Squats are one of the main (basic) exercises not only in workout, but also in fitness, bodybuilding, etc. Therefore, it is not surprising that there are a huge number of different types of squats that allow you to focus on the work of certain muscles, and simply add some variety to your workouts.
Now let's take a closer look at the best types of squats without weights!
1. Classic squats
For what: all the muscles of the legs are evenly trained.
Initial position: standing, feet hip-width apart, arms along the body.
How to perform: while inhaling, taking the pelvis back, bend your knees to a right angle. As you exhale, return to the starting position.
2. Plie Squats
For what: focus on the glutes, quadriceps, and inner thighs.
Initial position: standing, legs wider than shoulders, socks turned outward at right angles, hands on the belt.
How to perform:
3. Narrow stance squats
For what: strengthen the gluteal muscle, the quadriceps femoris and the outer surface of the thigh.
Initial position: feet together, arms along the body.
How to perform: just like classic squats.
4. Curtsy Squats
For what: emphasis on the gluteal muscles.
Initial position: standing, legs crossed.
How to perform: while inhaling, taking the pelvis back, bend your knees to a right angle. Keep your body weight on the front leg, the foot of the second leg should not touch the floor with the heel. As you exhale, return to the starting position.
5. Balance squats
For what: to increase the load.
Initial position: feet at the width of the pelvis, one of the heels is raised up.
How to perform: As you inhale, pull your pelvis back, bend your knees to a right angle. Keep your body weight on the leg that is completely on the floor. As you exhale, return to the starting position. Repeat with the other leg.
6. One-Leg Pistol Squats
For what: for a significant load increase.
Initial position: on one leg, the second - in front of the weight, bent at the knee. Hold onto a chair with your hand.
How to perform: while inhaling, bend the supporting leg at the knee to a right angle, straighten the free leg forward. As you exhale, return to the starting position.
7. Squats on one leg "swallow"
For what: as in the previous exercise, but the load is shifted to the buttocks, the extensor muscles of the back and the back of the thigh.
Initial position: as in the previous exercise.
How to perform: while inhaling, bend the supporting leg at the knee, and take the free leg back, tilting the body forward. As you exhale, return to the starting position.
Here's what you should know...
Bear walking can be bad and even cause significant damage to your shoulders and lower back. When this exercise is performed at high speed or the approach takes a very long time, then the bear walk * becomes a nightmare for your ligaments, bones and muscles.
Replace the bear walk in your workouts with a technical development walk. Yes, it will make you sweat too.
Running up stairs will turn your joint cartilage into mincemeat. (you will kill your knees). Replace it with lunges with lifting.
Jumping from a push-crouch position to an obstacle will certainly interest you, but speed squats significantly reduce the load on the joints, which, in the end, will leave you on the winning side. (fewer injuries - more productive training approx. Lane).
Bodyweight exercises - cardio for the strong?
Nowadays, many strength athletes hate the very idea of a traditional cardiovascular workout. Therefore, it will hardly surprise anyone that many types of modern strength training prefer to use high-rep bodyweight exercises (from the so-called “old school” strength training) instead of classic cardio. While the idea of replacing cardio with bodyweight strength training sounds quite attractive, the exercises you choose often leave a lot of questions.
While bodyweight exercises are gaining more and more popularity around the world, the most popular of these exercises have far more potential for harm and injury than they give you any useful results. Joints, ligaments and tendons in such exercises are subjected to excessive and unnatural stress, which usually does not lead to anything good.
Breakdown exercises
There are far more effective methods of increasing cardiovascular rate and stimulating the release of anabolic hormones than bodyweight exercises, which we will discuss below. In today's article, we will start with less traumatic ones and go to the most dangerous ones, and at the same time we will tell you about what exercises you can replace these "killers" with.
#3: Bear walk
Get on all fours and move in this position in a straight line has become one of the most popular training crazes of recent times.
Crawling on all fours is one of the most primitive and basic movement patterns of people (small children), which they master to perfection even before they learn to walk on two legs. Moving on all fours can add a lot of variety to our workout routines, allowing us to "go back to basics" to increase our mobility and resilience.
In theory, this "return to basics" sounds great, right? But in reality, it all sounds tempting right up until people actually try to get on all fours and start training!
With our daily, everyday loads and the position in space familiar to our body, under which our entire musculoskeletal system is tuned, learning to crawl on all fours again will be about as easy as doing a snatch of a 150 kilogram barbell. Even if you succeed, you risk serious injury in the process.
While the bear gait involves dynamic enough hip and glute work to spare the spine from unnecessary and dangerous stress, few people can, purely physically, master the correct technique of this gait. Improper performance of the exercise will lead to excessive stress on the joints, which will ultimately affect the health of the lumbar spine of your spine.
That's why your back hurts after doing the bear walk, even though your trainer will convince you that you just haven't gained enough strength for this exercise yet.
In addition to the lower back, a bear walk will also not have the best effect on your shoulders. By increasing the speed of movement and the duration of the exercise, as most “trainers” like to do, the compression load on your joints becomes excessive and the likelihood of serious injury again increases.
Alternative: Controlled gait
The main meaning of this “gait” is that it is based on a simple mechanics of movement that allows you to master it without difficulty and injury.
If you don't feel like you're getting the cardio you need from this type of gait, it's because you haven't tried this lead yet. Slow and well-controlled movements will make you sweat just as if you were "running like a bear", and, of course, without any back pain after the exercise.
#2: Stair Run
Rocky Balboa has been single-handedly responsible for half of all knee joint spending in the world over the past 30 years. You understood everything correctly (and for those who did not understand, here is the video below). Because before the "Italian Stallion", men and women around the world used stairs only for their intended purpose.
I mean, what could be cooler than sprinting up the stairs followed by a victorious look down? I would answer what? for example, the health of the knee joints and the ability to walk in principle. It's good that Rocky is a fictional character, otherwise he would have limped to the local hospital where he had to undergo major knee surgery at the age of 46.
Today, for many people who are already experiencing joint problems in their feet, adding extra incline or stair running can spell disaster. If you don't plan on running stairs more than once a week, you might still be able to avoid serious problems. Otherwise, this whole undertaking will lead to such a serious and painful injury that you yourself will ask someone to just finish you off.
Realize that just because you ran stairs when you were in high school or university, it doesn't mean you can run stairs now. And such runs will bring you nothing but injured knees and lower back pain. After a while of training like this, your articular cartilage will look like minced meat, not a functional shock absorber, so it's time to find a replacement!
Alternative: Single Leg Raises
If you do this exercise with full gear and without cheating, then it can be the most productive leg strengthening exercise for you.
Try to do approaches, each on a separate leg - not alternating, this will add complexity. When you feel that a spasm begins in your legs, when you don’t hear your own breathing from the sound of your heartbeat at the maximum speed of the exercise, finish the workout with this weight, and next time take 5 kg more weight.
The load that your knees, hips and back experience when doing this exercise is simply prohibitive!
It is always necessary to approach the implementation of such exercises with special care and caution in order to protect yourself from various injuries. And the more difficult and difficult the exercise, the more attention should be paid to it. Unfortunately, the reality is quite the opposite. Jumping an obstacle is not an exercise that you can do in the background, jumping up and down for 15 minutes and thinking you are doing something good for your health. Like any other plyometric exercise, it cannot be performed for a long time while maintaining the correct technique, form and movement pattern as a whole.
In addition, today, thanks to the growing popularity of the CrossFit trend, the usefulness of any exercise is determined not by what results it gives for your health, but by how "shitty" you feel after doing it. It is for this reason that burpees have become the most popular bodyweight cardio exercise today. It is difficult to find such a traumatic exercise.
Alternative: Quick squats
Quick squats will help you strengthen your joints while minimizing the risk of injury, unlike jumping jacks. Not to mention, they will give you the cardio you need.
Why not combine all these dangerous exercises?
If you're self-destructive but don't want to join CrossFit, why not join the Cardio Boot Camp?
Currently, this community is gaining popularity as a form of group training. And it was "Cardio Boot Camp" that combined in its training program all the most dangerous exercises that we talked about above.
Every weekend in city parks, unskilled trainers drill their unfortunate wards under the auspices of the "Cardio Boot Camp". Of course, they have some kind of special program of their own and rather funny ways to exhaust their wards by forcing them to perform all these non-functional and dangerous exercises, but the question remains open - will all these exercises and training lead to anything other than self-affirmation and new injuries?
My personal opinion is that a great alternative to the Cardio Boot Camp program would be to stay at home on a Saturday morning and drink coffee with a decent portion of whipped cream, so at least your spinal discs would remain intact.
Conclusion
Remember, proper training must comply with three rules, without following them you are just wasting your time, money, energy and health:
Rules:>
1. Training should bring you some positive results.
2. Exercises for training should be chosen so that you can do them in the long term.
3. Training should not harm your health.
When analyzing any exercise that is new to you, think about whether it will harm your health.
Squats are one of the most popular exercises in the world. They help to qualitatively work out the muscles and model the figure. In addition, their positive impact on health is known. The benefits of squats for men are not limited to just one direction. Consider what will give us the regular implementation of these exercises.
Any physical activity should be beneficial, and the answer to the question of whether squats are good for men is definitely yes. There are many types of this exercise, but they all allow the stronger sex to gain a beautiful muscle relief, elastic hips. Squats can be performed under their own weight, and with weights in the form of dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells. The benefits of squats for men are as follows:
- They increase circulation in the pelvic area, which improves microcirculation in all tissues of this area. As a result, the skin retains its tone and elasticity.
- Squats allow work out muscles the press and back, they have a beneficial effect on posture.
- The benefits of squats for men with their weight are great for the heart and blood vessels, since this is a full-fledged cardio load.
- Muscles are strengthened, coordination of movements improves.
- Squats have a beneficial effect on metabolism, which is why excess fat is burned faster, but the muscles build up perfectly. Squats are great for building muscle mass.
- The muscles of the press during squats work no worse than during twists, so the stomach of the stronger sex, who regularly squat, will always be toned and embossed.
- Squats help to develop the knee, hip and ankle joints, so they work better, and the risk of injury during power loads is much lower.
- The advantage of squats is that you can do them anywhere and anytime. Such training does not require additional costs and the availability of special equipment.
Such a simple exercise helps to work out a large number of important muscles for us. These are the muscles of the legs and buttocks, as well as the back and the press. Exist different squat techniques, which can increase the load on a particular muscle group.
Squats have a beneficial effect on all organs and systems of the body, they help increase overall endurance, strengthen the circulatory system and maintain its normal functioning, help to work out the tendons and joints.
The benefits of squats for potency are also quite high. They improve blood circulation in the pelvic organs, including the genitals. Squats prevent stagnation of blood in the pelvic organs, and this is an excellent prevention of impotence. Regular performance of these exercises helps to increase the level of the male hormone testosterone, which has a beneficial effect on potency.
The results from squats will only be positive if you exercise regularly and follow the correct exercise technique. A constant load helps to strengthen the cardiovascular system, improve metabolism.
Even such a useful exercise as squatting can have contraindications. These include problems with the spine, such as hernia, sciatica, and so on, varicose veins, diseases of the heart and blood vessels, problems with the knee or ankle joints. In these cases, you need to consult with a specialist who must decide whether squats can be performed specifically in your case. Be sure to consider his recommendations, since the benefits and harms of squats for men in each case may differ.
How to do squats for a man
The benefits of squats for men's health, as we already know, are quite high. The exercise is very popular, and today there are many different techniques for its implementation. Let's describe some of them. The standard well-known option suggests that you need to stand up straight, put your feet shoulder-width apart, draw in your stomach to tension and slightly bend your knees, take a deep breath. Squat low, stay in this position for 10 seconds. You need to rise on the exhale. Keep your back straight, do not take your feet off the floor. It is recommended to do five sets of ten times.
You can also put your hands on your hips, cross your legs so that one is in front of the other. Stand on your toes with your back foot. Inhale, lunge forward. The bend angle must be straight. Keep your back foot still in the toe, put your front foot on the floor with your whole foot. To strengthen the muscles of the buttocks, perform this exercise regularly at least 15 times.
You can do a squat, the benefits of which are very great for men, while inhaling, bending your legs at a right angle at the knees and pulling your pelvis back from its original position, with your hands on your belt. Feet should be placed shoulder width apart. The toes should point out. You can also put your feet together. Lower your hands freely.
You can complicate the task if you grab a chair with your hand and lift the slightly bent leg that is further away from it. Bend your supporting leg while inhaling so that the angle is right. The other leg is fully extended forward or backward in various variations. After exhaling, return to the starting position and repeat the exercise for the other leg. This will help strengthen your legs and lower back. Another option is to squat on the inhale to 90 degrees, while exhaling, jumping up, while keeping your legs straight. Then squat again.
Squats "with a step" have a good effect on the cardiovascular system and respiratory organs. You need to put your legs together, then take a step to the side and sit down, as you exhale, return to the starting position. Take a step again and sit down, already in the other direction.
When doing squats, be mindful of your hands. They help us keep balance and can increase the load. For example, you can stretch your arms in front of you, bend them slightly and join them in a lock. This will allow you to create a balance. If you place your hands on your belt, then muscles will come into play that will help stabilize the load. You can also cross your arms on your shoulders, lay them behind your head, spreading your elbows to the sides. In order to activate the muscles in the upper shoulder girdle, the arms must be extended upwards.
By doing up to a hundred sit-ups, you can burn more than 200 calories and become stronger and more resilient. Please note that it is recommended to squat without excessive haste and sudden movements, smoothly. To prevent overload, especially if you are a beginner, take breaks between sets.
Weighted squats
Bodyweight squats, whose benefits for men are discussed above, are not all that can be limited. Men whose goal is to increase muscle volume often practice deep squats with a barbell. They are also good for health and for the figure, but only if they are performed correctly. So, it is important to choose the right height of the racks. It is recommended to squat under the outfit, and when removing it on your toes, do not stand up, as you can get injured or sprained. Before the barbell is removed from the hooks, position your hands correctly, bar on your shoulders. Performing a classic grip, place the bar clearly on the trapezius muscle. Hands without a bar are slightly bent at the knees, raised, as for a grip, then noticeable tubercles protrude on the back, where the neck should be.
The American variation suggests that the neck can be located much lower. The bar should be placed on the dimples on the shoulder blades. In this case, the position of the body should be such that we can minimize the risk of injury. To do this, take the barbell as narrowly as possible, pull your shoulders and shoulder blades back, and push your chest forward as much as possible.
Displace weight on heels and not on socks. Squat smoothly and slowly, but you can get up on the exhale quickly enough. The back should be straight. Put your feet either slightly wider than your shoulders, slightly turning your socks outward (classic setting) or significantly wider than your shoulders, and with a stronger turn (American technique). Before you start doing barbell exercises, make sure you don't have knee problems.
Barbell squats are considered quite difficult. They use almost all the muscles, which is why many mistakes are possible. For example, this extension of the legs is not completely when they are straightened, trembling in the knees or their reduction, hanging in the lower position, sitting down too fast and slowly getting up, separation of the heels from the support surface. The most dangerous mistake is the rounding of the lower back, as this can provoke spinal injuries. Also, do not lower your head - this also negatively affects the spine.
Squats help us develop strength, gain muscle mass, develop joints and strengthen knee tendons, and burn extra calories. You can alternate different types of squats to increase the load on certain muscles. In addition, the answer to the question of why squats are useful for men concerns potency, which is extremely significant for every member of the stronger sex. It is important to follow the correct technique, remember about contraindications and safety rules, and exercise regularly. Exercise does not require a lot of time and effort, but, knowing the benefits of squats for men, we can conclude that they will justify themselves.
Video instruction on squats for men
Bodyweight training is the most effective and affordable way to develop strength and endurance. If desired, such exercises can be performed almost anywhere, which means there are no strict frameworks that involve visiting the gym at a certain time, which may not always be convenient due to work or study schedules. In addition, bodyweight exercises are the safest, because the goal of such training is not to achieve significant strength results, as in heavy movements with a barbell, dumbbells or on simulators, but to strengthen all muscle groups with the development of their strength and athletic appearance.
Here are the top 5 bodyweight exercises:
Pushups. While effectively developing the shoulder girdle, pecs, and triceps, push-ups are also great for strengthening core stabilizing muscles such as the abs and lower back. Different variations of push-ups allow you to focus on specific tasks. For example, if you do push-ups in the usual mode, consisting of 4 sets of 15-30 repetitions each, then the basic development of the chest, shoulder girdle, triceps and muscles of the core (cortex) is stimulated. But if you combine the performance of three different types of push-ups: with a wide setting of hands, with medium and narrow hands into one triset or superset (two types are combined), then the intensity of such training will increase significantly and the impact, in addition to physical indicators, will already spread to the fat-burning effect and the promotion of metabolism, more about it here. Naturally, when combining different options, the number of repetitions in each of them is reduced in order to normally perform the entire triset.
During push-ups, the back is kept completely straight.
Bodyweight Squats. Exercise to develop leg strength, endurance and strengthen the cardiovascular system. Bodyweight squats are a great alternative to all kinds of leg exercises. This simple and very effective movement works best if you squat with full amplitude, that is, sit as deep as possible. The pace of movement should not be too fast or too slow. Repetitions are performed at an average speed without stopping at the top or bottom points of the amplitude. Squat - inhale, rise - exhale. The number of repetitions and sets each chooses according to well-being. It is better to use the principle of progression and start with small results, trying to find your rhythm and remember the technique of movement. Gradually, as strength and endurance increase, the number of repetitions and sets increases. For a change, you can sometimes supplement regular squats with jumps at the moment of lifting from the squat, which will significantly complicate the set and make it much more intense.
Pull-ups. An excellent basic exercise that develops the latissimus dorsi and biceps. If you regularly perform pull-ups from childhood, then this, as a rule, affects the formation of a wider shoulder girdle and an increase in height. To increase the effectiveness of pull-ups, they can be done with three different grips in turn. For example, start with a wide grip, then, after resting for 60-90 seconds, continue with a medium grip, and perform the third approach with a narrow grip with palms facing you. To enhance the study of muscles at the end of each approach, you need to linger at the top point for 5-10 seconds.
Bulgarian split squats. This type of squat is difficult and requires enough leg strength to complete at least 6 reps with each leg, as there is little point in doing too few reps. Therefore, before embarking on Bulgarian lunges, it is important to develop the basic strength of the legs and consolidate the technique of performing regular squats. Due to the fact that each leg is worked out alternately here, the exercise belongs to the category of those movements that can eliminate the imbalance in the development of individual muscle groups, in this case the quadriceps of the right or left leg. Ideally, the number of repetitions should be at least 8-10, you can squat both with your own body weight and with a little extra. Lunges load the knees, so heavy weight is contraindicated here. In addition to targeting the quads, Bulgarian split squats strengthen the buttocks and lower back, as well as improve posture and coordination.
Abs roller exercise. This, in fact, is a more advanced modification of the “bar”, except that in the “bar” the position of the body remains motionless for a certain time, and here, due to the roller, movements are made - rolling out (roller away from you) and twisting (roller towards you). Exercise with a roller has an extremely powerful effect on the abdominal muscles and lower back, so a thorough warm-up is necessary before performing them directly. To begin with, it is better to do rolling out from the knees, and when the strength of the press and lower back increase, then gradually move on to rolling out from the starting position while standing on straight legs.
Bodyweight exercises for weight gain and weight loss
I remember very well the moment when I was surprised to notice that my triceps had grown. In the early 90s, with the wave of Jean-Claude van Dam movies flooding the video parlor screens, I started training at home. For some reason, it seemed to me that doing exercises with my own weight, just like him, Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris, I could quickly build muscle. It was later that I learned that Jean-Claude-Camille-Francois Van Varenberg (that's what his full name sounds like) was the owner of a gym in Brussels, in which he actively lifted the barbell.
I began to join the world of muscle mass, training at home, doing the exercises that came to mind. body weight exercises. One of them was the reverse push-ups from the windowsill to the triceps (I don’t remember why exactly from the windowsill). And what was my surprise when, after a couple of months, I noticed that muscle bumps appeared on my arms. These were the medial (middle) bundles of the triceps, which responded with growth to push-ups from the windowsill.
So I know for sure: bodyweight exercises for mass gain work! True, arms of 50 cm and legs of 80 cm cannot be pumped up with them, this requires a load of a completely different type. But even if you dream of a career as a professional bodybuilder and at night you dream of a Sandow figurine, learning how to perform exercises with your weight will not be superfluous at all. And that's why…
Bodyweight exercises as a warm-up
Watching newcomers in the sports club, I never cease to be surprised. It would seem that with the existing abundance of magazines, videos, everyone knows that a proper warm-up is a guarantee of quality training and protection from injuries.
But it was not there. Many visitors, upon entering the gym, immediately sit down on a Roman chair and begin to pump the press. And then they complain that they do not have squats with a barbell, or vertical presses, because they feel severe discomfort when doing these exercises in the solar plexus area.
Starting your warm-up with ab exercises is a great way to ruin your workout.
And this is not surprising - in the central part of the body there are many large nerve nodes, overloading which, we turn the rest of the workout into a waste of time and money.
In addition, most abdominal exercises are not as simple and harmless as they seem at first glance, because in addition to the front of the body, they also actively overload the lumbar region. Read the whole truth about ab training in my article, but for now, let's get right back to the basics of a proper warm-up.
The essence of the warm-up can be summed up in one word: warm-up. Muscles, as well as the whole body as a whole, need to be warmed up and prepared for physical activity. You need to start the warm-up by spending 4-5 minutes on a treadmill or on another cardio machine, doing the exercise at an average pace until a light perspiration appears.
Then you need to perform a set of movements to warm up the joints and move on to exercises with your own weight. Depending on the level of training and experience, you can use any, even the most movements, but I prefer the two most simple ones:
- Push-ups from the floor (as an option for women, push-ups from the bench)
- Deep squat with wide stance
Push-ups perfectly warm up and prepare the upper body for the load, and squats, the lower body. But only you need to perform these exercises not in strength, but in a light warm-up style. I suggest watching a video showing an almost perfect warm-up before starting a workout in the gym
warm up video:
Conclusion: bodyweight exercises are the easiest and most effective way to warm up and prepare your muscles for training in the gym.
Bodyweight exercises to gain mass
From the point of view of physiology, training with your own weight, in terms of the degree of impact on the muscles, is no different from training with a barbell or dumbbells. In 2011 in the USA, studies were conducted with the participation of American football players, which compared the body's hormonal response to exercises performed without weight and basic movements with a barbell.
The results of the experiment showed that rope exercises and burpees (a complex exercise from CrossFit that includes push-ups from the floor, squats and jumping out of the squat) cause a stronger increase in hormones (in particular,) than deadlifts and squats. True, and more short-lived.
The research set itself the goal of answering the question: is it possible, without using basic exercises that strengthen the joints of the players, to increase strength and mass with the help of another load?
Yes, answered the men in white coats, you just need to turn the load with your weight from light, comfortable, into stressful and heavy. In other words, at exercises with your own weight for mass must be performed according to the same principles as regular exercises with free weights. Here are five of the most important ones:
TIME | The greatest number of muscle fibers is switched on only from the 40th second of the exercise. When performing exercises with the weight of your body, the length of the time interval serves as a measure of their effectiveness. If in the formula there are 4 sets of 20 push-ups, the second parameter is replaced by 40 seconds, the result will be higher.
LOAD PROGRESSION | This factor directly echoes the previous one, since the stress factor is the basis of muscle mass growth. This can be achieved in several ways:
- constantly raise the number of repetitions in the approach;
- slow down the pace of movement;
- reduce rest time between sets:
- use additional weights (vests, backpacks)
UNILATERAL VERSIONS OF EXERCISES | Squats on one leg, push-ups or pull-ups on one arm - these movements are more likely from the arsenal of circus artists. However, each of them has its own light version, which can be done by an ordinary visitor to the gym. But the return on exercises performed with only one limb will be simply colossal, as it will force the body to work to the limit of its capabilities.
PAUSE | An eccentric delay of 4-5 seconds during an exercise with your own weight per mass is the strongest stimulus for hypertrophy of muscle fibers. In addition, such an isometric load has a beneficial effect on the growth of strength and endurance.
NEGATIVE PHASE | The negative phase of the movement includes a larger muscle array than the positive one - this is an axiom. It was the negative movements that formed the basis of the so-called "Colorado experiment", the result of which was. Exercises performed with your own weight, but only in the negative phase (lowering on the horizontal bar, on the uneven bars, even simple push-ups) give muscle mass growth no worse than exercises with a barbell.
And here I will insert my 5 cents. Recommendations like these look great on paper, but don't think they're right for everyone. It should be borne in mind that scientists compiled them for well-trained professional American football players, whose average age is 22-28 years. Therefore, the advice of American researchers needs to be adapted to your level of training.
Conclusion: training with your body for mass is by no means an easy walk, but really hard work with extreme mental concentration.
Exercise with your weightfor weight loss
There were times when it was believed that a morning run is the best type of exercise for getting rid of excess weight. But people who believe in such a delusion are now as hard to find as muscle mass in marathon runners. Everyone who really wants to lose weight knows that the most powerful and natural fat burner is our muscles.
The more of them on the body, the higher the consumption of calories and the faster the metabolism. To lose weight quickly, you need to perform the most difficult exercises aimed at increasing muscle mass: squats, bench presses and deadlifts. But does this mean that bodyweight exercises for weight loss are useless?
Fortunately, this is not the case. Yes, stepping on a support is inferior in effectiveness to barbell squats, both in stimulating muscle growth and in losing weight. But, the implementation of such exercises has one indisputable advantage - they can be performed at home. The efficiency of loading with your own weight can be improved by following 4 rules:
- Use compound exercises. The more complex the movement, the more energy-intensive it is. From this point of view, burpee is the best bodyweight exercise for weight loss, because it combines three movements at once, performed without interruption.
- Choose movements for large muscle groups. Leg exercises (lunges, squats, step-ups) are more effective for weight loss because they burn more calories than arm exercises. Do not forget that fat is oxidized in the presence of oxygen. From this point of view, leg exercises also have advantages over other body weight exercises for weight loss, as they activate the respiratory process.
- Do a large amount of work. As much as we would not like, but the fat begins to oxidize far from immediately. The first 40-45 minutes as fuel, the body uses glycogen (fuel for our muscles, obtained from food). That is, a short workout with your weight for weight loss will be useful only as a mobile physical activity, but for burning fat it will be ineffective. The problem can be solved by approaching it from two sides. First, use as a power scheme. And secondly, increase the training time to 50-60 minutes.
- Increase your training stress. Stress is not always bad. And for getting rid of excess fat, it’s generally wonderful. Any unexpected and strong irritant (stress) causes an increase in the level of the hormone adrenaline in our body, which helps to accelerate fat metabolism. Effective bodyweight training for weight loss should include exercises for different muscle groups performed without interruption. Squats combined in a complex with jumping on a support and with push-ups from the floor will be more stressful than doing exercises for only one muscle group.
If, however, to perform exercises with your own weight for weight loss, add jumping rope or movements with a rubber shock absorber, the fat will begin to burn even faster.
Conclusion: barbell exercises give a faster and more stable result for weight loss, but training with your own weight for can be done in the comfort of your own home.
Now that I've covered the top benefits of bodyweight exercise for mass gain and loss, let's jump right into the list of the most effective movements for each muscle group:
Bodyweight exercises for the back
The high performance of bodyweight loading for this muscle group is that pull-ups are the easiest and best way to create a wide back. In addition, there are quite a few types of pull-ups, and you can always choose the most suitable one for yourself.
bodyweight exercises video 1
Bodyweight chest exercises
Among the bodyweight exercises for gaining pectoral muscle mass, push-ups on the uneven bars with a wide grip are in the first place. But various options for push-ups from the floor can compete with exercises with a barbell only if they are performed with additional weighting.
But for shaping the chest and working out its individual details, exercises with its own weight fit very well. And again, there are a great many options for push-ups.
bodyweight exercises video 2
Bodyweight exercises for legs
The bar was, is and will be the best projectile for building large quadriceps. However, there are many ways to thoroughly load the muscles of the legs by doing exercises with your weight at home.
bodyweight exercises video 3
Bodyweight exercises for triceps
There are not many exercises performed with your own weight for triceps, but they are very simple and quite effective:
- Push-ups on the uneven bars with a narrow setting of hands
- Push-ups from the floor with narrow arms
- Reverse push-ups from the bench
I love the last exercise with tender and reverent love, because it was with him that the growth of the muscle mass of my arms began. But unlike the usual bench reverse push-up technique, in which the weight of the body shifts down and forward, I do the opposite, lean my whole body back to activate the direct load on the triceps.
This is far from the only exercise for the triceps brachii that can be performed at home. I talked about this in more detail in my article, I highly recommend reading it.
Exercises with your weight for biceps
The best bodyweight exercise for the biceps is the narrow back grip pull-up. All the same, world-famous fitness gurus have identified this exercise as the best movement for gaining muscle mass in the biceps.
But if you don’t have a horizontal bar at home, you can try doing unusual, but quite effective exercises with your weight to build big biceps.
bodyweight exercises video 4
Shoulder Bodyweight Exercises
At home, and even with your weight, it is difficult to pump up your shoulders, but you can. True, for this you will need to master the technique of very unusual exercises with your own weight for the development of the deltoid muscles.
exercise with your weight video 5
Exercises with your own weight for the press
But this muscle group is quite easy to train with your weight. The best exercise for gaining muscle mass is the “prayer”, performed while kneeling in front of a high block. But, as practice shows, many athletes have become owners of really beautiful abdominal muscles by doing exercises with their own weight.
bodyweight exercises video 6
Conclusion: if you wish, you can become the owner of a sporty, toned body by doing workouts with your weight at home, since there are quite a few options for these exercises.
Conclusion
What conclusions can be drawn from everything read and seen:
# 1. Training with your weight for mass and for weight loss will always lose in terms of its effectiveness to exercises with free weights.
# 2. Not all people dream of huge muscle mass. For women or for people in adulthood, health and a toned figure are much more important than 50 cm biceps. And for them, exercises with their own weight are just perfect.
# 3. Bodyweight training helps to maintain existing muscle volume in good shape in between visits to the gym. And for those who prefer to train at home, bodyweight exercises are the easiest and most affordable form of physical activity.
I hope my story about weight training will be useful for you and will allow you to gain muscle mass or lose weight at home. May the force be with you. And mass!
