Bodyweight Exercises

As the name suggests, a bodyweight exercise is an exercise which does not require the utilization of free weights or gym equipment. Bodyweight exercises aim at improving your biomotor abilities. The five biomotor abilities are strength, endurance, flexibility, speed and balance. The most common bodyweight exercises are push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups.

You must have noticed that bodyweight training exercises do not require the use of gym equipment. The movements mostly comprise of squatting, twisting, pulling, pushing and balancing. Almost, all athletes have bodyweight exercises as a part of their workout plan. These set of exercises are also ideal for individuals who do not like to visit the gym or do not have access to gym equipment. Health insurance is as important as exercises.

1. Helps Build and Maintain Lean Muscle Mass: Muscle mass is like the basic fuel of our body- it plays an important role in maintaining a stable weight and basal metabolic activities such as insulin regulation, lymphatic function and hormonal balance. A good basal metabolic rate implies that you need more calories to maintain your weight on a daily basis. It is also because muscles burn more calories than carbs. Bodyweight exercises also increase the production of growth hormones, which in turn burns fat and retains body weight. You should also lift weights around the house as over the long run it will improve your strength and performance. Additionally, these exercises provide enhanced power for all other types of basic and advanced exercises.
2. Improves Heart Health - Any type of exercise that causes your heart to beat faster and more effectively improves the overall function of the cardiovascular and circulatory system. This in turn regulates blood pressure and improves circulation throughout the body. Regular doses of strength-training exercises reduce blood pressure and the risk of heart stroke. Regular strength-training also increases your lifespan. If you are recovering from any critical illnesses or surgery such as a heart attack, it is advisable to perform resistance exercises in order to increase the strength of your heart.
3. Reduces Risk for Diabetes - Apart from improving blood circulation, bodyweight exercises help in reducing the risk of diabetes. Improved circulation of blood helps in removing excessive glucose from the blood. This also prevents the accumulation of excessive glycation end products which can damage the bloodstream, organs and tissues.
4. Improves your Mood and Fights Depression - Regular bodyweight exercises not only have a positive effect on your body but on your mental health as well. Everyday exercises act as a natural remedy for treating depression. When you exercise, your brain releases endorphins which are responsible for regulating the mood and bring about feelings of positivity.
5. Improves Cognitive Function - The more you undertake strength training, the longer you will live as regular exercise repairs DNA damage which leads to anti-aging. Strength training regulates the secretion of BDNF, a hormone which helps brain cells regenerate as you become older.
6. Improves Health of Joints and Bones - Having a stronger set of muscles means that your bones and joints are well maintained and are less prone to injury and fractures. You can improve your back, legs, hips and knees with strength training. People who have a high risk of osteoporosis should look into bodyweight exercises.

If you are looking to do exercises at home, here are some you can consider:

• Squats - This is one of the easiest exercises where you just have to squat like a frog with both of your arms straight at your shoulder length. This exercise is beneficial for all of your muscles - gutes, legs, quads and hamstrings. It also works on your core muscles as you are required to bend down and balance your torso.
• Push-ups - A universal exercise which pretty much works on everything - upper body, back arms, chest and abs. In this exercise, you are required to start in a plank position and you try to get your hips and chest as close to the floor as possible without touching the floor.
• Lying Hip Raises - This exercise is also called a bridge and it works on your glutes, hamstrings, abdominals, back and inner thighs. To conduct the same, you lie down with your knees bent and feet touching the floor. Next, you slowly raise your hips and back to the floor.
• Lunges - You start by standing straight then move your right foot and lower your body until the front knee forms a 90-degree angle and your other knee is touching the floor. Next, go back to the starting position and repeat the same movement with the opposite arm and leg.
• Planks - The best exercise to build your core muscles. To begin with, you start off in a push-up like position and remain stationed at this position for as long as you can. When planking, ensure that your elbows, shoulders, hips and heels are at the same height.
• Crab Walk - As the name suggests, you need to walk like a crab on all your fours. This exercise works on your core, glutes and triceps. Make sure that when you are walking like a crab, your hips are lifted off the floor.
• Single Leg Squats - This is a balance-based exercise which works on your glutes, core, hamstrings and quads. You begin by standing on a single foot while you try to bend and lower down into a squat. The challenge is to keep the other foot intact without setting it on the floor. To complete a set, you need to do this with the other foot as well.
• Spinal Balance - This is again a balanced based movement. You start off in a table-top position on your hands and knees. To begin with, you need to extend your right hand till the shoulder length and raise your left leg as well. Next, return to the table-top position and repeat the same with the opposite arms and leg. When extended, the leg and arm should form a straight line.
• Bicycle Crunches - A variation of the standard crunch which works on your core abdominal muscles, obliques and rectus abdominis. You start in a crunch position but instead of raising your upper body towards your knee caps, you move them towards the left or ride side of the body while your legs mimic the movement of pedaling a bicycle.
• Double Leg Lifts - Ideal for making your back stronger, you start off in a straight position on the floor with your arms on the sides. Next, raise both of your legs in the same straight position till you form a 90-degree angle with your body. Now, slowly put your legs back to the floor. Ensure that your legs do not touch the floor when conducting this movement.
• Side Lunges – This is one of the few exercises which train you laterally. It works on your ligaments, tendon fibers and movement patterns. You begin by standing straight and bend down sideways either to the left or right as you prefer.
• Burpees - Burpees is an excellent exercise which is a combination of cardio and strength. Burpees works on your upper and lower body along with your core. You begin in a pushup motion and then raise your body and take a jump as soon you reach the straight standing position.
• Squat Jumps - It is a simple jump exercise but quite a challenging one. It works on your entire lower body, quads, hamstrings and glutes. In this movement, you take a squat position and when you raise yourself up, you do it in the form of a jump. Try to jump higher and higher every time.
• Sit-Ups - The most basic form of a crunch, it works on your torso, abs and upper body. You begin by lying down on the floor and your knees and calves in a triangle position while keeping the feet on the floor. Next, you keep your hands behind your back and raise your upper body till it touches your knees.
• Jumping Jacks – This is one of the best plyometric exercises which improves your cardio and circulation. The movement is simple, you need to jump by extending your arms and legs like a butterfly. It is a great way to work on your reflexes as well.
• Mountain Climbers - An excellent core exercise which is a combination of a plank and core. You begin in a plank position and then move your knees towards your torso. You need to replicate the motion of climbing a mountain or an inclined surface while maintaining proper alignment of your entire body.
• Tuck Jumps - An excellent cardio building exercise which works on your heart, agility, power and ability to jump higher and faster. You begin by trying to jump as high as you can while keeping your arms above your chest.
• Butt Kicks - This movement-based exercise works on your quadriceps, calves, feet and cardio. It is a simple movement where you start jogging in one place and try to tap your heels to your butt.
• Frog Jumps - As the names suggests, you got to jump like a frog in a squat position. This works on your lower body, leg muscles and cardio. You begin in a squat position and swing your arms back and jump. As you land, maintain the squat position and jump again to complete a set.
• Plie Squats - Another variant of a squat, the only difference is that instead of keeping your legs together, you keep your feet wider than the shoulder width and the toes pointed outward. Next, lower down to a squat until your thigh are parallel to the floor.

Here are some of the reasons why you need to do bodyweight exercises:

• Better workouts - Research has stated that bodyweight exercises bring about excellent fitness gains in short workout duration. Additionally, you can easily shift from one exercise to another since there is no gym equipment involved. Exercise shift from one movement to another helps to burn severe calories in comparison to a singular movement over a shorter duration.
• Cardio plus strength - Certain bodyweight exercises such as burpees or jumping jacks are not only good for your heart but for building muscle strength and muscle development. If you don’t have the time to go to a gym and at the same time want to work on your cardio and strength, bodyweight exercises are an excellent way to do the same.
• Calorie burning - If you want to burn calories and lose all that extra weight, a regular dose of bodyweight exercises can do wonders on your body’s metabolism. So, go ahead and try a few sets of push-ups or burpees!
• Good for everyone - Bodyweight exercises enable you to do multiple exercises in every workout. They can be easily modified as per the individual’s request or challenge. Additionally, you can add more repetitions, change the length and duration of each workout or switch between the same.
• Improved core strength - Bodyweight exercises are an ultimate way to tone your core muscles and strength. The core comprises of all your muscles excluding the limbs. Bodyweight exercises can be used to engage all of your core muscles.
• Improved flexibility - Bodyweight training is also ideal for training your muscle strength and flexibility. It is also a great way to ensure that your joints are in a good state of health and are moving freely. This leads to improved posture and reduces the chance of exercise related injury. All of these contribute towards greater flexibility.
• Convenient - Bodyweight exercises eliminate the need for going to the gym as they enable people to exercise within the comfort of their home. This is convenient for people who are unable to visit the gym regularly or do not have access to gym close to their locality.
• Improved balance - Since bodyweight exercises do not use any external weight, resistance training is achieved in different ways. As mentioned before, you can change an exercise such as a squat movement to a single leg squat or to something more functional like a pistol squat. Moving from one exercise to another not only improves flexibility but also overall coordination and balance. This is also a reason why bodyweight exercises are important for athletic performance.
• Reduces boredom - Sometimes it can seem boring to go to the gym and repeat a certain set multiple time. This is impossible in the case of bodyweight exercises. Bodyweight exercise is a combination of multiple workouts which can make any workout routine interesting. Working on a variety of exercises reduces boredom and helps break through exercise plateaus.
• Fitness that is fun - The best part about bodyweight exercises is that they can be done at home with your bunch of friends. This option is more fun than working out alone. You and your friends can have a weekly get-together bash of fitness and fun. You can also carry out these exercises on a park on a Saturday evening.
• No expenses - Often times it has been noticed that people shell out a lot of money on a gym membership but are unable to go to it due to their hectic work hours. All of these are eliminated when it comes to bodyweight exercises. You do not have much expenses to incur as you do not have to spend on gym equipment.
• Prevents injury - Bodyweight exercises are generally considered safer when compared to weight lifting in a gym. Bodyweight exercises are excellent in preventing those back aches and joint pains which generally arise out of lifting heavy weights in a gym.
• Result driven - The primary reason why bodyweight exercises are result driven is because they are a combination of complex movement including joints and muscles. A combination of movements such as push-ups, lunges and chin-ups is an effective way to improve and build your muscle strength along with performance improvements. This is further amplified as your overall core is worked upon. An improved core strength makes your muscles stronger throughout the body.

Disadvantages:

1. As mentioned before, bodyweight exercises use an individual’s own body weight which provides resistance for the exercise movement, but the weight which is being lifted is not greater than the weight of one’s body. This makes it difficult to achieve a high level of intensity when performing a particular rep, which is essential for strength training.
2. Bodyweight exercises can be difficult for beginners who are overweight and obese as the excessive fat will prevent them from undertaking exercises such as push-ups which is completely dependent upon an individual's capacity to lift their upper torso.

For older adults:

1. Certain bodyweight exercises not only benefit younger audiences but older as well. A few benefits to name are - improved muscle mass, better mobility, increased bone density, reduced risk of depression and good sleeping patterns.
2. Bodyweight training also assists in decreasing and preventing cognitive decline as people age.
3. As you grow older, there is an increased risk of falls. Bodyweight exercises such as squats and lunges increase the strength of leg and core, which reduces the risk of fall

To begin with, if you do not like going to the gym, there is no harm in working at home with some bodyweight exercises. Almost every variant of bodyweight exercise can be suited to meet an individual’s abilities, be it progressive or regressive. This mode of progression or regression enables people of all levels of fitness to conduct bodyweight exercises. One of the basic methods to increase or decrease the difficulty of a bodyweight exercise without additional weight is by changing the movement or duration of motion. For example, putting your feet up for a standard push-up, doing the same with your knees on the ground, performing a similar exercise on a rough terrain or an inclined plane, doing push-ups with a help of a gym ball, modifying the existing range of motion such as squatting to a 45 degree rather than complete 90 degree, performing one arm push-ups or side planks instead of the general variant, etc. For professional gymnasts, an isometric style of training such as with straight arms (levers, planches and iron crosses) improves greater flexibility and balance when compared to weight lifting.

Certain bodyweight exercises have a far lower risk of injury in comparison to lifting free weights or working on machines since there is no external pressure on the muscles which you may not be able to deal with. The chances of suffering any injuries are minimal when your training is progressing correctly without any intervention of strenuous movements, which often leads to heavy pressure on ligaments, tendons and other core muscles. Additionally, injuries from falling on your back or head are less severe in comparison to an accidental fall or dropping a weight on your foot or due any other form of injury caused by improper use of gym equipment.

Additionally, bodyweight exercises have the advantage of less minimal bulking and cutting requirements which is essential for weight lifting and machine training at the gym. Thus, bodyweight exercises not only remove the need for bulking, but can also help a person retain lower fat percentage throughout the year.

Bodyweight exercise work upon multiple groups of muscles at once. This is because of the need of a large majority of muscles for effective movement of the exercises. In the case of a push-up, all the core muscles, biceps & triceps and legs & shoulders are all involved in ensuring strict form. Given all the above-mentioned points above, it is time for you to workout.

Disclaimer: The tips & exercises suggested are the personal opinion of the writer. Kindly consult a licensed physician/dietitian/practitioner before implementing the same.