That's true, but pretty much nobody who does body weight exercises actually do body weight exercises that are hard enough to get that level of strength. It's much easier to delude yourself with body weight exercises, if you want to.
I bench a "measly" 286lbs, about 1.3 times body weight, which isn't all that amazing. I can trivially easily get up to substantial numbers of regular push ups in a few weeks. But getting to that 400lbs range, there's a whole set of progressions towards being able to do planche push ups etc. that I'm not able to do at all at my current strength. But most people doing body weight exercises just end up adding a few extra push ups or doing slight variations that don't overload them much more.
I think that's one of the largest benefits of lifting weights for most people: It's very, very easy to track progress and make sure you're not cheating yourself. Even so, enough people still manage to cheat themselves (and wonder why they're not getting bigger muscles...)
Sure, but 99.9% of people who get into weightlifting also fail to achieve a 400lb bench-press. Most people don't need to be that strong.
I'm 5'6", and by doing only basic bodyweight exercises, push-ups, pull-ups, and dips, I could bench press 180lbs 10 times at a body weight of 155. That's not bad at all in my opinion.
180lbs x 10 gives you an estimated 1RM in the 240lbs region, which at a body weight of 155 puts you closer to advanced than intermediate, if you did them with full range of motion (based on this site: http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.... ). So that's pretty good - it puts you in a range that's expected for someone who have spent a few years doing weights.
But my point is that even people who want to get bigger seem to fail to progress more often with body weight exercises than with weights because the progress is so easy to measure: Either your numbers go up, or they don't, and while people do certainly cheat themselves with poor form or range of motion, I see less of it with weights than with body weights. Perhaps the biggest problem for people getting started with body weight exercises is that they don't know how to progress and so a lot of them end up dicking around with the same basic exercises with the same rep ranges without ever getting anywhere.
Conversely if you do know how to progress and is strict, you can do amazing things with body weight exercises - it's not unusual for high level gymnasts to be able to go straight in and put weight lifters to shame without ever lifting regularly, for example.
Carryover from resistance exercises to other resistance exercises is a legitimate phenomenon. Adding 5kg to my overhead press added 15kg to my bench press (I bench press a few times per year).
That is indeed a fair accomplishment. I've been weight training for about a year. Had to take time off, but at my max four months ago I could only get about 170 on the bench press, times five reps.
What kind of body weight routine do you have, and does it depend on any equipment such as dip bars? I'm looking for a good one for when I go traveling.
I focused mostly on pull-ups. I was in the military at the time and we had a pull-up bar near the exit of our work area. I typically did several sets of 10-15 each day. It took several months to work up to this point. At my best, I could do a single set of 30.
In addition to the pull-ups, I would do the Army's regular work out. This would involve running 2-3 miles 2-3 times a week, and performing general calisthenics(similar to the 7 minute workout originally posted, just at a slower pace.) 2-3 times a week.
I bench a "measly" 286lbs, about 1.3 times body weight, which isn't all that amazing. I can trivially easily get up to substantial numbers of regular push ups in a few weeks. But getting to that 400lbs range, there's a whole set of progressions towards being able to do planche push ups etc. that I'm not able to do at all at my current strength. But most people doing body weight exercises just end up adding a few extra push ups or doing slight variations that don't overload them much more.
I think that's one of the largest benefits of lifting weights for most people: It's very, very easy to track progress and make sure you're not cheating yourself. Even so, enough people still manage to cheat themselves (and wonder why they're not getting bigger muscles...)