The Benefits of Bodyweight Exercises

Bodyweight exercises have become quite popular in the last number of years.  Previous to the last five years or so bodyweight exercises were relegated to elementary school gym classes.  Things such as jumping jacks, push ups and pull ups were a part of our childhood but have been neglected up until recently.  However, there has been a resurgence of body weight exercises since more and more people have come to understand the benefits of bodyweight exercises.

One of the great things about body weight exercise is that it can be done anywhere.  You can perform them in a park, in the comfort of your own home, in a hotel room, anywhere you can imagine.  This is ideal since you can't always a set of weights with you wherever you want to go.  When I was growing up our family would take a vacation each year to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  We had a camper and would stay in a campground at the first site from the beach.  I would bring my weight bench and 200 pounds of weights with us and would keep them in a tent and workout while on vacation.  Now this is not possible to do everywhere you go.  It would be quite impractical to do so. 

I am not here to tell you that bodyweight exercises provide the same strength increases as would get from a well designed weight lifting program. However, it can provide strength increases without the cost of power racks, weight benches, cast iron weights, gloves, weight lifting belts, etc. All you need is your body and a little bit of open space. Since there is virtually no cost for bodyweight exercises no one has a reason for failure to exercise. It makes it accessible to everyone. It also does not require a health club membership. This can save you a tremendous amount of money.

Bodyweight exercises are what would be known as metabolic exercises. They have the ability to elevate your heart rate and to effectively burn fat. Some of my favorite body weight exercises that burn fat are squats, squat jumps, tuck jumps, burpees and mountain climbers. If you have never performed any of these then you should try the following bodyweight exercise circuit.

Bodyweight Squats - 20

Squat Jumps - 10

Tuck Jumps - 10

Burpees - 10

Mountain Climbers - 15 (each leg)

Perform that circuit three times and I believe you will understand the fat burning benefits of body weight exercises.

Not only can body weight exercises burn fat but they can also build muscle.  You will not gain the strength of a power lifter and will not learn to deadlift 600 pounds but you can build quality muscle.  In fact, the pull up is considered by many to be the most important back exercise that you can do.  It requires a great amount of strength to perform.  Some of my other favorite muscle building bodyweight exercises are inverted rows, push ups, depth drops, glute ham raises, and handstand push ups.  Hand stand push ups are quite difficult and will build slabs of muscles on your shoulders.