For some people, the best form of exercise is the one, which you can keep on repeating over a long time. With bodyweight exercises, there are no barriers to maintaining your efforts.
All you need to do is consider a routine and choose some favorite workouts then find the most convenient place and time to make your exercise a sustainable solution.
Each year, the American College of Sports Medicine surveys the prevailing fitness market to make some prediction of the coming year’s largest exercise trends. Last year, the number 1 fitness trend predicted for 2015 was a hand down winner: Bodyweight Training.
What is Bodyweight Training?
Bodyweight training is simply what the name sounds like – using the bodyweight for resistance in performing your exercise. You don’t use free weights which means you are not supposed to use any type of equipment or machine. It includes all the numerous exercises from your old gym sessions like squats, push-ups, crunches, and lunges.
These classic exercises started the fitness era which is now making a dramatic comeback into modern 21st-century gyms and apparently for good reason. Bodyweight training provides results that are totally essential for health.
10 Reasons to Start Bodyweight Training
1. It is an Efficient Workout
Research declares high-output, bodyweight exercises yield awesome fitness results in short durations. Since no equipment is involved, bodyweight workouts allow an easy transition from one form of exercise to the next even with very little rest.
2. It Develops Core Strength
At least 29 muscles comprise the trunk of your body, and not surprisingly, a lot of bodyweight movements may be used to move and engage them all.
These exercises not only give you tightly packed abs, but you will also relieve lower back pain and stress, gain better posture, and improve your overall performance.
3. It Can Burn Fat Easily
Bodyweight circuit training even for only a few minutes can already do wonders for one’s metabolism because of the so-called “afterburn effect.” This means that your body remains fully revved up and continue burning calories for a few more hours.
4. It Can be Enjoyed with Endless Variety
You can adapt bodyweight exercises in a variety of ways to the rewards and challenge high. If push-ups are difficult for you, then do them less stressfully from the knees.
Or if you think they lack challenge, then try the inverted push-ups. You’ll find no other form of exercise that gives you a wider alternative and freedom to change, adjust, perfect, and adapt.
5. It Can Increase your Flexibility
Performing bodyweight exercises that cover a wide range of motion ensures the free movement of your joints. It also prevents certain exercise-related injuries and improves your posture. Yoga is actually a favorite example for many of using bodyweight training to improve flexibility and strength.
6. It’s Free
Experts admit that the rising popularity of bodyweight training is largely due to its being without cost, meaning, it’s free. It is always available. This goes without saying that bodyweight training is available anytime and anywhere.
7. You’ll See Results
Bodyweight training includes “compound movements” which involve several muscles and joints in each exercise. Because of this, bodyweight exercises get results easily and immediately.
8. It Prevents Injuries
Bodyweight exercises just use normal workout positions and bodily movements without added strain hence preventing untoward incidents like injuries. Bodyweight training is generally safe for everybody notwithstanding his or her age, fitness level, or experience.
9. You’ll Never Get Bored
If you usually work out on exercise bikes and treadmills or perform the same set of exercises at the gym whenever you go there, the tendency is to get bored easily.
But with bodyweight exercises, countless variations are available. With this, you don’t only overcome boredom, you also get to ignore your dreaded plateaus easily.
10. You’ll Achieve a Better Balance
In this balanced training, you also improve your balance. If you try to swap a squat or push-up for a pistol squat (single leg squat) you can improve your balance by increasing control and body awareness.
Conclusion
Arguably, of the 10 reasons to start bodyweight training, more particularly important is that bodyweight exercises deliver all the goodness and benefits of resistance training like the traditional weight lifting.
In addition, bodyweight training is incredibly accessible, simple, and versatile. Bodyweight training is also unique in a way that its exercises are multi-functional because they practically help your body regularly function in ordinary day-to-day life.
It supports and strengthens the body movements you use when playing a sport, at work, or at home. They provide the strongest resistance against any type of physical decline.
About the Author: Jane Hart
Working crazy hours in a high-stress work environment resulted in my body one day telling me, “Enough is enough!”
Navigating this serious health journey was both mentally and physically exhausting. But through some serious mindset work and instilling healthy habits, I was able to rebuild my life one day at a time and come out stronger on the other side!
Now my mission is to empower women like me to prioritize their fitness and well-being in a healthy, sustainable way and build a community of strong, happy and healthy women!
