Chin up
Your own bodyweight can be used to get a really effective workout, for the times where you don’t have the time or inclination to go to the gym. Now I’ve got to admit that I thought that bodyweight exercise programs were going to revolve around the push up and the squat. So they were going to be pretty boring. After all there’s not much to the press up. You lay on the floor and push yourself up and down. And there’s not much to doing the squat either. However, most if not all bodyweight exercises involve multiple muscle groups, which is how your body was designed to work. Not with dozens of different exercises to train each muscle individually.
Do Bodyweight Exercises Work?
In a word, yes. There are some incredibly challenging bodyweight exercises, that power lifters and bodybuilders can have problems performing! I thought I was quite strong, compared to my peers, in the squat exercise. Then I tried to do a bodyweight pistol squat. The first problem I encountered was lowering myself on one leg, without falling over. I didn’t have the strength to balance myself on one leg, while I tried to squat. When I eventually managed to balance on one leg, I couldn’t believe the effort needed to stand up. All this with no other resistance than my own body.
Do Bodyweight Exercises Build Strength
There’s one simple bodyweight exercise that sorts out ‘the men from the boys’. It’s called the pull up or depending on your hand position, the chin up. A lot of people can use the lat pull down machine in the gym, and yet not even pull up their own bodyweight on a chinning bar… once. Let alone for several repetitions. You can read about a good chinning bar here. The handstand press is another very challenging exercise. Look at the physique and strength that modern gymnasts display. And they do a lot of bodyweight exercises.
Can You Do Bodyweight Exercises Everyday
Bodyweight exercises, if done intensely enough, can be very demanding, so you need a day or two off between workout sessions. Your body grows and adapts when you’re resting, not while you’re actually working out. So whatever exercise routine you choose to do, it’s always a good idea to listen to your body. And if you need an extra day off from your exercise workouts, then take that day off.
So if the thought of lifting weights fills you with dread or you can’t get to the gym, then give some bodyweight exercises a try.
Like us on