The Benefits Of Bodyweight Exercises

When I discovered the benefits of bodyweight exercises, my mind was blown. After 3 months of doing these kinds of workouts exclusively, I can honestly say, my physique had its first-ever transformation.

It was mind-boggling, considering the fact that I’ve spent years going to kickboxing classes, Orange Theory sessions, and I’ve completed a list of home workouts from Beachbody’s top trainers.

Not to mention, all of these methods took up at least 5 days a week of my time along with diets I wasn’t particularly fond of. I’ve done a combination of weight training and intense cardio, and these did not give me the toned and defined look I was after.

I jumped from program to program, and from one eating plan to another. Then I discovered the power of a simple yet powerful bodyweight training program.

The moment I learned about it, the transformation process began. I stripped off 3% body fat and lost 13 pounds while gaining lean muscle in only a couple of months doing exclusive bodyweight training only 3 days a week.

After one month of the program, my best friend decided to jump on too. We were at the beach, and he said “you don’t have man boobs anymore, and your love handles are shrinking down. I want to do whatever you’re doing”. Then he set off on his own journey and transformed his body in the following months.

Below, I’ll explain what I’ve learned to be the benefits of bodyweight exercises. Let’s get to them.

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1 – You Can Do Bodyweight Exercises Anywhere

This has got to be one of my absolute favorite benefits of bodyweight training. I no longer worry about whether I’ll be able to get a workout in, regardless of whether I go on a vacation across the world, or I’m stuck in the middle of the jungle. I’ve never been stuck in a jungle, but if I was, I’d probably worry more about poisonous and deadly plants & animals.

One of my friends recently asked me to head out on a 4-day fishing trip with him. We used to take these road trips to random cities across the country right after college, and it was so much fun. I thought, man yeah that would be awesome. Let’s head out to the lake. And the first thing that popped into my mind was how I’d get my workouts in. We’d be in the middle of a campground for four days.

Then immediately afterward, I realized, well, damn, I can do these anywhere. It really doesn’t matter where we are. I’ll find a way. There will be trees in nature. A sturdy tree branch or any kind of bar is all I need.

• HOW TO DO BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES USING A TREE

I’ve run into this situation a few times. When I started doing bodyweight training, I was heading out to my parents’ beach house in Michigan quite a bit and staying there for the week. There’s no workout equipment out there. Several of my exercises require a pull-up bar. That was no problem at all, seeing that the tree in the middle of the yard had a nice and sturdy branch attached to it.

I did my sternum chin ups, and one-arm chin-ups, as well as core exercises like hanging leg raises & side to side hanging knee-ups using that branch. I was feeling pretty cocky, cause I sort of felt like Tarzan, hanging from the tree, and people passed by looking at me curiously.

In the end, I got an insanely powerful muscle-building workout in, and went on with my day. The irony here is that I’m actually following a plan now called the Tarzan workout. It’s just an advanced variation of the same bodyweight training program I already follow.

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2 – Bodyweight Training Can Build Muscle Better Than Weight Training

Here’s something a lot of people don’t really wrap their heads around right at first, and it’s because when we think about building muscle, the first thing that pops to mind is a gym filled with weights. So we immediately think that the only way to get bigger is with bench presses, leg presses, lat pulldowns, and triceps extensions. But the key to building muscle is in strategic resistance training and using proper volume.

Your mind doesn’t know the difference between resistance from lifting weights or resistance from your body. The reason you can actually build muscle better with bodyweight training is the amount of resistance involved. A lot of the people at the gym aren’t using nearly enough weight when lifting, even though they could be.

When you’re doing bodyweight training, you’re literally working with the weight of your body. So, the resistance is much more intense, and you don’t really have an option to lessen the load. However, there are ways to build up to certain exercises, and that’s exactly what I did. Building up by using workout variations is how you increase resistance over time, which in turn leads to bigger muscle growth.

For instance, I can now do a one-arm chin-up, but when I started, there was absolutely no way I could do this. I worked my way up to doing a one-arm chin-up with 3 different variations. I began with regular chin-ups. Then I worked my way up to assisted chin-ups, using a towel. I finally was able to do a single one-arm chin-up, but I can only do one.

My next challenge will be to do multiple one-arm chin-ups. I’m not there yet, although it’s really awesome to be able to even do one. And when you can work your way up to doing multiple one arm chin ups as your official workout routine, your biceps and back will explode with muscle.

The same goes for push-ups. When you can finally do a one-arm push-up, your chest, shoulders, and triceps are going to be huge. I can’t do a one-arm push-up yet. I’m working my way up by doing an assisted one arm push up variation at the time of this writing.

The program I follow explains in detail every single variation that you would do in order to work your way up to the ultimate workout, whether that’s a one arm pull up, one arm push up, or a hand stand push up. Visit this page if you’d like to learn more about the exact routine.

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3 – Bodyweight Exercises Prevent Injuries

This is another huge benefit for me. It’s amazing because I came to realize I’m actually getting two benefits in one. By doing bodyweight training, I’m building a better physique, and I’m also eliminating the pains that are associated with lifting. Every pain I ever endured from weight training is now gone.

• NO MORE TENNIS ELBOW – KEEP BUILDING THOSE BICEPS

I used to do dumbbell curls when I was following P90X workouts. I eventually developed tennis elbow, which really bummed me out. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a super unique sensation of pain somewhere between your elbow and forearm area that makes it really difficult to continue lifting.

It got to a point where it was hard to pick up light objects like a glass of water. And it only happened when I did certain movements with my arm. So, it really sucked having to stop doing curls because I really wanted to continue building my biceps. Luckily, I now know that close grip chin-ups actually have the ability to help you build bigger & more defined biceps anyway.

• NO MORE LOWER BACK PAIN OR MIGRAINES

Lower back pain is often associated with lifting and there are a lot of movements that can cause it. This happened to me a few times when I held weights incorrectly, so I finally went to a chiropractor. There also came a point where I was getting migraines after every one of my workouts, which became a dreadful thing to look forward to everyday.

And while headaches aren’t considered injuries, and I have no idea how migraines were even related to my workout routine, the point that I want to make is that all my pain-related problems have completely vanished since I began doing bodyweight training from home.

Bodyweight exercises help keep your body in the correct form so that you stay injury-free. So, if you’re suffering from lifting injuries, I’d strongly suggest taking time off to focus on bodyweight exercises. You’ll be amazed at how you can continue to build muscle while eliminating the pains associated with weight training.

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4 – Bodyweight Exercises Will Save You Money

One of the beautiful aspects of doing bodyweight exercises is that you don’t have to spend any money to get started. I do strongly suggest that you at least invest in a pull-up bar that you can install in your door frame, but it’s not required. This is the one I have, which is very affordable.

There are creative alternatives for pull up bars. But having one will make your bodyweight training way more convenient, seeing that many variations of exercises require a bar. As I mentioned earlier, if I don’t have access to a pull-up bar, I’ll just use a sturdy tree branch and it works just the same.

As far as other equipment goes, you don’t need any. There’s no need for dumbbells or weights of any kind. All you need is your own body as resistance for your training. If you need to increase the intensity of your workouts, you can simply fill a backpack with books, rocks, or whatever weight you have around the house.

That’s what I did in the beginning, and I chose to eventually buy a weighted vest because, after two rounds of my bodyweight program, I wanted to take my results to another level. You may make that decision down the road. I notice a lot of people go that route at some point, but it’s usually after they see the progress they’ve made from the first round of the bodyweight program.

The bottom line though is you don’t need to spend any money to get started with bodyweight training. You can literally start right now, in your own home, without spending a penny.

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5 – A Solid Bodyweight Exercise Plan Will Transform Your Physique

When you have a solid bodyweight workout and eating plan in place, you will absolutely be able to transform your body in a short amount of time. It’s all about following a proven system backed by actual results from real people who have already gone through it. A great program will measure and track your progress along the way so that there is no room for error. You will simply get results. This is the exact bodyweight program I follow and I see crazy transformations every single day.

I’ve seen people who were overweight by 100 pounds or more, from teens to people in their 50s and beyond, who completely morphed themselves into being ripped and muscular. It’s insane. My own transformation blew my mind, having lost 13 pounds of pure body fat while building lean muscle, but I’ve seen other guys who just completely took it to another level, and I sometimes pick their brains to learn what they may be doing differently than I am.

What I think is really cool is at this point, people reach out to me and pick my brain, asking what I’m personally did to get my results. All I did was follow this program to a T.

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Bodyweight Training Is Incredibly Powerful

You may be surprised to learn that some of the best physiques you’ll ever see were built almost exclusively using bodyweight training. I didn’t believe it at first. I didn’t think muscular bodies could be built without weights at the gym. I was wrong. When you actually go down that bodyweight training road yourself, you’ll be amazed at how you can transform your physique. Take a look at any gymnast. Those bodies are insane.

In a world of fad diets, dangerous supplements, and ridiculously expensive workout programs, the MSBW bodyweight program is a game-changer that completely altered my perspective on fitness and nutrition. I sometimes can’t find words to express my gratitude for what this did to my life. It’s not just my body that changed, but my confidence as a person did too.

It may sound cheesy, but when we feel good about ourselves physically, it has a powerful impact on our mental state as well. So, I strongly suggest checking it out if you’re serious about finding a solid bodyweight training program and transforming your physique.

For the first time in my life, I’m not self-conscious about walking around shirtless on the beach. And when I look at other people around me, I realize how far I’ve come. I sometimes look in the mirror, and think to myself, how on earth did I do that?

I was inspired to start writing articles and helping people because I know how polluted the health and fitness industry is with so many companies and so-called trainers trying to make a buck off people’s insecurities. It infuriates me because people are just trying to find something legitimate that will actually give them the results they’re looking for.

Well, this bodyweight program has been the biggest game-changer of my life, physically and mentally. If you’d like to learn more about it, you can read a full review here.

I hope you found this article to be informative and you got some good info regarding bodyweight training and its many benefits. If you have any questions or comments at all, please leave them below and I’ll make sure to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks so much for reading. I really appreciate you being here.