Building Peak Physical Fitness Through Bodyweight Training

Most people believe that you can build big muscles only by lifting big weights at the gym. Lifting weights certainly builds muscles but bodyweight training has its perks. If you don’t want to go to the gym regularly, the question “Is bodyweight training as effective as weight training?” may have popped up in your head. In this article, I will address all of your questions concerning this.

Bodyweight training has many benefits. They are very effective in building mass and you don’t have to get near any equipment to do so. Since they involve both muscular and cardiovascular conditioning, it helps build muscle, lose fat and overall get the physically fit body you desire.

There are many bodyweight training exercises. Each one focuses on bulking up specific body parts or multiple and contributes to achieving peak physical fitness.

Being well informed about the different exercises and benefits would be the first step as you buckle up for a complete bodyweight muscle-building plan. I will address everything that you would need to know.

What Are the Benefits of Bodyweight Training?

Many would believe that building a fit body must require heavy machines or heavyweights. But these people are unaware of the greatest bodybuilding equipment they carry around all the time- their own body.

When you are doing bodyweight workouts the right way, your body becomes a gym in itself. The benefits of bodyweight training are many and are well-proven. Some benefits of bodyweight training include:   

• You can do a sweaty and effective workout anywhere and at any time. You can easily adjust to your schedule even if you are traveling or at home.
• Bodyweight training can be done at a gym. But you can also choose to do them at home if gyms are not affordable for you. All you need is your body and that is completely free.
• You are not required to go to the gym. So you can do these at any time you want by dedicating an appropriate amount of time.
• If you do basic bodybuilding training according to a well-thought-out plan, you can build your strength and muscular endurance.
• You can target the specific muscles you want to build.
• If you want to build muscles, many exercises require heavy equipment. It’s easy to get injured using them. But with bodyweight exercises, you are less likely to get injured.

How Can You Build Muscle Through Bodyweight Training?

The benefits of bodyweight training cover a wide area of physical fitness. But maybe you are wondering- can you build muscle with just bodyweight exercises? A common misconception is that the moves in bodyweight training are too easy.  So they cannot break your muscle fibers and will not develop muscles as effectively as weightlifting.

But the truth is that bodyweight exercises do not fall short in this area either. The way to build muscle is the same for any exercise you do. You must challenge your muscles repeatedly to break the muscle fibers and force them into growing back bigger and stronger.

According to a research published in Psychology & Behavior, muscle growth can occur without any use of external equipment. So all you need to do to gain some mass is switch up your typical bodyweight training and perform them in a full range of motion.

You won’t need any heavy and expensive equipment to do this. Just some changes in your routine like increasing your reps and sets, decreasing rest time, increasing weights and volume would help a lot.

But what are the top exercises that you must include in your workout? I’ve compiled a few favorites that are capable of amping up your muscle growth greatly. With these bodyweight training exercises in your workout routine, you will surely achieve the physically fit body you desire.

Push-ups

Push-ups are a staple in every bodyweight training. This is a simple workout but is one of the most effective ones for your upper body strength. It will engage your chest, triceps, and shoulder along with your core and lower back. You can perform various kinds of push-ups and modify them to make them more challenging or less. 

How to do it:

• Set yourself up with your chest and stomach balanced on the floor. Your hands should be below the shoulders and just outside the chest. Your toes and palms should support all your weight.
• Slowly lower your body until your chest is barely touching and is 1 inch above the floor.
• Push your body back up while making sure to keep your core engaged.

Pull-ups

Pull-ups will make sure to train all your back muscles along with your biceps. With many variations of pull-ups, you can target different muscle groups in your arms, back, and abs. While you do need equipment for this exercise, a pull-up bar is not that expensive but crucial in its worth.

How to do it:

• Get a good grip on the bar with your palms facing away from you. Your arms should be kept at a straight line and your core tight.
• Start pulling your body up and get your chin above the bar.
• Slowly and carefully lower yourself to the start position.

Dips

Dips are an upper-body exercise that focuses on building your strength. You can build your triceps and upper-body with this one.

How to do it:

• With your palms facing inward, grasp your dip bars. The arms should be straight for this while you engage your core tightly.
• Slowly bend your elbows as you lower your body. Your upper arms should be kept parallel to the ground. Make sure to keep your elbows tight and tucked into your body. It’s a common mistake to keep them flared out so avoid that.
• Straighten your arms to push your body back to the starting position.

Squat Jumps

Squat jumps are a powerful exercise that manages to strengthen your whole lower body. Doing this workout properly will target quads, hamstrings, calves, and glutes- all the lower body muscles. As a bonus, you will also tone your abs and back muscles.

How to do it:

• Start with keeping your feet apart at hip distance. Your arms should be in front and across your chest.
• Bend your knees to lower yourself into a squat position until the thighs are parallel to the floor.
• Jump straight up explosively and immediately return to your squat position to keep repeating the exercise. 

Burpees

This one is a very challenging exercise that offers you a full-body exercise. This means you’ll be working out many of the major muscles in your body with this one exercise.

How to do it:

• Start with a squat position with your feet shoulder-width apart. To avoid making any mistakes the back should be straight with the thighs parallel to the floor.
• With your hands on the floor, kick your feet out so you land in a push-up position.
• Do a pushup while keeping your back straight and then tuck in your legs like a frog.
• Do a jump and get your feet back to the starting position. As you jump, reach your arms over your head. Then repeat the exercise.

Standing Long Jump

This is an exercise that will amp up your mass significantly by increasing your strength. This exercise will greatly increase your leg muscles and target those fast-twitch muscle fibers important for your whole body.

How to do it:

• Start by standing strong with a straight back and tight core. Get into a squat position while keeping your feet apart at shoulder-width.
• Swing your arms back and use the momentum to jump and launch yourself forward.
• Land on your feet in a squat position.

Conclusion

Using your body the right way can help your bulk up without any expensive equipment or a gym membership. Bodyweight training exercises are designed to develop muscle mass without the help of any extra equipment.

So if you are interested in some muscle building without the hassle of going to the gym or buying expensive equipment, this article should provide you with all the answers concerning “Is bodyweight training as effective as weight training?”.

Hoping you achieve the perfect physically fit body you desire. Best of luck and thank you for reading.