Are you ready to start using bodyweight exercises for muscle workouts? If you were handed a free idea that would help you sleep better, boost your metabolism and mood. Would you consider trying it?
A lot of people are now aware of the benefits of bodyweight exercise, but they still do not try to do it. Medical professionals have advised people to start these exercises to build their strength. You would find out that a lot of people find one excuse or the other to avoid exercising. Not having enough time. The absence of a gym around them and even not knowing how to operate exercise machines. If you find yourself in any of these situations, you can do a bodyweight exercise at home.
Studies have shown that in every decade, Americans lose more than six pounds of muscle. Also in every decade, people from age 20 years and above experience a 3-8% decrease in their metabolism. You should do regular bodybuilding exercises. To reduce the rate at which your body’s metabolism reduces. And to avoid gaining unnecessary weight. These exercises strengthen your muscles and help you lift heavy things. By lifting heavy weight, it makes your body strong.
It is easy to build your strength with your body weight. You can do these bodyweight exercises anywhere you are. Bodyweight exercises do not make use of any equipment and it does not need you to have a membership at the gym. The exercise can be done within 30 minutes.
Why Do You Need Bodyweight Exercises?
Body weight exercises are as important as every other type of exercise. The major benefit of bodyweight exercise is that as you age, it would help to build up your muscles. The exercise also helps the heart function and eases blood circulation. It assists the brain to function.
Research has shown that most people do bodyweight exercises to:
- Reduce stress levels
- Get good sleeping patterns
- Gain energy
- Increase lean muscle mass
- Balance their blood pressure
- Get healthy cholesterol levels
- Increase the flow of oxygen
- Get rid of pain and fatigue
- Remove waste from the muscles
- Increase the body’s metabolism rate
- Increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin
- Reduce the risk of having illnesses and diseases. Like stroke, cardiovascular diseases and acute coronary syndrome.
Bodyweight exercises are important. Because it helps to remove the effects of chronic dieting. Even though dieting is essential in helping to lose weight. It also comes with some adverse effects. After some years of dieting, a person has the chances of losing muscle tissue. Losing muscle tissue can come as a result of staying on a low-calorie diet or from aging. If you want to keep a healthy weight you must have muscles.
How Much Bodyweight Exercises Do You Need
Do Bodyweight exercises two to three times weekly. The exercises of a full body workout session involve the use of the muscles on your chest, back, core and legs. You should do 10 different exercise techniques for each exercise session. Each technique should target a particular muscle and must repeat 12 times.
Besides the bodyweight exercises, you should perform stretch exercises three days a week.
6 Benefits of Bodyweight Exercises
It doesn’t matter if you are trying to lose weight or gain weight. Bodyweight exercises help you achieve body fitness. These are some of the benefits of keeping fit with bodyweight exercises.
1. Increasing and Maintaining Lean Muscles
Body weight exercises help to improve body metabolism. It assists the body in increasing lean muscle mass. The lean muscle mass of the body reduces as we age. The body needs lean muscles to maintain a healthy weight. To keep a functional body metabolism. Muscle mass also helps with other body functions. Like the thyroid functions, insulin sensitivity, and the hormonal balance.
When you have more lean muscles, it increases your metabolism rate. This means that you would need to add more calories to keep your body weight.
If you have observed athletes, you would see that they eat whatever they want. Aside from the fact that they train for several hours every day, their muscles burn up a lot of calories than fat. By building your muscles, your body loses fat. Also, your hormones increase when you do bodyweight exercises. Hormonal development helps the body to keep lean muscles and assists in burning fat.
If you do cardio exercises you should add bodyweight exercises to your routine. Adding bodyweight exercise to your routine will strengthen your back for running. And strengthen your shoulders for swimming.
2. Improve Heart Functions
Generally, exercises help the circulation of blood around the body. It helps to reduce the risk of having high blood pressure. Bodyweight exercises ads strength to the heart as it does to the muscles. It helps the heart to function.
These exercises also improve blood cholesterol levels. People have a lower risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. Bodyweight exercises help you to achieve positivity. It is recommended for people who are recovering from heart diseases.
3. Preventing Diabetes
Studies have shown that regular exercises are one of the natural cure for diabetes. Exercises reduce the presence of glucose in the body. It converts the glucose to glycogen which is then converted to energy. Bodyweight exercises prevent the storing up of glycation waste products in the bloodstream. These end product cause damages in the blood vessels and internal organs.
4. Enhances Your Mood
Another benefit of bodyweight exercise is that it helps to reduce depression. It reduces the body’s stress levels and enhances your physical health. Exercises play a major role in enabling us to get better sleep. And boosting our self-confidence. The chemicals released during exercises cause your mood to lift. And increase your energy levels.
5. Improve Cognitive Functions
Body weight exercises help to lengthen a person’s lifespan. It works to improve the DNA which damages as a result of the aging process. When a person exercises, the BDNF hormone releases into the body. This hormone handles the reduction of stress levels and also for cellular regeneration. These exercises also reduce the risk of a person getting diseases. Like dementia, Alzheimer’s diseases and other cognitive diseases.
6. Improved Joints and Bones
When you increase your muscle mass, it helps protect the joints and bones in the body. By developing stronger muscles, your body doesn’t need to rely solely on your joints for movement. Body weight exercises reduce the presence of body pain. Especially in the back, hips, knees, and ankles. With these exercises, the bone is fortified to protect the skeletal frame. It prevents you from developing bone problems that can cause you to fall or get fractures.
How To Start Doing Bodyweight Exercises
You can start by doing exercises like push-ups and squats to build up strength. Start gradually and do the exercises within the time limit of your capacity.
Make a custom workout program that involves 5 to 10 bodyweight exercise techniques. It is advisable to do these exercises one after the other to achieve better results. To get the benefit of these exercises, don’t take any rest in-between so that your heart rate can increase.
Complete the 5 to 10 exercise techniques. You then repeat another round if you have the strength to do it. Repeat the sessions at least three to four times every week. Use the resting days to do cardio exercises.
Here Are Some Bodyweight Exercises
Lunges
1. Keep your upper body straight, shoulders back and relaxed. Chin up (pick a point to stare at in front of you so you don’t keep looking down). Always engage your core.
2. Step forward with one leg, lowering your hips until both knees bend at about a 90-degree angle. Make sure your front knee is above your ankle, not pushed out too far. Make sure your other knee doesn’t touch the floor.
3. Keep the weight in your heels as you push back up to the starting position.
Squats
1. Stand straight with feet hip-width apart. Stand with your feet apart, under your hips, and place your hands on your hips.
2. Tighten your stomach muscles.
3. Lower down, as if sitting.
4. Straighten your legs.
5. Repeat the movement.
Burpees
1. Begin in a squat position with hands on the floor, a bit wider than shoulder width.
2. Kick feet back to the starting push-up position.
3. Immediately return feet to the squat position.
4. Jump up as high as possible from the squat, and drop back down to the starting position.
Tuck-Jumps
1. Begin standing with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Place your hands on the floor and kick your legs back so you end up with your stomach and thighs on the floor.
3. Jump your feet under your hips into a squat position. Immediately explode upward and driving your knees towards your chest.
Mountain Climbers
1. First, they are a multi-joint movement so they are a very efficient warm-up move
2. Second, they are dynamic. They get you moving and increase your heart rate. This is a better and safer way to warm-up compared to static stretching.
3. Third, they fire your core and activate the muscles of the abdominals and lower back.
4. Finally, they take your hips and legs through a big range of motion. Preparing the connective tissue for anything that is to come.
Plank
1. Get in the pushup position, only put your forearms on the ground instead of your hands.
2. Squeeze your glutes and tighten your abdominals.
3. Keep a neutral neck and spine.
4. Create a straight, strong line from head to toes – a plank, if you will.
5. Hold that position.
Wall-Sits
1. Stand with your back pressing against a wall.
2. Slide down into a squat position by moving your feet forward until your knees make a 90-degree angle. And your hamstrings are parallel to the floor.
3. Hold this move as long as you can.
Supermans
1. To begin, lie straight and face down on the floor or exercise mat.
2. Raise your arms, legs, and chest off the floor and hold this contraction for 2 seconds.
3. Slowly begin to lower your arms, legs, and chest back down to the starting position while inhaling.
Tricep Dips
1. Position your hands shoulder-width apart on a secured bench or stable chair.
2. Slide your butt off the front of the bench with your legs extended out in front of you.
3. Straighten your arms, keeping a little bend in your elbows. Keep tension on your triceps and off your elbow joints.
4. Slowly bend your elbows to lower your body toward the floor until your elbows are at about a 90-degree angle. Be sure to keep your back close to the bench.
5. Once you reach the bottom of the movement, press down into the bench to straighten your elbows. Returning to the starting position. This completes one rep.
Reverse Fly
1. To begin, lie down on an incline bench with the chest and stomach pressing against the incline. Have the dumbbells in each hand with the palms facing each other (neutral grip).
2. Extend the arms in front of you so that they are perpendicular to the angle of the bench. The legs should be stationary while applying pressure with the ball of your toes. This is the starting position.
3. Maintain the slight bend of the elbows. Move the weights out and away from each other (to the side) in an arc motion while exhaling. Tip: Try to squeeze your shoulder blades together to get the best results from this exercise.
4. The arms should elevate until they are parallel to the floor.
5. Feel the contraction. Lower the weights back down to the starting position while inhaling.
Bicycles
1. Lie flat on your back on the floor/mat in a bent-knee position with feet placed firmly on the floor. Cross your arms behind your head. Stiffen your abdominal muscles to stabilize your spine. Pull shoulders back and down. Slowly lift both feet off the floor. Move your knees towards your trunk until your thighs align vertically to the floor. Maintain a 90-degree bend at the knee and relax your feet, allowing them to point away from your body.
2. Drive your right knee towards your chest in a straight line. Allow the knee to bend to a deeper angle. Straightening your left leg outward while keeping it elevated off the floor. Contract your abdominals to curl your trunk. Lift your left shoulder blade off the floor. Rotate your trunk slowly to drive your left elbow towards your right knee. This movement will press your low back into the floor/mat.
3. Continue moving until your elbow touches or almost touches the opposite knee. Hold this up-position for 1 – 2 seconds. Slowly return to your starting position and repeat the movement to the opposite side. Complete a set of quality reps until you experience fatigue. Or until your technique becomes compromised.
Setting Up Your Schedule
How many rounds of bodyweight exercises should you do for each session? When doing exercises, you should start with what feels comfortable for you. Do not exceed your body limit. It is important to pay attention to your body especially your muscles. The amount of exercise your body can take depends on your current body fitness. For a start, you can aim for rounds between 12-20.
When doing bodyweight exercises, start with light loads and at a slow speed. With time and consistency, you can increase the level of difficulty level. After the exercise, it is normal to feel tired. It is wrong if you begin to notice the pain.
Conclusion
Although cardio exercises are good for the body. Bodyweight exercises are much better. They have a long-term effect of strengthening the body. Bodyweight exercises are safe and can be done anywhere. It is also very affordable and considered as one of the cheapest workout techniques.
The exercises not only strengthen the muscles but also helps in burning fat. People prefer to do bodyweight exercises. Especially for those that can’t afford the expense of going to gyms or using weight machines.
Bodyweight exercises are not only affordable but are essential for general body health. It is for people with heart diseases. It is also used to prevent the risk of developing heart problems like high blood pressure.
People who use bodyweight exercises have a lower risk of having diabetes. The exercises help to improve a person’s mood and reduce the presence of depression. It lifts your mood and aids the circulation of blood in the body.
These exercises improve the body’s cognitive functions. And they increase the body’s metabolism. The hormone released during the exercise helps to improve brain functions. And helps the cells to regenerate.
It improves your confidence and self-esteem. The exercises help you in developing the ability to think logically and solve problems. It increases the number of lean muscles in the body.
You will notice general wellbeing as you continue exercises. These exercise help to burn fat. You will notice an improvement in your sleeping habits. And it would reduce the amount of stress in your body.
 | Would You Like To Know More: Bodyweight Exercises: Pull Ups And Chin Ups |