the hollow body position (back on the ground), do 3 crunches. I usually do 1 bent leg crunch, 1 V-up, and 1 straddle-up. From the Superman position you can get some arm work by swimming your arms, or take a moment to stretch by grabbing your feet and pulling into a bow pose.
• Dragon flag. This is one I've only recently been strong enough to do, and I still do it with spread legs to make it a bit easier. I try for 3 sets of 5.
• Pike and straddle leg lifts from seated on the floor. For when I feel like having my body hate me. These are so important for being able to hold a good straddle position in the air.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, and there are some things that I do occasionally that I don't actually know what they are called.

I would also recommend incorporating resistance bands into your workout if you are conditioning for pole and dance. They are great for stretching feet and ankles, and there are some great rotator cuff shoulder stability exercises you can do with them that will help with pole work. If you have access to a suspension strap system (like TRX) or gymnastics rings at your gym those can also be great for bodyweight based strengthening. Normal ab exercises like planks or mountain climbers become so much more intense when you have your feet suspended off the ground. Slider discs can also be a way to make floor ab work more challenging.

I have tried the recommended routine on the bodyweightfitness subreddit, I think it's a great well rounded program. I'm probably going to give it a go again soon because I really enjoy calisthenics more than weight training.

Push ups and pull ups on my cardio days (at least 100 or more push ups in sets to failure)... My other days, I do full body weight training.

I do body weight exercises. Much safer after back surgery. I also do a lot of pilates and yoga. Both build strength and flexibility with much less wear and tear on my aging body.

I downloaded the Nike fitness app and set it to give me two bodyweight classes a week--and they are definitely difficult! They're free and well-explained. It's a lot of push ups, squats, burpees, so more like HIIT than straight up bodyweight strength, but I'm enjoying them and seeing my fitness improve quite a lot.

Then I do buddy PT with a friend once a week (with resistance bands/a kettlebell) and usually run once or twice a week (or go for a long run if I can't be bothered running). This all together has kept me pretty fit during quarantine, though I have also been eating a lot of brownies.