Bodyweight Exercises

Build your chest and body with bodyweight exercises. No gym required, use little or no equipment.

Here are some benefits of bodyweight exercises

1.They can be done anywhere, anytime
2.They add variation to any program
3.Exercises such as Pilates train your core (superior to sit-ups and crunches alone)
4.They will provide you with functional strength
5.Improve balance and co-ordination

If you have not tried this form of training, I highly recommend you add it to your current routine or take a few weeks off your regular routine and try some bodyweight workouts.

While lifting weights will make you stronger and bigger, the strength is not relative, it is absolute. Bodyweight training on the other hand works with relative strength, balance and co-ordination.

Strength is relative to bodyweight. So next time you see a chin up bar, parallel bar, jump on and see what you can do, you might surprise yourself. In fact drop to the floor now and see how many push-ups you can do with good form.

This type of functional training will develop strength that translates into your chosen sport as it constantly works on your core stability, strengthening your abs and back simultaneously while you target your pectorals and other muscles. You can also incorporate stability balls, medicine balls and resistance bands.

Try this bodyweight exercise for your chest. It is in fact a push up with an incline, the incline chest press. Stand next to a wall and face away from it. Place your hands on the ground and your feet on the wall behind you. Your hands should be a few feet away from the wall. The closer to the wall your hands are the harder the exercise. You will now be on an incline. To make it more difficult, put your feet up higher on the wall. Now lower your body so your head is just off the ground and push back up for one rep. Your are almost upside down. You may only manage 1 rep, that is ok, keep working at it and always try and improve on this number. Want more of a challange? Try it with your feet in suspension straps!

TRX suspension training I have found to be one of the most effective and enjoyable forms of bodyweight training suspension training, this adds a new dimension to bodyweight exercises. Developed by navy seals as a portable gym that weighs less then 2 kilos (4lbs) it is truly an amazing invention that will give you a workout you wouldn't believe! As it is so small and attaches to almost anything you can take it on vacation, so you continue to work out!

You can also use zero equipment, try this equipment free bodyweight workout today.

How body weight training and weight training have worked for me
I have had several knee surgeries and in order to get back to peak condition, I have had to follow a leg strengthening program using a regular weight training routine of squats, lunges, stiff legged deadlift, leg curls, leg extensions, deadlifts, heel raises etc. While this did make me much stronger, when I played sport again the knee was not responsive, because all those exercises did not teach movement, in other words, the muscles were strong but did know know how to work together as a team for the function required (in this case sprinting).

As my strength came back I then added bodyweight exercises to increase stability and function. The two training methods work together as a team. Unfortuntely we have bodybuilders on one side critising body weight exercises and the functional training group critising the bodybuilder type training. I say don't knock either one. Tom Venuto one of the best natural bodybuilders in the world who has written what I would define as the weight loss bible, "burn the fat feed the muscle", has this to say about functional training

So if you have been relying purely on weights, here are some simple free bodyweight exercises for your chest workouts to get you started.

1.Push ups and variations
2.Stability Ball Exercises
3.Medicine Ball Exercises