A lot of people talk about the benefits of bodyweight exercises for athletes, but it's still hard to believe that something as simple as moving your body around in different positions can make you stronger, more fit, and help you lose weight. Bodyweight exercises don't use anything besides your own arms and legs to work you out. Bodybuilders in general tend to put down some of these methods because they don't see how pushups can help you gain as much muscle as deadlifts or bench presses. The truth is, it's all in the leverage.
What I mean by that is that the way you position your body for the workout is the most important part of bodyweight workouts. For example, you can probably do several pushups in a row (if not, that's a good place to start!) But how many one arm handstand pushups can you pull off before your biceps max out?
In the end, I feel that bodyweight exercises, when done correctly, have just as much benefit as any other type of workout you could get at your local World Gym branch. Sometimes even more. There are 5 main benefits to bodyweight workouts that you might not be aware of.
#1 – Weight Loss
Weight loss and bodyweight exercises go hand in hand for several reasons. The main reason is that bodyweight workouts give you aerobic activity at the same time as resistance activity. Many of the positions that you get into for your bodyweight routine will leave you panting to catch your breath.
Also consider the fact that the body is a complex machine, almost like an ecosystem. It's lazy too; it constantly looks for ways to make its job easier, whether you're aware of it happening or not. Unlike weight training, bodyweight exercises use your own weight as the resistance (not to state the obvious), and one thing that your body will want to do is reduce that weight, and it does so by funneling more energy into the consumption of excess body fat. To see this in action, try a Rotating“T” Pushup.
#2 – Muscle Mass
This is where most bodybuilders and heavy lifters get into an uproar about bodyweight exercises. Lifting weights allows you to adjust the resistance according to your own abilities, but it also makes you more prone to injury. You can achieve the same resistance by performing several simple exercises in your own home, without weights. The main goal in any workout (if you want to add bulk) is to push your muscles to failure. The added mass comes from the recovery process, when your muscles stitch themselves back together, bigger and stronger than before.
In the end, it doesn't matter how you reach that point of failure. Scientifically speaking, 50 pushups will get you to the same point as 50 bench presses. Same with squats. If typical exercises like that don't give you the burn you need, mix it up a little bit, try a Hindu pushup or something else that increases the leverage of the motion.
#3- Strength
If you're planning to start working out, you need to keep one thing straight: muscle mass does not equal strength. Strength comes from the quality of the workouts and the combined effort of multiple muscle groups working as one. That's why someone like Bruce Li, who is pretty small in comparison to other athletes, could perform pushups with just the thumb and forefinger of one hand, or break a man's ribcage with a single kick.
Strength with bodyweight exercises comes from the fluid combination of multiple muscle groups, most notably the core muscles and whatever extremities you're currently working out. You're probably sitting in a chair reading this, so try this:
Back away from the computer desk and place your hands on the edges of the chair, near your hips. Now push your body up off the chair using just your arms. What muscles are you using? Your biceps, shoulders, abs, and upper back. This orchestrated concert is what gives you strength, not isolated weight training exercises.
#4- Overall Fitness
This is what everybody should strive for, although many people want the image of health more than the reality of health. That's fine, I'm not here to preach to you about what you should do with your body. Overall fitness from bodyweight exercises gives you a compact, toned physique. Look at an Olympic gymnast's body to see what fitness looks like. Look at a parkour enthusiast. This is the ability to run, jump, lift, push, and endure, pushing the capabilities of the human body to the limit.
There are a lot of different exercises that you can use to increase your fitness level. A great one is the Ellipse, http://strongmanexercises.blogspot.com/2011/04/hindu-pushups-and-hindu-squats-are.html but there are plenty of others out there. The great thing about bodyweight exercises is that there's no limit to what you can do.
#5- Freedom
And finally we come to the last benefit of bodyweight exercises. How would you like the freedom to be able to workout any time, no matter where you are? If you can't make it to the gym after work one day, don't sweat it! Head home, arrange some chairs or clear a space on the floor and you have all the gym you could ever ask for. This gives you total flexibility in your workout schedule so that you don't have to squeeze it into your busy life.
If you want a fat free body with increased dexterity and agility, give bodyweight exercises a shot. Whether you're a martial artist, athlete, or just someone who wants more control over the way they look, bodyweight exercises make the perfect choice.
