Training with bodyweight sounds simple; in fact, many people consider it too simple to even give it a try. In the following lines I am going to tell you why you should not ignore bodyweight exercises for your workout routines.

You train with what you’ve got!

No weights, no machines, just your bodyweight: that’s all you need. The various bodyweight exercises have been around for thousands of years: Egyptians, Romans, Greeks and Spartans used them to get their warriors into excellent military condition.

Then, there are no age, strength or experience limitations. You can train wherever you are, and with the means available. Thus, training with bodyweight is possible for a couch potato who tries to change lifestyle as well as for an athlete who seeks to get the most of his/her physical training.

When you don’t have time to go to the gym, simple bodyweight exercises can be done at home, without any inconvenience.

Advantages?

Increase your strength! Bodyweigth exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, lunges or leg squats make really great ways of increasing strength. These workouts offer enough muscle contraction to create muscle resistance in time. Plus, you can always get stronger by increasing the difficulty of the exercises.

Lose weight! You can effectively get rid of the unwanted pounds by the full body stimulation specific to bodyweight exercises. As all the body muscles are working intensely, you have an opportunity to burn more calories than you would be able to by working out a single body part.

Get more flexible! There is movement fluidity in bodyweight exercises, even if the workouts are static. This leads to an improvement in the condition of the core muscles and stronger muscle groups. There is a wide range of motion you can cover in bodyweight training, which enables a good stretching of the ligaments, thus protecting you against joint and muscle injuries.

Save money! With bodyweight training, you won’t incur any costs whatsoever, you train at home, without any special equipment. All you need is dedication to the routines and some time to spend doing the exercises regularly. Nothing more!

Progressive training with bodyweight!

Regular workouts are not enough. Your physical effort needs to be progressive! It doesn’t matter where you start, you just have to get started and move from there. If today you train using a few bodyweight exercises, next time, add some more! Without consistency and progression in training, you may be wasting your time.

It may seem easier to add another plate to the bar when training with the barbell, but training with weights is less complete than training with bodyweight. There are lots of ways to make an exercise more difficult, but it all depends on style, context and the type of exercise to be done.

Sometimes a minimum of reading is necessary, but things are as simple as you want them to be. There are lots of websites dedicated to this kind of exercises; blogs, forums, e-guides, can all give one some ideas, tips and suggestions on training with bodyweight. Have a look online and see!