StartBodyweight Routine

StartBodyweight (SBW) comes from startbodyweight.com and is frequently recommended inside r/bodyweightfitness as a direct alternative to the Recommended Routine (RR) for people who prefer an explicit, table-driven linear progression over the RR's paired-movement structure. It suits the same kind of trainee as the RR — someone with a pull-up bar and ideally a dip station, wanting a no-equipment strength program — but SBW leans harder into structure: instead of six pairs of exercises, it organizes everything into six movement categories, each with its own detailed ladder of named variations from easiest to hardest, so at any point you know exactly which rung of which ladder you are standing on.

Unlike the RR's Push/Pull, Pull/Row, Squat/Hinge pairing, SBW runs all six categories back to back in a single full-body session: Horizontal Pull Progression, Vertical Pull Progression, Push Progression, L-Sit/Core Progression, Squat Progression, and Hip Hinge Progression, each for 3 sets, resting 90 seconds between sets on the heavier categories and 75 seconds on hip hinge work. A concrete worked session looks like this: warm up with a passive hang, wrist circles, and slow bodyweight squats, then run 3x5-10 on Horizontal Pull Progression (starting from table rows), 3x5-10 on Vertical Pull Progression (from a dead hang), 3x5-10 on Push Progression, 3xmax on L-Sit/Core Progression, 3x5-10 on Squat Progression, and 3x5-10 on Hip Hinge Progression, all done in one sitting. As with the RR, this is typically run two to three non-consecutive days a week rather than daily, since every session loads the same six patterns.

Progression is entirely about climbing each category's table rather than adding weight. Horizontal Pull runs table rows to incline rows to Australian rows to feet-elevated rows. Vertical Pull runs dead hang to jumping pull-ups to negatives to full pull-ups to weighted pull-ups. Push runs incline to regular to decline to archer to pseudo planche push-ups. L-Sit/Core runs tuck L-sit to one-leg tuck to straddle to full L-sit. Squat runs bodyweight squat to Bulgarian split squat to shrimp squat to pistol squat. Hip Hinge runs good morning to RDL to single-leg RDL to Nordic curl. The working rep range on most categories is 3x5-10: once you can hit the top of that range, 3x10, cleanly across all three sets, move up to the next rung on that table and expect to start back near the bottom of the range again. The program's own guidance is blunt about not skipping rungs — the gap between adjacent levels is deliberately smaller than it looks, and jumping ahead invites sloppy reps that don't actually build the strength the next level assumes you already have.

L-sit and squat work are the slowest categories almost universally. The program calls out L-sit training specifically as the slowest progression and recommends daily 10-second holds outside of your normal training days to speed up hip flexor and core strength, since three sets twice a week is not enough stimulus on its own. Pistol squats and the advanced push and pull tiers are described as multi-month goals, not multi-week ones — if you are stuck on the same rung for three-plus weeks, drop back one level and chase higher reps for a couple of weeks before retesting the harder variation, and treat lack of ankle or hip mobility (common blockers for pistols) as a mobility problem to solve separately, not a strength problem to just push through.

Common mistakes on this program:

• •Skipping table levels because a variation "looks doable," which produces reps that don't transfer cleanly to the harder version
• •Neglecting daily L-sit practice and expecting the twice-weekly working sets alone to move the needle
• •Chasing vertical pull-ups without first owning a solid dead hang and controlled negatives, which just reinforces poor shoulder positioning
• •Treating all six categories as equally fast — pistol squats and full L-sits realistically take months, and expecting RR-like six-week timelines leads to frustration
• •Running the session too frequently without rest days, since it is a full-body session that taxes every major pattern every time

Expect the first month to be spent honestly mapping your starting rung on all six tables and locking down form, not chasing rapid strength jumps. By weeks five through eight, most of your categories other than L-sit and squat should have advanced at least one level. By week sixteen, the program's own benchmarks put a beginner male around 8 pull-ups, a pistol squat attempt, and a 30-second tuck L-sit, with intermediates at roughly 15 pull-ups, 5 pistol squats, and a full L-sit — female benchmarks sit lower on pull-ups and pistols but follow the same curve. Full pistols, archer or planche-lean push variations, and a full L-sit are reasonable six-to-twelve-month goals rather than sixteen-week ones.