Bodyweight Exercises for Beginners: Burn Fat With This Training

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You might think that you need to lift heavy weights or use fancy machines to get stronger and build muscle. But that's not true. You can achieve impressive results with your bodyweight as resistance.

Bodyweight exercises use your body's weight to provide resistance against gravity. They can be done anywhere, anytime, and with minimal equipment. They can also challenge your muscles in different ways than weights. This is because they require more balance, coordination, and stability.

In this post, I will show you how to design a bodyweight strength training program. It will help you build muscle and strength. It can improve your posture and mobility and prevent injuries. I will also give you some tips on how to progress and vary your workouts, and how to eat for optimal recovery and growth.

The Benefits of Bodyweight Strength Training

Bodyweight strength training has many benefits, such as:

  • It's convenient. You don't need a gym membership, expensive equipment, or a lot of space to do bodyweight exercises. You can do them at home, in the park, in a hotel room, or anywhere else you have some floor space.
  • It's versatile. You can target every major muscle group with bodyweight exercises. You can also mix and match them to create different routines. You can also modify them to suit your fitness level, goals, and preferences.
  • It's functional. Bodyweight exercises mimic natural movements that you do in everyday life. These include pushing, pulling, squatting, lunging, twisting, and jumping. They help you develop functional strength. This makes you more efficient and capable in your daily activities.
  • It's safe. Bodyweight exercises are low-impact and gentle on your joints. This is true as long as you perform them with proper form and technique. They also help you prevent injuries. They do this by strengthening your core. This stabilizes your joints and improves your posture and alignment.
  • It's fun. You can do a variety of challenging exercises using bodyweight. They can keep you motivated and engaged. You can also add playfulness and creativity to your workouts. For example, use obstacles, props, or partners.

The Principles of Bodyweight Strength Training

To get the most out of your bodyweight strength training program, you need to follow some basic principles. For example:

  • Progressive overload. This means you should gradually increase the difficulty of your exercises over time. This will keep challenging your muscles and stimulating growth. You can do this by increasing the number of repetitions, sets, or time under tension. Decrease the rest time between sets or exercises. Change the angle or position of your body. Add external resistance, such as a backpack or a band. Or switch to a more advanced variation of the exercise.
  • Specificity. This means you need to choose exercises that match your goals. Target the muscles you want to develop. For example, if you want to build your chest muscles, do exercises that involve pushing movements. For instance, you can do push-ups or dips. If you want to build your back muscles, do exercises that involve pulling movements. For example, you could do pull-ups or rows.
  • Balance. This means you need to work all the major muscle groups in your body equally. This helps avoid imbalances and injuries. You also need to balance the types of exercises that you do. For example, horizontal vs vertical movements, push vs pull movements, bilateral vs unilateral movements, and compound vs isolation movements.
  • Recovery. This means you need to give your muscles enough time to rest and repair between workouts. This allows them to grow stronger and bigger. You also need to get enough calories and protein. Drink enough water, sleep enough, and manage your stress levels.

A Sample Bodyweight Strength Training Program

Here is a sample bodyweight strength training program that you can follow for four weeks. It consists of three workouts per week: one for the upper body (A), one for the lower body (B), and one for the whole body (C). Each workout should take about 45 minutes to complete.

Workout A: Upper Body

Warm-up:

Do some dynamic stretches and mobility drills for your shoulders, elbows, wrists, neck, and spine.

Circuit:

Do three sets of each exercise in the circuit, resting for 60 seconds between sets. Perform each repetition with control and good form.

Push-ups:

Do as many repetitions as you can with proper form. If regular push-ups are too easy for you, try elevating your feet on a chair or a wall. If they are too hard for you, try placing your hands on a table or a wall.

Pull-ups:

Do as many repetitions as you can with proper form. If regular pull-ups are too hard for you, try using a band or a partner to assist you. If they are too easy for you, try adding weight to your body or doing them with one arm.

Dips:

Do as many repetitions as you can with proper form. If regular dips are too easy for you, try elevating your legs on a chair or a wall. If they are too hard for you, try placing your hands on a bench or a chair.

Rows:

Do as many repetitions as you can with proper form. You can use a sturdy table, a bar, or a pair of chairs to perform this exercise. If regular rows are too easy for you, elevate your feet on a chair or wall. If they are too hard, try lowering your body angle or using a band or a partner to assist you.

Cool-down:

Do some static stretches and relaxation exercises for your upper body muscles.

Workout B: Lower Body

Warm-up:

Do some dynamic stretches and mobility drills for your hips, knees, ankles, and spine.

Circuit:

Do three sets of each exercise in the circuit, resting for 60 seconds between sets. Perform each repetition with control and good form.

Squats:

Do as many repetitions as you can with proper form. If regular squats are too easy for you, add weight to your body or do them with one leg. If they are too hard, place your hands on a wall or a chair.

Lunges:

Do as many repetitions as you can with proper form. If regular lunges are too easy for you, try adding weight or doing them with one leg. If they are too hard, try placing your hands on a wall or a chair.

Glute bridges:

Do as many repetitions as you can with proper form. If regular glute bridges are too easy for you, try elevating your feet on a chair or a wall, or doing them with one leg. If they are too hard for you, try placing your feet on the floor, or doing them with both legs.

Calf raises:

Do as many repetitions as you can with proper form. If regular calf raises are too easy for you, try adding weight to your body or doing them with one leg. If they are too hard for you, try placing your feet on the floor or doing them with both legs.

Cool-down:

Do some static stretches and relaxation exercises for your lower body muscles.

Workout C: Whole Body

Warm-up:

Do some dynamic stretches and mobility drills for your whole body.

Circuit: Do three sets of each exercise in the circuit, resting for 60 seconds between sets. Perform each repetition with control and good form.

Burpees:

Do as many repetitions as you can with proper form. This is a compound exercise that involves squatting, jumping, pushing, and pulling. If regular burpees are too hard for you, try skipping the jump or the push-up. If they are too easy for you, try adding weight to your body or doing them faster.

Plank:

Hold this position for as long as you can with proper form. This is an isometric exercise that involves stabilizing your core, shoulders, and hips. If regular plank is too easy for you, try raising one arm or one leg or both. If it is too hard for you, try placing your knees on the floor or doing it on an incline.

Mountain climbers:

Do as many repetitions as you can with proper form. This is a dynamic exercise that involves moving your legs in and out while holding a plank position. If regular mountain climbers are too hard for you, try slowing down the pace or reducing the range of motion. If they are too easy for you, try speeding up the pace or increasing the range of motion.

Side plank:

Hold this position for as long as you can with proper form. This is an isometric exercise. It involves stabilizing your core, shoulders, and hips from the side. If regular side plank is too easy for you, try raising one arm or one leg or both. If it is too hard for you, try placing your knees on the floor or doing it on an incline.

Cool-down:

Do some static stretches and relaxation exercises for your whole body muscles.

How to Progress and Vary Your Workouts

To keep making progress and avoid boredom and plateaus, you need to change some variables in your workouts every few weeks. For example:

  • The exercises that you do. You can switch to different variations of the same exercise. For example, change the grip, stance, tempo, or range of motion. You can also introduce new exercises that work the same muscle groups in different ways. For example, you can try a handstand.
  • The intensity of your workouts. You can increase the intensity by adding more sets, repetitions, or resistance. You can also decrease the rest time. Or, increase the speed, power, or explosiveness of your movements.
  • The volume of your workouts. You can increase the volume by doing more total work. This includes sets times repetitions times resistance. You can also increase the volume by doing longer workouts.
  • The frequency of your workouts. You can increase the frequency by doing more workouts per week, or by doing two-a-days (two workouts in one day).
  • The order of your exercises. You can change the order to prioritize different muscles or movements. You can also create different metabolic effects with supersets, circuits, or complexes.
  • The rest periods between your sets or exercises. You can change the rest periods to manipulate the intensity and volume of your workouts. You can also use them to target different energy systems, such as aerobic, anaerobic, or ATP-CP.
  • The type of contraction. You can change the type of contraction to target different muscle fibers or motor units. You can also use a different type to develop different qualities. For example: strength, power, endurance, or hypertrophy.
  • The speed of your movements. You can change the speed to develop different qualities. These include strength, power, endurance, and hypertrophy. You can also target different muscle fibers or motor units.
  • The range of motion. You can change the range of motion to target different parts of the muscle or movement. You can also develop different qualities, such as strength, power, flexibility, or mobility.
  • The type of resistance. You can change the type of resistance to provide different stimuli or challenges. You can also target different muscles or movements. You can use bodyweight, free weights, machines, bands, balls, etc.
  • The type of training. You can change the type of training to develop different qualities or skills. You can also prevent overtraining or adaptation. For example, you can change the type of training to focus on strength, endurance, power, speed, agility, balance, flexibility, or mobility.

Remember, the key to progress is consistency and patience. It takes time to build muscle and strength, so don’t rush the process.

I suggest you go over the bodyweight exercises from our "Exercise Library". Check out my favorite: "Bodyweight Exercises for Chest".