Are you on the right track to getting yourself fit and healthy? If you are having second thoughts on engaging in physical exercise and don’t know where to start, this article might be the best help you need. Here, we will discuss how bodyweight exercises can help you achieve the fit body you’ve always dreamt of.
Bodyweight exercises are training exercises that use a person’s strength and weight to give resistance against gravity. This physical exercise can boost several abilities such as endurance, power, flexibility, speed, coordination, balance, and speed.
One of the essential benefits of doing bodyweight exercise is it helps improve your cardiovascular endurance and strengthen your muscles at the same time. The regular changing of positions during these exercises can keep the heart rate balanced while gravity and bodyweight perform together to strengthen the muscles.
Bodyweight exercises include basic abilities such as squatting, pulling, pushing, twisting, balancing, and bending. Most of the joint bodyweight exercises are pull-ups, sit-ups, and push-ups.
Engaging yourself in bodyweight training is an excellent way to improve strength and increase flexibility. The beauty of this training is it doesn’t require you to use any equipment types, thus making it easier to do in the comforts of your own home.
What are the basic exercises you need to know?
If you are a beginner, you may want to note these five basic bodyweight exercises and how you can adequately perform each one of them.
Sit-ups
This essential exercise is a known classic abdominal exercise done by lying on your back and raising your torso. It uses your body weight to and tones your abdominal muscles. Sit-ups also promote good posture by working on your gluteal muscles and lower back. There are various benefits you can get from doing sit-ups, such as the following:
- Improving muscle mass
- Better stability and balance
- Improved posture and flexibility
- Reducing the risk of injury and back pain
- Strengthening the diaphragm
To perform a proper sit-up:
- Stretch down on the floor with your back.
- Bend your legs and position your feet steadily on the floor.
- Cross both your hands to your opposite shoulders and place them behind your ears.
- Scrunch your upper body up toward your knees. Breathe in and exhale as you lift your body upwards.
- Slowly, lower your body down and go back to the starting position. Inhale as you lower.
Pull-ups
A pull-up is a closed movement where the body is hanged up using the hands and pulls up. This exercise is an upper body strength exercise. The elbows flex, and shoulders are twisted and extended to carry the elbows to the torso.
If you are doing a pull-up exercise, you raise your whole body mass along with your movement. This movement can significantly enhance your body strength and can improve your health. Several studies provided that engaging yourself in strength training is vital for developing bones and strengthening cardiovascular health.
Here’s how to perform pull-ups properly:
- Reach the pull-up bar with your palms down.
- With your arms straight and your legs off the floor, hang to the pull-up bar.
- Pull yourself up by way of pulling your elbows down to the ground
- Go all the way up until your chin slightly passes the bar.
- Lower yourself and keep your arms are straight.
Push-ups
Doing push-ups may be the perfect exercise to boost both core strength and the upper body. If executed correctly, it can strengthen the shoulders, triceps, abs, back, legs, and chest muscles. Performing push-ups daily can help improve metabolism, responsible for burning fats. This bodyweight exercise can also help by building muscle and can even improve your cardiovascular health. Other potential benefits of doing push-ups are the following:
- Stretching muscles for health and vitality
- Increasing functional strength
- Enhancing the cardiovascular system
- Improving posture and preventing lower back injuries
- Expanding the whole body muscle definition
To properly perform a push-up:
- Get down on the ground. Place your hands a little wider compare to your shoulders.
- Keep your arms and legs in a straight position.
- Lower your whole body until your chest almost hits the floor.
- Pause, then lift yourself back up.
- Repeat these steps.
Squats
A squat is a vital strength exercise that needs your upper and lower body to work together harmoniously. Many of these muscles help you achieve several daily tasks such as walking, running, bending, climbing the stairs, and even carrying heavy objects. Adding squats to your daily exercise can strengthen your lower body and core muscles. Dong squats can also help your burn calories, leading to weight loss and reducing the risk of injuries.
To correctly do squats:
- Stand with your feet. Move it slightly wider than your hip width, toes facing front.
- Move your hips back, curve your knees and ankle. Press your knees into a slightly open position.
- Sit into a squat posture and keep your heels and toes on the floor. Keep your chest up and shoulders back.
- Strive to reach parallel and bend your knees at an angle of 90 degrees.
- Press into your heels. Straight your legs up and return to an upright standing position.
Lunges
Last but not least of the five essential bodyweight exercises you can try at the comforts of your home are lunges.
Lunges are a very known strength training exercise for sculpting and toning the bodies, strengthening fitness, and athletic performance. This exercise gives you the ability to improve your hips, legs, and back while enhancing stability and mobility.
Lunges and squats are somehow similar to each other because they both target the glutes and leg muscles. The difference is you making lunges with one leg at a time, strengthening them individually. This kind of exercise can help stabilize your muscles and can even out imbalances.
To do a proper lunge, follow the steps below:
- Begin through standing up tall.
- Step with one foot forward until your leg reaches an angle of 90 degrees. Your hind knee should remain firmly aligned to the floor, and your front knee must not go beyond your toes.
- Raise your front lunging leg to go back to the starting posture.
- Perform 10 to 15 reps on one leg first, and then change between legs until you’ve reached 10 to 15 reps per leg.
Remember these five basic steps and start your journey towards a fit and healthy body now!
