The cals' advantage is their accessibility, first and foremost. I could give you a non-scientific pitch about the 'naturalness' of calisthenics or a pseudo-scientific one about 'open and closed kinetic chains' but I won't. The primary advantage of bodyweight strength exercises is the capability to practice them anywhere and anytime.

Cals enforce a functional bodyweight and a healthy body composition. While you could eat yourself into a heart attack and excel in the bench press, it will not happen with one-arm pushups. You cannot have a high ratio of strength to bodyweight if you are a fat blob -or a muscle bound blob for that matter.

The calisthenics' biggest disadvantage is the inability to perform a full body pulling movement such as the deadlift, the snatch, or the clean. Such moves are fundamental for most sports. While you could develop the muscles of the posterior chain with back bridges, back extensions, and reverse hypers, training the muscle and training the movement are 'two big differences', as they say in the Russian hard town of Odessa.

The authoritative Russian Boxing Yearbook recommends explosive snatches with a weight equal to that of the boxer's. Frank Shamrock has said it all in his interview to Mike Mahler, RKC Sr.: "What [the clean] does is it builds explosiveness from your toes up and that's really where we're starting from in MMA. Everything starts from the toes and extends to the point of the hands. It's more of a continuity thing; if you can get your body to go rip and blow that energy up, you can focus that energy in other places. Your body will remember that and be strong through that motion. It's very similar to punching."

A barbell enables you to lift very heavy, which is plain fun. There is nothing like the rush of locking out a bar bending deadlift. Apart from the testosterone bull, a great advantage of the barbell is precisely calibrated resistance. You can easily specify something like '82.5% 1RM'. Why is it important? -Because this feature enables you to do a 'power cycle'. A powerlifting cycle is a multi-week program that specifies the exact training poundages and culminates with a strength PR. These cycles are very easy to implement and highly effective.

Cycling will not work with other traditional types of resistance. Dumbells, even if they progress in five-pound increments, do not allow such precision. An increase from 20 to 25 pounds is a 25% jump! Kettlebells were purposefully designed to make major jumps in weight. And you cannot change your leverage with such precision in bodyweight drills.

A dumbbell adds a stabilization challenge and works you more equally on both sides than a barbell. The dumbell's disadvantage is the need for a ton of DBs, which consumes cash and space. Adjustable, plate loaded, dumbells are an option. Make sure you get them from a reputable company such as www.ironmind.com; you would not want the contraption fall apart and crack your skull.

A dumbell is not practical for some valuable exercises. For instance, a strong trainee will have a hard time getting a quality leg workout with dumbells. They do not get nearly heavy enough for deadlifts, cannot be racked for front squats, or comfortably held for pistols.

I am yet to meet a hard man who has given the Russian kettlebell a try and did not get convinced that it the ultimate in S&C. Olympic Silver Medallist in Greco-Roman Wrestling Dr. Dennis Koslowski, DC, RKC flat out stated that "Kettlebells are like weightlifting times ten… If I could've met Pavel in the early '80s, I might've won two gold medals. I'm serious."

The kettlebell's design, namely a thick handle removed from a compact center of mass, is responsible for its many unique benefits. A thick and smooth handle combined with the ballistic nature of many exercises forges an iron grip and wrist. Last but not least on the kettlebell forearm killer list are bottom up cleans and similar drills.

An offset center of gravity maximizes shoulder strength, health, and flexibility.

The position of the handle allows dynamic passing of the kettlebell from hand to hand for a great variety of powerful juggling type exercises strongly endorsed by the Russian Federation State Committee on Physical Culture. These drills develop dynamic strength and injury-proof the body in many planes, unlike conventional linear exercise.

There is no need for adjustable or numerous weights. Kettlebell training has evolved to provide progressive overload through other means. To use the squat as an example, one can back squat holding a kettlebell by its 'horns' between the shoulder blades (cannot be done with a dumbell), then work up to holding it on the chest (front squats are impossible with dumbells and can be brutal on the wrists with barbells), proceed to the Hack squats with the kettlebell held in the small of the back (cannot be done with a dumbell), then to a one legged squat with a kettlebell held in the front by the 'horns'. Finally, an extremely strong comrade can do one-legged front squats. Thus a single kettlebell provides an uncompromising means of developing leg strength -without the need for expensive and space consuming barbells and squat racks. 'The low tech/high concept strength solution for spec ops'.

Being a kettlebell lifter and businessman, I could go on forever. But you should have gotten the idea by now: the Russian kettlebell is 'a workout with balls'.

One parting thought. Your sport's specificity might dictate your primary choice of the type of resistance. For instance, a gymnast must emphasize bodyweight training and a powerlifter must lift a barbell.

Why is there such an intense argument in the martial arts community whether bodyweight exercises are superior to exercises with weights?

Because the issue of what provides the resistance is confused with the workout design: sets, reps, rest periods, tempo, etc.

Under the terms of this pointless argument powerlifting and high rep triceps kickbacks with a Barbie dumbell fall under the same misleading category of 'weight training'. 'Bodyweight training' is just as misleading. The effect one-legged squats with one-second pause on the bottom and Hindu squats have on your body is totally different. Apples and oranges. The pistols' effect is a lot closer to that of barbell squats -heavy, low rep barbell squats, to be exact -than to that of high rep Hindu squats. So don't get hung up on what provides the resistance; focus on the attribute you are trying to develop. And a fighter, unlike a weightlifter or a distance runner, needs a mix of different types of strength and endurance.

If you see a powerlifter who sucks wind on the mat or in the ring, it does not mean that barbells or heavy training are inappropriate for a fighter. They are simply one piece of the S&C puzzle and he has neglected the other pieces, be it one or more subtypes of strength, endurance, skill, etc. Yakov Zobnin from Siberia, the Heavyweight World Champion in Kyokushinkai, "the world's strongest karate", squats almost 500 pounds deep enough to get white lights in any powerlifting meet in spite of his basketball height. But he also maxes out at twenty-five strict pullups. And practices explosive pushups, etc.

he bottom line. The argument whether iron or bodyweight rules is a waste of bad breath. What you need to do is identify the different types of strength required in your style and develop them with the types of resistance available to you. Practice low rep high-tension max strength training as outlined in Naked Warrior or Power to the People! Do explosive drills. And do not forget your endurance. In case you did not know, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge covers the complete martial arts S&C package. Just add some skills and kick butt.

Can I get very strong using only bodyweight exercises?

It depends what you mean by 'strong'. If your goal is to become a pullup master or achieve a planche you can achieve it with your bodyweight only (although using extra resistance would speed up the process). If you are planning to compete in weightlifting, the answer is no. For martial arts try a mix of power cals with kettlebells.

*********About the Author********* Pavel Tsatsouline, Master of Sports, is a former Spetsnaz physical training instructor and a nationally ranked athlete in the Russian military applied sport of kettlebell lifting. Today Pavel is a subject matter expert to elite members of the U.S. military and law enforcement, including the Marine Corps and the Secret Service. He makes his "low tech/high concept" strength and flexibility programs available to civilians through his seven books and numerous videos on www.PowerbyPavel.com.