She Strengthens

Bodyweight Exercises: The Ultimate Guide to Fitness Without a Gym

Get fit without any equipment! Bodyweight exercises are simple, effective ways to improve balance, flexibility, and strength without gym machines or equipment. You can do all these exercises at home, targeting every part of your body to get stronger with body resistance alone.

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:

• They’re efficient: Get impressive results from short workouts alone, and they can work alongside other types of exercises to boost performance.
• They’re both strength and cardio: Keep your heart pumping while building muscle and flexibility.
• They’re crazy good for burning fat: The burn continues long after the workout.
• You can switch up with ease: No wiping down and changing machines, and no restrictions on how to exercise based on your ability level.
• 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.
• They’re 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:

1. Arm circles
2. Standard push-up
3. Plank
4. Squat
5. Lunge
6. Shoulder bridge
7. Burpee
8. Step-up
9. Inchworm
10. Tuck jump
11. Bear crawl
12. Mountain climber
13. Plyometric push-up
14. Stair climb with bicep curls
15. Prone walkout

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