Bodyweight Exercises: The Ultimate Guide to Fitness Without a Gym

What is a Bodyweight Workout?

A bodyweight workout is an exercise routine that uses your own bodyweight to create resistance and improve strength, flexibility, and endurance, as well as coordination. You’ve probably done a push-up before – well done, you’ve already met bodyweight exercises!

Benefits of Bodyweight Exercises

Bodyweight exercises can make all the difference to your routine:

• Efficient: Get impressive results from short workouts alone, and they can work alongside other types of exercises to boost performance.
• Strength and Cardio: Keep your heart pumping while building muscle and flexibility.
• Fat Burning: The burn continues long after the workout.
• Versatility: Switch up with ease: no wiping down and changing machines, and no restrictions on how to exercise based on your ability level.
• No Excuses: You have zero excuses not to exercise: in the immortal words of Shakira, “Whenever, wherever” – you just need enough space to move around a bit.
• Free: ‘Nuff said!

Bodyweight Exercises vs. Other Workouts

We compared bodyweight exercises to other modes of working out, and they compared pretty favorably:

Bodyweight vs. Gym

Pros:

• You can do them anywhere, anytime, removing the “excuses” barrier from your workout routine.
• Bodyweight workouts are free, so they’re accessible to anyone.
• Some gym equipment reduces the resistance of certain motions, meaning that you might see less benefit when using a machine.

Cons:

• While beginners can start with full-body exercise, the reduced resistance of some gym machines may be a simpler entry point.
• A gym’s pricing can be a barrier for some, but may still motivate others.

Bodyweight vs. Cardio

Pros:

• Bodyweight exercises continue the burn after a workout, enhancing the metabolic advantages of the exercise.
• Bodyweight exercises give you cardio benefits while you’re working anyway, alongside the strength boost that comes from a hearty push- or pull-up.

Cons:

• Switching it up is important to get the widest range of benefits from exercise, so go on a run from time to time.

Bodyweight vs. Free Weights

Pros:

• You don’t need access to a gym.
• While you still need to be careful, you can’t drop a weight on yourself if you’re not holding one.
• You can switch between moves more quickly because you’re not dealing with equipment.

Cons:

• While there are some beginner bodyweight exercises, you can scale up the difficulty of free weights in a more controlled and gradual way than with bodyweight exercises.

Bodyweight Moves for Beginners

We’ve got 15 exercises you can try at home:

• Arm circles
• Standard push-up
• Plank
• Squat
• Lunge
• Shoulder bridge
• Burpee
• Step-up
• Inchworm
• Tuck jump
• Bear crawl
• Mountain climber
• Plyometric push-up
• Stair climb with bicep curls
• Prone walkout

Get started today and experience the benefits of bodyweight exercises for yourself!