How to start bodyweight training
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When you train with weights like dumbbells or kettlebells , your muscles are loaded unilaterally. You flex the muscle and then stretch it. This stretching is soothing for the muscle, so it doesn't require coordination. When you train with your body weight, your muscles contract in different ways. Bodyweight training therefore uses multiple muscle groups. The more often you do this, the stronger your muscles and the better your coordination will become.
Benefits of bodyweight training
Training with your own body weight has several advantages. Firstly, it's a form of training that allows you to both build muscle and lose weight (burn fat). This is because you train multiple muscle groups. All these muscle groups require energy, so you burn more calories while exercising.
A second advantage of bodyweight training is that you don't need a gym. You can train whenever and wherever you want. You can even modify your workout so you don't need equipment like pull-up bars. This allows you to do the entire workout at home. Because you don't have to go to the gym, this also saves money. And that, in turn, saves time, as you no longer have to commute to the gym.
This brings us to the next advantage: bodyweight training is often much shorter than strength training or cardio. Because the exercises target multiple muscle groups, you don't have to isolate each one. This means you can do fewer exercises in a workout, but they are more effective.
Getting started with bodyweight training
As you can see, there are many benefits to bodyweight training. Below are a few exercises you can do using just your body weight. This will give you an idea of what exercises you could do and perhaps incorporate them into your own workout routine.
Push-ups
The push-up is an exercise that works almost every muscle group in your upper body. This exercise works your chest, back, arms, shoulders, abs, and quadriceps. You can make this exercise as challenging as you like. If you're a beginner, it's best to do a standard push-up and gradually increase the number of repetitions. If you're more advanced, or if you like to vary your exercises, you can also do one-arm push-ups.
Lunges
Lunges are a great exercise for training your lower body with your bodyweight. This exercise works your quadriceps, glutes, and hamstrings. It's also very good for improving your balance. You can perform lunges in different ways, for example, you can step forward or backward.
Squats
Squats are a great exercise for training your lower body. They work your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and abs. This exercise is also good for improving your posture, as you stabilize your lower back by engaging your abdominal muscles. You can perform squats in many different ways, including the split squat and the jumping squat.
Create your own schedule
Hopefully, these exercises will give you some inspiration to create your own training plan. You can vary it by, for example, completing two workouts and alternating them. You can also continue to challenge yourself by gradually increasing the difficulty of the exercises with a variation or by doing more repetitions.