Why bodyweight workouts is the best for your body?
“I don’t feel like going to the gym today”, “I don’t have time to work out”, and “I will work out later”- are some of the common excuses that we use to avoid exercise. However, if we include different types of workout routines, it will undoubtedly make it more exciting. For instance, bodyweight training or exercises is an excellent way to elevate your fitness regime and accomplish strength-gaining goals.
What is a bodyweight workout?
Bodyweight workouts or exercises are a type of strength training where people use their own body weight to provide resistance against gravity. Also, when you are doing any such exercise, you are fundamentally using your body without any exercise equipment. Moreover, most gym instructors include at least one or two bodyweight exercises, as it warms up one’s body and conditions it with elasticity and flexibility.
A few well-known bodyweight exercises include:
- Bodyweight squats
- Walking lunges
- Pushups
- Planks
- Jumping jacks
Some of the most significant benefits of bodyweight exercises are as follows :
It is immensely convenient.
You don’t have to depend upon the gym to do the exercises; you can do them anywhere as your body is the only equipment you need. In addition, you can complete an effective workout from your living room, park, hotel room, terrace, balcony or garden. Also, we can compare the bodyweight exercises to interval training, wherein we must alternate bursts of intense activity with periods of no or low-intensity activity.
It is effective for the body.
According to research published in the journal Physiology and Behaviour, a bodyweight exercise is an excellent form of resistance training that helps to build muscle without any external load. On the other hand, Polish researchers observed the effects of 10 weeks of bodyweight exercises depending on various physical fitness parameters in a small group of young women. Furthermore, they found that there were improvements in seven out of nine parameters.
The most significant visible gains were in aerobic capacity, with a 33 percent improvement, muscle endurance, specifically in the core, increased by 11 percent and the lower body amounted to 6 percent gain.
Improves balance and flexibility
It strengthens the muscles and stretches the ligaments and tendons, due to which our bodies learn to stay balanced. Consequently, our bodies do not falter while doing everyday activities like walking or picking things up around the house. Moreover, when we jog, run or do any fast-paced workout movements, our bodies stay balanced. Hence, bodyweight exercise helps train our bodies to prevent injuries and ensure that we don’t pull a muscle while doing other physical exercises.
Quality over quantity
The phrase “quality over quantity” perfectly fits these kinds of exercises. Although it is good to complete a particular exercise quota per day, small amounts of exercise also deliver results. For example, Japanese researchers conducted a study on active people aged 60; they found that a workout consisting of eight simple lower-body exercises increased the participants’ muscle strength and power by about 15 per cent after ten months.
It is not boring
Some people who are starting their workout regime or resuming gym are likely to give up after a couple of sessions. This is mainly because the repeated routine can seem monotonous and uninteresting to them. However, you can switch up the workout types and challenge yourself to try new activities such as rock climbing, yoga and combining cardio and bodyweight movements.
Also, lifting heavy weights might challenge certain muscle groups, but bodyweight exercises work more of our bodies at once. Furthermore, the varied exercises engage and activate our core; one of the best examples of such an entire body workout is pushups which are also great for arms.
You can adjust to your fitness level.
Initially, you may not be able to figure out how to set the intensity of the exercise. Still, gradually you will learn to modify moves to decrease or increase the resistance. For example, you can adjust your body’s position while doing a pushup against the wall instead of the floor. Similarly, you can change the number of times you repeat or modify the pace of an exercise.
Also, While some workouts aren’t challenging enough for fitness buffs and others are too challenging for exercise novices, bodyweight training offers a “best of both worlds” solution. Why? Because we can easily modify depending on the person working out. Bodyweight workouts work for anyone, whether you add reps, shorten your breaks, accelerate the pace, or enhance a particular exercise with ballistic movements.
Some of the bodyweight exercises you can try.
Yoga is an excellent strength training activity which helps to improve strength and flexibility and increase your body awareness. For instance, you can try mountain pose, downward dog, cobra pose, plank, etc., which are all part of the sun salutation.
Similarly, you can also do squats to build strength in glutes, quads, and hamstrings; there are many variations of squats, such as:
- Single-leg squats
- Squat pulse
- Pistol squats
- Chair squat
- Sumo squat
- Curtsy squat
Finally, pushups are the class bodyweight exercise that helps work your shoulders, chest and arms. To do a proper push, follow the guidelines below:
Regardless of your starting position, you must be in a plank position to perform this exercise correctly. That means the hips are held high, and there’s a straight line from head to heel.
Tuck your chin, so your eyes are focused downward. This works to help you maintain spinal alignment. Looking up can cause neck strain and an overarch in the lower spine.
Depending on your hand position and shoulder stability, your body should lower to touch the ground or come within an inch or two away from it. Remember – your chest should be what makes it to the ground first, not your face and not your legs.
Don’t forget those glutes! Squeezing your tush will help you avoid overarching your lower back and help you engage your abs.
