Drop the Weights and Lift Your Body
One of the biggest misconceptions about weightlifting is that success is only built in the gym. It’s not your fault. Magazines are constantly portraying an image of dudes lifting weights in the gym. But with weightlifting, there is regression and progression to every exercise. For example, a lot of people cannot do a conventional bench press because of an existing shoulder issue, which affects their form and the amount of weight they can do. Push-ups are a great alternative. Not only can you perform push-ups with various hand positions, but you can also do them from an elevated surface, extending the range of motion for the shoulders and engaging more muscle fibers. Convinced yet? If not, maybe you should take a look at these five bodyweight exercises.
1. Bodyweight Squats
If I had a dollar for every time I saw someone slap weight on a barbell and squat without even being capable of performing an efficient freestanding bodyweight squat, I’d be rich by now. It’s the perfect exercise to assess your strength, awareness and hip/ankle/thoracic spine mobility. Squatting your bodyweight may sound simple in nature, but you’d be surprised how many people struggle with the movement, which can lead to significant injuries if performed wrong.
Bodyweight squats help to build muscle and increase strength and mobility. When performed at a high intensity, this exercise can really help with weight loss.
2. Push-Ups
As we mentioned earlier, push-ups are a great alternative to the bench press because of various positions. But what we did not mention is that they work your entire body from top to bottom. By recruiting your quads, glutes and abs, you’re stabilizing your body as you push your own weight.
3. Pull-Ups
Out of every exercise you can do for your back, the pull-up is the most rewarding and efficient. You can purchase your own pull-up bar, or if you want to do it old school like Rocky, you can use a beam in the basement or a jungle gym at a park. To ensure you’re getting the maximum results from doing pull-ups, hold your body stable during execution so you can efficiently move your mass through space. This is crucial in your ability to perform pull-ups. Not only will this enhance muscle growth, but it will also foster core stability and balance. Speaking of muscle growth, if you’re looking to enhance it even quicker, you might want to consider supplementing with Clear Muscle®. It features a key ingredient that was shown in a clinical study to help test subjects pack on 16 lbs. of muscle in just 12 weeks!
Subjects using the precise CLEAR MUSCLE® formula gained 16.3 lbs. of muscle in 12 weeks. The placebo group gained 4.6 lbs.
4. Elbow Plank
Much like a push-up, the elbow plank recruits different types of muscles in order to properly do the exercise. Naturally, people think that it just works out the abs, but it also recruits the quads and glutes to help keep your body tight in an efficient position. Elbow planks help with core stability and balance, but they can also help with posture and lower back pain.
5. Burpees
The burpee is resistance training and cardiovascular conditioning all bundled into one exercise. It can be done absolutely anywhere and added into any workout routine for a metabolic boost and calorie burner. You can do it in different variations such as the burpee/push-up and the burpee/pull-up.
Bodyweight training helps keep you healthy, strong and lean, and best of all, it challenges your body in ways that dumbbells and barbells cannot. With different variations available, it’s difficult to land in a rut with bodyweight training. The fact that it requires almost no equipment whatsoever makes these exercises easy to execute just about anywhere.
