Bodyweight exercises can be done for effective resistance training that tones the body, burns calories, and builds lean muscle tissue. Bodyweight exercises are versatile because you don’t need any other equipment to work out – you already have it with you! Here are some bodyweight exercises that you can do at home to improve personal fitness and strength:
- Plank position. Plank holds are used by yoga instruction schools and by personal trainers to help build core strength and improve functional fitness. Your bodyweight adds the perfect amount of resistance, and you can do a variety of variations of the plank hold to accommodate your fitness level or to make it more challenging. A basic plank hold can help improve posture, overall wellness, and core strength. Holding a basic plank for a longer period of time also builds personal fitness. Start with a thirty second hold and work your way up to a minute long plank hold. For extra support, you can drop to your knees to help keep your back straight as you build your core muscle strength. For more advanced plank holds, you can do a side plank or add short forward movements to challenge your core. Doing plank holds every day has been linked to a tighter and toner midsection and has been used by sports coaches to improve sports performance.
- Push-Ups. Push-ups use your bodyweight as resistance training and help tone up your shoulders, biceps, and triceps, in addition to your core muscles. Keeping your back flat is important to make sure you maintain good form. Health coach schools and personal trainers can help demonstrate how to perform push-ups with proper form for maximum benefit. Health coach certification can be obtained online to help you learn more about bodyweight exercises that help tone the body and improve functional fitness training.
- Squats are bodyweight exercises that can be done to tone the lower half of the body. Squats use the larger leg muscles such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes. Squats can help build up lean muscle tissue around the knee joints that can help add protection and decrease the risk of injury protection when playing sports. Wellness coaching certification programs help us learn the many benefits that squats can provide us when working forward our personal fitness goals.
- Plyometric movements that involve jumping blend resistance training with cardio to provide an intense workout that blasts calories. Examples of plyometric exercises include jump squats, box jumps, and jumping jacks. All these use bodyweight for naturally added resistance in addition to getting in a great cardio workout.
- In addition to increasing flexibility, yoga exercises can also improve muscle tone. The bridge pose helps to improve muscle tone in the legs and glutes. The chair pose also helps to build lean muscle in the legs and glutes. The tree pose is a simple way to improve stability while improving core strength and functional fitness.
- Lunges are like squats in the sense that they work the lower leg muscles and help add protection to joints to reduce sports injury. Lunges also help to improve posture. Lunges can also be done in a variety of ways to work different muscles from different angles. Front lunges, back lunges and side lunges all help to build strength and stability while using your own bodyweight as resistance.
- Mountain climbers. Mountain climbers are done from a plank position and the exercise helps to improve core strength as well as the shoulders and triceps. Wellness certification programs hail mountain climbers for the increased core strength from the plank position and the intensity of multiple muscle groups used at the same time. Mountain climbers help to blast calories as well and provide a full body workout. Personal trainer software can help provide demonstrations of the proper technique as well as show you how to incorporate mountain climbers into your daily workout routine.
Bodyweight exercises are efficient in building lean muscle tissue, toning the body, blasting calories, improving stability and endurance, all without having to use any other additional equipment. Bodyweight exercises can be done at home or anywhere and be used as part of an effective workout plan in improving personal fitness. If you are new to fitness, a personal trainer can help you get started on your personal fitness journey. Bodyweight exercises can help improve the quality of your life as well as improve overall wellness. Try some bodyweight exercises today!
