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Stalwart weight lifters may shudder at the thought of trading in their barbells, weight plates, and dumbbells to pump out bodyweight exercises. Reps of air squats and push-ups won’t grant you a 500-pound back squat or increase your bench press. But bodyweight training (also known as calisthenics) has its perks — and, yes, even the iron-dedicated should heed what follows.
Foregoing free weights — for a few weeks or months — has a few key benefits. For one, bodyweight exercise is convenient. You need yourself and a floor to train effectively. You’ll train stabilizer muscles you often forget about and gain mastery over your weight (which is useful for athletes like rock climbers or Brazilian jiu-jitsu players.)
Credit: Viktor Hladchenko / Shutterstock
On the list below, you’ll find 16 of the best bodyweight exercises that don’t reinvent the wheel but stand on their own merit. You’re not being duped. These moves have survived the test of time for a reason — they’ll help you achieve the muscle and mobility you’re striving for.
16 Best Bodyweight Exercises
Push-Up
Squat
Inverted Row
Chin-Up
Glute Bridge
Bear Crawl
World’s Greatest Stretch
Burpee
Tricep Dip
Pull-Up
Plank
Wall Walk
Broad Jump
Lunge
Step-Up
Box Jump
1. Push-Up
The push-up is one of the most basic and effective moves for improving upper body strength. And it really couldn’t be easier to do. You get on all fours, keep your back straight, and repeatedly lower yourself down and up — working the chest, triceps, and shoulders. Your core will also benefit, as the push-up is a moving plank that stabilizes your entire body.
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The push-up is an exercise you can do anywhere with no equipment. It activates your core from front to back and strengthens your entire torso in the process.
How to Do It
Get into a plank position with your feet together and hands underneath your shoulders.
Keep the abs tight and your butt just slightly up.
Lower yourself under control until your chest is about an inch from the floor.
Hold for a beat, and then drive yourself back up.
Coach’s Tip: Keep your elbows directly atop your wrists the entire time.
Sets and Reps: Start simple with 3 sets of 10.
2. Squat
The squat is regarded as one of the best movements — loaded or unloaded — for improving mobility and taxing your legs. Some even refer to the squat as the king of all lifts. You should be squatting if you want to sprint faster, jump higher, lift heavier, and look better.
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You’ll improve mobility as the squat has your body move through multiple planes of motion to complete the exercise. Moreover, you stand to gain more leg muscle as the squat targets your glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, and hip flexors.
How to Do It
Stand tall with your feet in a comfortable stance. The width and toe angle is entirely individual, so take time to find out what your body feels best doing.
Extend your arms in front of your torso as a counterweight, then slowly sit your pelvis downwards.
Sink as deep as possible while keeping a straight back before standing back up.
Coach’s Tip: Fix your gaze on a stationary object or point several yards in front of you.
Sets and Reps: Try 3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions to build endurance.
3. Inverted Row
Think of an inverted row as pull-up lite. You’re pulling less of your body weight, so it’s easier to do for beginners while virtually recruiting the same muscles as a pull-up. The inverted row is technically a horizontal rowing movement, as your body is parallel to the floor, making it comparable to cable rows.
That said, it’s a lower impact than both of those moves since you’re not using weight to stress your muscles but are instead fighting gravity. Advanced trainees can bust out many reps to further tax their backs.
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The inverted row is helpful for both beginners who can’t pull up their entire body weight and advanced gym-goers who want to perform high-rep back movements. It’s also extremely low-impact, since you aren’t axially loading your spine.
How to Do It
Lay a barbell into the hooks of a power rack, and set a few feet off the ground.
Lay under the bar so the barbell is over the chest.
Extend your arms up and grab the bar.
Squeeze your shoulder blades together and row your chest to the bar or as close as possible.
Coach’s Tip: The bar should be set high enough that your butt and back hover above the floor.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3 sets of 8 and build from there.
4. Chin-Up
This pull-up variant has you supinate the hands (turn them inward) when pulling your chin to the bar. Like a pull-up, the chin-up recruits the back muscles — the lats, rhomboids, and traps — but with more emphasis on the biceps. Because of the extra biceps recruitment, most people are generally stronger in this position and can pump out a few extra reps.
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The chin-up teaches you to control your entire bodyweight, build a stronger (and broader) back, and even throws in some “free” biceps training as well. Economically, pull-up (or chin-up) bars are quite affordable for your home gym. But you can also get them done just about anywhere that has a stable surface to hang from.
How to Do It
Hang from a pull-up bar with your palms facing towards you, set about shoulder-width apart.
Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull up until your chin is at or above the bar.
Coach’s Tip: If you can’t do a chin-up yet, try jumping up to get into the top position, and hold yourself in that position for 10 seconds. Do this a few times, aiming to increase your hold time.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3 sets of 3-5 reps and add reps until you can do 10 or more before loading.
5. Glute Bridge
This exercise is popular among trainers to target the glutes while reducing potential back or knee pain. You can also load the glute bridge to increase your glute strength, which will carry over to your deadlift and squat, or perform sets of them unweighted as a warm-up. If you don’t have access to weights at home, you can make the glute bridge more challenging by performing it one leg at a time.
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The glute bridge allows you to train your glutes without directly loading your spine. Other benefits include substantial carryover to your squat or deadlift performance, without overly taxing your hamstrings in the process.
How to Do It
Lie on the floor with your heels planted firmly on the ground.
Contract the core and pull the belly button and ribs into the body.
Drive through your heels to lift the hips and lower back off the floor until your torso and legs form a straight line.
Coach’s Tip: If you feel too much pressure in your lower back, tuck your pelvis under your body to decrease lumbar extension (minimize lower back arch).
Sets and Reps: Go higher here with 2-3 sets of 12-20 repetitions.
6. Bear Crawl
Crawling isn’t just for babies. By getting on all fours and slowly crawling forward — keeping your back straight and your knees under your hips and an inch off the floor — you’re teaching the body how to move as one unit. Your core will burn from stabilizing the torso, your quads will engage from propelling your feet forward, and your shoulders will work hard to move your arms.
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Crawling forward one leg at a time will improve your coordination, and you stand (or crawl, that is) to gain some extra range of motion in your shoulder, hip, and ankles as well.
How to Do It
Get on all fours, with your hands underneath your shoulders and your knees directly underneath your hips.
Now, raise the knees an inch off of the ground.
Keeping your back straight, simultaneously move your right hand and left foot forward a few inches.
Then, repeat on the other side. Keep repeating to crawl on.
Coach’s Tip: You can also actively squeeze your muscles and hold in this position to perform a bear plank.
Sets and Reps: Try 2 to 3 rounds of crawls for up to 30 yards or 40 paces.
7. World’s Greatest Stretch
Mobility is just as important as mass or strength. The world’s greatest stretch improves mobility in three key areas — the hips, the shoulders, and the thoracic spine. It has you get into a deep lunge position, touch your elbow to the floor, and then reach up to engage your back and shoulder.
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You can (and probably should be) doing this before any workout — loaded or unloaded — as it’s essentially a one-stop-warm-up-shop. That said, you can expect this stretch to activate your back, legs, hips, shoulder, and core during your warm-up. You can also work this stretch into a general warm-up circuit.
How to Do It
Get into a lunge position so that your front foot is flat and your back foot is on the toes.
Lower the opposite arm of your extended leg to the floor and reach your other arm to the ceiling.
Hold for 10 seconds, then lower your arm to the same side as your front leg. Repeat on the other side.
Coach’s Tip: Take your time and focus on your breathing.
Sets and Reps: Try 4 rounds per side of 10-second holds.
8. Burpee
You may shudder at the word, but the burpee is the ultimate calorie burner. With several variations, the burpee can be great for beginners or challenge the fittest of athletes. This full-body exercise can be seen in gyms almost everywhere and is popular in the CrossFit Games because this high-intensity movement allows you to do more work in less time.
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Not only do burpees burn a ton of calories while performing them, but they’re also great at stimulating excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), meaning you’re burning more calories for the rest of the day. (1)
How to Do It
Stand straight up with your feet shoulder-width apart and your eyes forward.
Squat down with your chest up.
Drop your hands to the ground and quickly snap your feet behind you, so you are in a plank position.
Lower your chest to the floor like you would during a push-up and press back up.
Snap your feet back to your squat position and lift your hands off the ground.
Stand back up and jump, raising your arms overhead.
Coach’s Tip: Don’t try to jump as high as you can. It’s a hop, not a leap.
Sets and Reps: Try to do 50 burpees as fast as possible across as many sets as you need.
9. Triceps Dip
To build bigger arms, the triceps are the muscles to work. Not only can you achieve the desired aesthetic, but there are several benefits to exercising your triceps. Lifts like the bench press can benefit from solid triceps and can help improve your overall upper body strength and stability. Triceps dips in particular are great because they only require your body weight and can be done almost anywhere.
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The dip builds strength throughout your arms and shoulders, which should contribute toward other exercises like the bench press and overhead press. It also closely mimics the mechanics of other upper-body pressing exercises, doubling down on motor pattern practice.
How to Do It
Sit on the edge of an elevated surface like a chair or a bench and put your palms on the edge, fingers facing forward.
Extend your legs in front of you so your heels are on the ground.
Press through your palms and lift your body to hover above the ground.
Slowly drop your torso while bending your elbows until you reach the end of your range of motion. Push yourself back up until your arms are extended.
Coach’s Tip: Dips can be demanding on the shoulders at first, so take things nice and slow if you’re new to the exercise.
Sets and Reps: Go for 2 sets of up to 20 dips.
10. Pull-Up
The pull-up is one of the harder bodyweight exercises you can do because of the required upper body strength. Even though this exercise targets a big muscle like the lats, weak arms, and shoulders can seriously debilitate your ability to perform even one rep. Plenty of progressions are available to master the pull-up, making it possible for anyone to get their game up.
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Performing a compound exercise allows you to get more bang for your buck. Studies suggest compound exercises may benefit your VO2 max and general fitness more. (2) You can also expect the pull-up to improve your overall upper body strength, contributing to better lifts, stability, and posture.
How to Do It
Find a pull-up bar that is high enough so that your feet don’t touch the ground when you hang on it.
Grab the bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Pull your shoulders down and away from your ears to engage your lats.
Squeeze your core and use your back, arms, and shoulders to pull your body up until the bar is at chest level.
Coach’s Tip: When you initiate the pull-up, avoid swinging your legs back and forth.
Sets and Reps: Start simple with 3 sets of 5 and add reps as you’re able.
11. Plank
One of the more popular core exercises is the plank, but it doesn’t only work the core. Holding a plank can also target other major muscle groups in your body. If done properly, the plank can produce many benefits, including improved strength, stability, and posture in the trunk and hips.
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Benefits of the plank include a stronger core and more protected spine (as well as better posture). It goes without saying but a strong core is absolutely essential for compound exercises as well. The plank also has some logistical perks, since you can perform them basically anywhere regardless of your experience level.
How to Do It
Lie prone on the floor.
With your elbows bent, raise yourself off the ground such that you’re suspended by your forearms and feet only.
Squeeze your shoulder blades, tuck your hips slightly, and lock your knees out.
There should be a straight line from the base of your neck to your ankles. Hold for time.
Coach’s Tip: If you’re timing your sets, avoid looking at the clock and instead listen for an audio cue.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3 sets of 20 seconds and build until you can hold the plank for a minute.
12. Wall Walk
Climbing up walls isn’t just for Spider-Man. Wall walks recruit your back, arms, shoulders, and core and can help improve balance and stability. Often seen in CrossFit gyms and at the Games, wall walks are a high-intensity way to build strength and get your heart rate up. Performing wall walks can expose and remedy weaknesses in your movement integrity, especially in the core or shoulder.
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The wall plank is great for developing general upper body strength, and you can also use them as a progression pathway toward more complex drills like handstands, handstand walks and push-ups.
How to Do It
Lie on your stomach with your hands close to your sides and feet touching the wall behind you.
Press your body off the ground and climb your feet up the wall by stepping one foot at a time.
“Walk” all the way until your arms are fully extended and your belly button is as close to the wall as possible.
Walk back down the same way you came.
Coach’s Tip: Your hands should also move one at a time to support your movement up the wall.
Sets and Reps: Start easy with 3 sets of 3 walks.
13. Broad Jump
Plyometric training can produce benefits pertaining to physical fitness, overall health, and muscle strength. Research suggests that regular plyometrics can positively affect agility, speed, jumping, and overall performance. (3) Broad jumps involve jumping and absorbing force, increasing your heart rate and teaching your body how to land properly and effectively.
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Here are the benefits of the broad jump: It trains your body to mitigate ground forces, which can be helpful in exercises like the clean or snatch. Implementing cardio is important for improving overall performance and may reduce risks of heart disease. Finally, explosive exercises like the broad jump recruit fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are used for sprinting, jumping, and other short explosive movements. Studies suggest these muscles are more responsible for producing more power and may aid in heavy lifting. (4)
How to Do It
Start with your feet shoulder-width apart.
Push your hips back while loading the weight in your heels and swing your arms back to help prime for forward momentum.
Drive your hips forward as your feet leave the ground and jump as far forward as you can.
Land with a soft bend in your knees and absorb the weight in your heels.
Coach’s Tip: Stretch your legs out in front of you as you land to gain more distance.
Sets and Reps: Try 5 rounds of 5 explosive jumps.
14. Lunge
The lunge may get less love than the squat, but it is an effective way to target the legs and glutes. This unilateral exercise can improve your balance and stability and requires core activation. With plenty of different lunge variations —walking, forward, reverse, lateral, curtsy, and jumping — you can recruit other muscles, improve function, and add more variety to your workout.
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The lunge helps develop better balance and coordination, which translate into everyday activities. Lunges also provide some great glute stimulation, even without weights. Finally, unilateral exercises like the lunge can help improve muscle imbalances.
How to Do It
Stand with your feet hip width apart — this will help you keep a strong and stable base when you step.
Keep your chest up and core tight as you step straight forward, bending both knees to 90 degrees or to your range of motion.
Press through the heel you stepped with to reset in your starting position.
Coach’s Tip: Avoid letting your non-working knee touch the floor if possible.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3-4 rounds of 10 paces per leg.
15. Step-Up
The step-up might seem self-explanatory, but don’t let the simplicity of this exercise fool you. It requires strength and balance and is easily modifiable to accommodate any fitness level. The step-up recruits the muscles in the lower body — quads, hamstrings, and glutes — responsible for walking, running, bending your knees, hinging at your hips, and squatting. Doing this exercise regularly can help improve your lifts and your life.
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The step-up recruits some of the same muscle used to squat and deadlift, so it can improve these lifts. Unilateral exercises can also promote balance and stability and improve muscle imbalances.
How to Do It
Stand in front of a stable surface like a bench or a box.
Place your working leg on the elevated surface, brace your core, and push yourself up.
Coach’s Tip: Think of your non-working leg as a kickstand; its only purpose is to help you keep your balance.
Sets and Reps: Try 2 to 4 sets of 10 to 20 steps per leg.
16. Box Jump
The box jump is a plyometric exercise that uses your quads, hamstrings, calves, glutes, and explosive power to do exactly what the name calls for. Jumping high enough requires strength in the lower body, so you can use a shorter box if needed. However, a great aspect of the box jump is you can continue to challenge yourself by heightening the surface of which you jump onto.
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Here are the benefits of the box jump: It works as a warm-up for leg day, or as its own main movement if you opt to load it. It also strengthens just about every muscle in your lower body other than your hamstrings. Jumps also improve general athleticism.
How to Do It
Stand in front of a shin-to-knee height box with your feet shoulder-width apart.
Bend your knees and push your hips back to get ready to jump.
Push down through the floor with the quads to jump up onto the box.
Swing your arms forward as you leave the ground to create momentum.
Land on the box with your heels planted and a soft bend in your knees.
Coach’s Tip: Avoid stomping your feet on the box when you land.
Sets and Reps: Maximize your explosiveness with 5 sets of 3 jumps.
How to Train With Bodyweight Exercises
With weights, you progress by lifting more absolute load or the same amount of weight for more reps. You don’t have that option for bodyweight movements, so you’ll have to rely on additional volume above all. Start by finding how many reps you can do of a bodyweight exercise before your form really breaks down.
Exercise Selection
Don’t try to perform 16 different bodyweight movements per day. The rules of exercise selection are the same; cluster movements together to double down on muscular stimulation, or pick one for each body part to train yourself from head to toe. For example, a lower-body calisthenics day could contain squats, walking lunges, and box jumps.
Sets and Reps
Once you’ve established your limit, perform multiple sets of 3 – 5 reps shy of that limit. If you can do 12 pull-ups, hit three sets of eight.
Each week, or workout session, add one to two reps to each set. Once you reach your max reps for all three sets, drop the rep count back to your starting number and add a set. You can also alter the tempo of each movement to make the reps more challenging.
Benefits of Bodyweight Exercises
There’s a lot of upside to training with nothing but your own body. Here, we’ll breakdown all of the pros of utilizing the moves above, from the positive effects they have on your movement to the fact that they require nearly zero equipment.
Easy and Accessible
You might want a yoga mat to protect your knees or elbows, but other than that, bodyweight training requires basically no equipment. No matter where you are, you can always bust out a circuit of push-ups, squats, and glute bridges.
You can also get creative with how you structure a bodyweight workout at home. Try this deck of cards workout:
Assign one move to a suit — so push-ups for spades, squats for clubs, burpees for diamonds, and inverted rows for hearts.
Draw a card and perform the move associated with that suit for the number of reps on the card; or 11 reps for face cards and 15 for aces.
Aim to rest as little as possible. If you’re a bit rusty, cut the deck in half.
Improved Mobility
Most bodyweight moves mimic everyday life. You squat to get out of a chair; you lunge when you walk up the stairs; you technically perform a pull-up when closing the garage door. Most movement patterns can be broken down into six basic categories — a vertical pull, vertical push, horizontal pull, horizontal push, knee-based movement, and a hip-based movement. Here’s an example of each:
Horizontal push: push-up
Horizontal pull: inverted row
Vertical push: military press
Vertical pull: pull-up
Knee-based movement: squat
Hip-based movement: glute bridge
By performing bodyweight exercises, you’re improving your proficiency in these patterns and making yourself stronger in these positions. Barbell work accomplishes this as well, of course, but with the obvious caveat that you must have access to weights in the first place.
Unparalleled Convenience
Unlike powerlifters or strongman competitors who need specialized equipment for their training, bodyweight aficionados can go hard just about anywhere. Since you’re forgoing the barbell for your own body weight, calisthenics-based routines can be performed wherever you have enough physical space.
Credit: BLACKDAY / Shutterstock
This makes bodyweight training convenient in a way that other activities can’t match. If you spend a lot of time traveling or don’t have access to a commercial gym, a good bodyweight routine can help you stay strong and gain muscle.
Scalable for All Levels
You may think that squatting or doing a push-up with your bodyweight is the ground floor for all exercise, but that’s not the case. A true beginner can squat to a chair, hang from a pull-up bar to build their base, or elevate their hands for push-ups on the edge of a couch.
And when you eventually outgrow the basic variations above, there are ways to make bodyweight moves harder. Push-ups can be performed with one arm, squats can be turned into 1-1/2-rep squats, and you can elevate your legs for inverted rows.
More Bodyweight Training Tips
Now that you have a better understanding of the basics of bodyweight training and the best bodyweight exercises worth learning, read more about how to turn your body into the ultimate performance machine.
References
Podstawski, Robert, Markowski, Piotr, & Clark, Cain C. T. International Standards for the 3?Minute Burpee Test: High? Intensity Motor Performance. Journal of Human Kinetics. 2019; 69 doi: 10.2478/hukin-2019-0021
Paoli, Antonio, Gentil, Paulo, & Moro, Tatiana. Resistance Training with Single vs. Multi-joint Exercises at Equal Total Load Volume: Effects on Body Composition, Cardiorespiratory Fitness, and Muscle Strength. Frontiers in Physiology. 2017;8 doi: 10.3389/fphys.2017.01105
Slimani, Maamer, Chamari, Karim, & Miarka, Bianca. Effects of Plyometric Training on Physical Fitness in Team Sport Athletes: A Systematic Review. Journal of Human Kinetics. 2016; 53. doi: 10.1515/hukin-2016-0026
Karp, Jason R. MS. Muscle Fiber Types and Training. Strength and Conditioning Journal. 2001; 23(5).
Featured Image: LarsZ / Shutterstock
Stalwart weight lifters may shudder at the thought of trading in their barbells, weight plates, and dumbbells to pump out bodyweight exercises. Reps of air squats and push-ups won’t grant you a 500-pound back squat or increase your bench press. But bodyweight training (also known as calisthenics) has its perks — and, yes, even the iron-dedicated should heed what follows.
Foregoing free weights — for a few weeks or months — has a few key benefits. For one, bodyweight exercise is convenient. You need yourself and a floor to train effectively. You’ll train stabilizer muscles you often forget about and gain mastery over your weight (which is useful for athletes like rock climbers or Brazilian jiu-jitsu players.)
Credit: Viktor Hladchenko / Shutterstock
On the list below, you’ll find 16 of the best bodyweight exercises that don’t reinvent the wheel but stand on their own merit. You’re not being duped. These moves have survived the test of time for a reason — they’ll help you achieve the muscle and mobility you’re striving for.
16 Best Bodyweight Exercises
[*]Push-Up
[*]Squat
[*]Inverted Row
[*]Chin-Up
[*]Glute Bridge
[*]Bear Crawl
[*]World’s Greatest Stretch
[*]Burpee
[*]Tricep Dip
[*]Pull-Up
[*]Plank
[*]Wall Walk
[*]Broad Jump
[*]Lunge
[*]Step-Up
[*]Box Jump
1. Push-Up
The push-up is one of the most basic and effective moves for improving upper body strength. And it really couldn’t be easier to do. You get on all fours, keep your back straight, and repeatedly lower yourself down and up — working the chest, triceps, and shoulders. Your core will also benefit, as the push-up is a moving plank that stabilizes your entire body.
The push-up is an exercise you can do anywhere with no equipment. It activates your core from front to back and strengthens your entire torso in the process.
How to Do It
[*]Get into a plank position with your feet together and hands underneath your shoulders.
[*]Keep the abs tight and your butt just slightly up.
[*]Lower yourself under control until your chest is about an inch from the floor.
[*]Hold for a beat, and then drive yourself back up.
Coach’s Tip: Keep your elbows directly atop your wrists the entire time.
Sets and Reps: Start simple with 3 sets of 10.
2. Squat
The squat is regarded as one of the best movements — loaded or unloaded — for improving mobility and taxing your legs. Some even refer to the squat as the king of all lifts. You should be squatting if you want to sprint faster, jump higher, lift heavier, and look better.
You’ll improve mobility as the squat has your body move through multiple planes of motion to complete the exercise. Moreover, you stand to gain more leg muscle as the squat targets your glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, and hip flexors.
How to Do It
[*]Stand tall with your feet in a comfortable stance. The width and toe angle is entirely individual, so take time to find out what your body feels best doing.
[*]Extend your arms in front of your torso as a counterweight, then slowly sit your pelvis downwards.
[*]Sink as deep as possible while keeping a straight back before standing back up.
Coach’s Tip: Fix your gaze on a stationary object or point several yards in front of you.
Sets and Reps: Try 3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions to build endurance.
3. Inverted Row
Think of an inverted row as pull-up lite. You’re pulling less of your body weight, so it’s easier to do for beginners while virtually recruiting the same muscles as a pull-up. The inverted row is technically a horizontal rowing movement, as your body is parallel to the floor, making it comparable to cable rows.
That said, it’s a lower impact than both of those moves since you’re not using weight to stress your muscles but are instead fighting gravity. Advanced trainees can bust out many reps to further tax their backs.
The inverted row is helpful for both beginners who can’t pull up their entire body weight and advanced gym-goers who want to perform high-rep back movements. It’s also extremely low-impact, since you aren’t axially loading your spine.
How to Do It
[*]Lay a barbell into the hooks of a power rack, and set a few feet off the ground.
[*]Lay under the bar so the barbell is over the chest.
[*]Extend your arms up and grab the bar.
[*]Squeeze your shoulder blades together and row your chest to the bar or as close as possible.
Coach’s Tip: The bar should be set high enough that your butt and back hover above the floor.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3 sets of 8 and build from there.
4. Chin-Up
This pull-up variant has you supinate the hands (turn them inward) when pulling your chin to the bar. Like a pull-up, the chin-up recruits the back muscles — the lats, rhomboids, and traps — but with more emphasis on the biceps. Because of the extra biceps recruitment, most people are generally stronger in this position and can pump out a few extra reps.
The chin-up teaches you to control your entire bodyweight, build a stronger (and broader) back, and even throws in some “free” biceps training as well. Economically, pull-up (or chin-up) bars are quite affordable for your home gym. But you can also get them done just about anywhere that has a stable surface to hang from.
How to Do It
[*]Hang from a pull-up bar with your palms facing towards you, set about shoulder-width apart.
[*]Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull up until your chin is at or above the bar.
Coach’s Tip: If you can’t do a chin-up yet, try jumping up to get into the top position, and hold yourself in that position for 10 seconds. Do this a few times, aiming to increase your hold time.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3 sets of 3-5 reps and add reps until you can do 10 or more before loading.
5. Glute Bridge
This exercise is popular among trainers to target the glutes while reducing potential back or knee pain. You can also load the glute bridge to increase your glute strength, which will carry over to your deadlift and squat, or perform sets of them unweighted as a warm-up. If you don’t have access to weights at home, you can make the glute bridge more challenging by performing it one leg at a time.
The glute bridge allows you to train your glutes without directly loading your spine. Other benefits include substantial carryover to your squat or deadlift performance, without overly taxing your hamstrings in the process.
How to Do It
[*]Lie on the floor with your heels planted firmly on the ground.
[*]Contract the core and pull the belly button and ribs into the body.
[*]Drive through your heels to lift the hips and lower back off the floor until your torso and legs form a straight line.
Coach’s Tip: If you feel too much pressure in your lower back, tuck your pelvis under your body to decrease lumbar extension (minimize lower back arch).
Sets and Reps: Go higher here with 2-3 sets of 12-20 repetitions.
6. Bear Crawl
Crawling isn’t just for babies. By getting on all fours and slowly crawling forward — keeping your back straight and your knees under your hips and an inch off the floor — you’re teaching the body how to move as one unit. Your core will burn from stabilizing the torso, your quads will engage from propelling your feet forward, and your shoulders will work hard to move your arms.
Crawling forward one leg at a time will improve your coordination, and you stand (or crawl, that is) to gain some extra range of motion in your shoulder, hip, and ankles as well.
How to Do It
[*]Get on all fours, with your hands underneath your shoulders and your knees directly underneath your hips.
[*]Now, raise the knees an inch off of the ground.
[*]Keeping your back straight, simultaneously move your right hand and left foot forward a few inches.
[*]Then, repeat on the other side. Keep repeating to crawl on.
Coach’s Tip: You can also actively squeeze your muscles and hold in this position to perform a bear plank.
Sets and Reps: Try 2 to 3 rounds of crawls for up to 30 yards or 40 paces.
7. World’s Greatest Stretch
Mobility is just as important as mass or strength. The world’s greatest stretch improves mobility in three key areas — the hips, the shoulders, and the thoracic spine. It has you get into a deep lunge position, touch your elbow to the floor, and then reach up to engage your back and shoulder.
You can (and probably should be) doing this before any workout — loaded or unloaded — as it’s essentially a one-stop-warm-up-shop. That said, you can expect this stretch to activate your back, legs, hips, shoulder, and core during your warm-up. You can also work this stretch into a general warm-up circuit.
How to Do It
[*]Get into a lunge position so that your front foot is flat and your back foot is on the toes.
[*]Lower the opposite arm of your extended leg to the floor and reach your other arm to the ceiling.
[*]Hold for 10 seconds, then lower your arm to the same side as your front leg. Repeat on the other side.
Coach’s Tip: Take your time and focus on your breathing.
Sets and Reps: Try 4 rounds per side of 10-second holds.
8. Burpee
You may shudder at the word, but the burpee is the ultimate calorie burner. With several variations, the burpee can be great for beginners or challenge the fittest of athletes. This full-body exercise can be seen in gyms almost everywhere and is popular in the CrossFit Games because this high-intensity movement allows you to do more work in less time.
Not only do burpees burn a ton of calories while performing them, but they’re also great at stimulating excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), meaning you’re burning more calories for the rest of the day. (1)
How to Do It
[*]Stand straight up with your feet shoulder-width apart and your eyes forward.
[*]Squat down with your chest up.
[*]Drop your hands to the ground and quickly snap your feet behind you, so you are in a plank position.
[*]Lower your chest to the floor like you would during a push-up and press back up.
[*]Snap your feet back to your squat position and lift your hands off the ground.
[*]Stand back up and jump, raising your arms overhead.
Coach’s Tip: Don’t try to jump as high as you can. It’s a hop, not a leap.
Sets and Reps: Try to do 50 burpees as fast as possible across as many sets as you need.
9. Triceps Dip
To build bigger arms, the triceps are the muscles to work. Not only can you achieve the desired aesthetic, but there are several benefits to exercising your triceps. Lifts like the bench press can benefit from solid triceps and can help improve your overall upper body strength and stability. Triceps dips in particular are great because they only require your body weight and can be done almost anywhere.
The dip builds strength throughout your arms and shoulders, which should contribute toward other exercises like the bench press and overhead press. It also closely mimics the mechanics of other upper-body pressing exercises, doubling down on motor pattern practice.
How to Do It
[*]Sit on the edge of an elevated surface like a chair or a bench and put your palms on the edge, fingers facing forward.
[*]Extend your legs in front of you so your heels are on the ground.
[*]Press through your palms and lift your body to hover above the ground.
[*]Slowly drop your torso while bending your elbows until you reach the end of your range of motion. Push yourself back up until your arms are extended.
Coach’s Tip: Dips can be demanding on the shoulders at first, so take things nice and slow if you’re new to the exercise.
Sets and Reps: Go for 2 sets of up to 20 dips.
10. Pull-Up
The pull-up is one of the harder bodyweight exercises you can do because of the required upper body strength. Even though this exercise targets a big muscle like the lats, weak arms, and shoulders can seriously debilitate your ability to perform even one rep. Plenty of progressions are available to master the pull-up, making it possible for anyone to get their game up.
Performing a compound exercise allows you to get more bang for your buck. Studies suggest compound exercises may benefit your VO2 max and general fitness more. (2) You can also expect the pull-up to improve your overall upper body strength, contributing to better lifts, stability, and posture.
How to Do It
[*]Find a pull-up bar that is high enough so that your feet don’t touch the ground when you hang on it.
[*]Grab the bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
[*]Pull your shoulders down and away from your ears to engage your lats.
[*]Squeeze your core and use your back, arms, and shoulders to pull your body up until the bar is at chest level.
Coach’s Tip: When you initiate the pull-up, avoid swinging your legs back and forth.
Sets and Reps: Start simple with 3 sets of 5 and add reps as you’re able.
11. Plank
One of the more popular core exercises is the plank, but it doesn’t only work the core. Holding a plank can also target other major muscle groups in your body. If done properly, the plank can produce many benefits, including improved strength, stability, and posture in the trunk and hips.
Benefits of the plank include a stronger core and more protected spine (as well as better posture). It goes without saying but a strong core is absolutely essential for compound exercises as well. The plank also has some logistical perks, since you can perform them basically anywhere regardless of your experience level.
How to Do It
[*]Lie prone on the floor.
[*]With your elbows bent, raise yourself off the ground such that you’re suspended by your forearms and feet only.
[*]Squeeze your shoulder blades, tuck your hips slightly, and lock your knees out.
[*]There should be a straight line from the base of your neck to your ankles. Hold for time.
Coach’s Tip: If you’re timing your sets, avoid looking at the clock and instead listen for an audio cue.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3 sets of 20 seconds and build until you can hold the plank for a minute.
12. Wall Walk
Climbing up walls isn’t just for Spider-Man. Wall walks recruit your back, arms, shoulders, and core and can help improve balance and stability. Often seen in CrossFit gyms and at the Games, wall walks are a high-intensity way to build strength and get your heart rate up. Performing wall walks can expose and remedy weaknesses in your movement integrity, especially in the core or shoulder.
The wall plank is great for developing general upper body strength, and you can also use them as a progression pathway toward more complex drills like handstands, handstand walks and push-ups.
How to Do It
[*]Lie on your stomach with your hands close to your sides and feet touching the wall behind you.
[*]Press your body off the ground and climb your feet up the wall by stepping one foot at a time.
[*]“Walk” all the way until your arms are fully extended and your belly button is as close to the wall as possible.
[*]Walk back down the same way you came.
Coach’s Tip: Your hands should also move one at a time to support your movement up the wall.
Sets and Reps: Start easy with 3 sets of 3 walks.
13. Broad Jump
Plyometric training can produce benefits pertaining to physical fitness, overall health, and muscle strength. Research suggests that regular plyometrics can positively affect agility, speed, jumping, and overall performance. (3) Broad jumps involve jumping and absorbing force, increasing your heart rate and teaching your body how to land properly and effectively.
Here are the benefits of the broad jump: It trains your body to mitigate ground forces, which can be helpful in exercises like the clean or snatch. Implementing cardio is important for improving overall performance and may reduce risks of heart disease. Finally, explosive exercises like the broad jump recruit fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are used for sprinting, jumping, and other short explosive movements. Studies suggest these muscles are more responsible for producing more power and may aid in heavy lifting. (4)
How to Do It
[*]Start with your feet shoulder-width apart.
[*]Push your hips back while loading the weight in your heels and swing your arms back to help prime for forward momentum.
[*]Drive your hips forward as your feet leave the ground and jump as far forward as you can.
[*]Land with a soft bend in your knees and absorb the weight in your heels.
Coach’s Tip: Stretch your legs out in front of you as you land to gain more distance.
Sets and Reps: Try 5 rounds of 5 explosive jumps.
14. Lunge
The lunge may get less love than the squat, but it is an effective way to target the legs and glutes. This unilateral exercise can improve your balance and stability and requires core activation. With plenty of different lunge variations —walking, forward, reverse, lateral, curtsy, and jumping — you can recruit other muscles, improve function, and add more variety to your workout.
The lunge helps develop better balance and coordination, which translate into everyday activities. Lunges also provide some great glute stimulation, even without weights. Finally, unilateral exercises like the lunge can help improve muscle imbalances.
How to Do It
[*]Stand with your feet hip width apart — this will help you keep a strong and stable base when you step.
[*]Keep your chest up and core tight as you step straight forward, bending both knees to 90 degrees or to your range of motion.
[*]Press through the heel you stepped with to reset in your starting position.
Coach’s Tip: Avoid letting your non-working knee touch the floor if possible.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3-4 rounds of 10 paces per leg.
15. Step-Up
The step-up might seem self-explanatory, but don’t let the simplicity of this exercise fool you. It requires strength and balance and is easily modifiable to accommodate any fitness level. The step-up recruits the muscles in the lower body — quads, hamstrings, and glutes — responsible for walking, running, bending your knees, hinging at your hips, and squatting. Doing this exercise regularly can help improve your lifts and your life.
The step-up recruits some of the same muscle used to squat and deadlift, so it can improve these lifts. Unilateral exercises can also promote balance and stability and improve muscle imbalances.
How to Do It
[*]Stand in front of a stable surface like a bench or a box.
[*]Place your working leg on the elevated surface, brace your core, and push yourself up.
Coach’s Tip: Think of your non-working leg as a kickstand; its only purpose is to help you keep your balance.
Sets and Reps: Try 2 to 4 sets of 10 to 20 steps per leg.
16. Box Jump
The box jump is a plyometric exercise that uses your quads, hamstrings, calves, glutes, and explosive power to do exactly what the name calls for. Jumping high enough requires strength in the lower body, so you can use a shorter box if needed. However, a great aspect of the box jump is you can continue to challenge yourself by heightening the surface of which you jump onto.
Here are the benefits of the box jump: It works as a warm-up for leg day, or as its own main movement if you opt to load it. It also strengthens just about every muscle in your lower body other than your hamstrings. Jumps also improve general athleticism.
How to Do It
[*]Stand in front of a shin-to-knee height box with your feet shoulder-width apart.
[*]Bend your knees and push your hips back to get ready to jump.
[*]Push down through the floor with the quads to jump up onto the box.
[*]Swing your arms forward as you leave the ground to create momentum.
[*]Land on the box with your heels planted and a soft bend in your knees.
Coach’s Tip: Avoid stomping your feet on the box when you land.
Sets and Reps: Maximize your explosiveness with 5 sets of 3 jumps.
How to Train With Bodyweight Exercises
With weights, you progress by lifting more absolute load or the same amount of weight for more reps. You don’t have that option for bodyweight movements, so you’ll have to rely on additional volume above all. Start by finding how many reps you can do of a bodyweight exercise before your form really breaks down.
Exercise Selection
Don’t try to perform 16 different bodyweight movements per day. The rules of exercise selection are the same; cluster movements together to double down on muscular stimulation, or pick one for each body part to train yourself from head to toe. For example, a lower-body calisthenics day could contain squats, walking lunges, and box jumps.
Sets and Reps
Once you’ve established your limit, perform multiple sets of 3 – 5 reps shy of that limit. If you can do 12 pull-ups, hit three sets of eight.
Each week, or workout session, add one to two reps to each set. Once you reach your max reps for all three sets, drop the rep count back to your starting number and add a set. You can also alter the tempo of each movement to make the reps more challenging.
Benefits of Bodyweight Exercises
There’s a lot of upside to training with nothing but your own body. Here, we’ll breakdown all of the pros of utilizing the moves above, from the positive effects they have on your movement to the fact that they require nearly zero equipment.
Easy and Accessible
You might want a yoga mat to protect your knees or elbows, but other than that, bodyweight training requires basically no equipment. No matter where you are, you can always bust out a circuit of push-ups, squats, and glute bridges.
You can also get creative with how you structure a bodyweight workout at home. Try this deck of cards workout:
Most bodyweight moves mimic everyday life. You squat to get out of a chair; you lunge when you walk up the stairs; you technically perform a pull-up when closing the garage door. Most movement patterns can be broken down into six basic categories — a vertical pull, vertical push, horizontal pull, horizontal push, knee-based movement, and a hip-based movement. Here’s an example of each:
Unparalleled Convenience
Unlike powerlifters or strongman competitors who need specialized equipment for their training, bodyweight aficionados can go hard just about anywhere. Since you’re forgoing the barbell for your own body weight, calisthenics-based routines can be performed wherever you have enough physical space.
Credit: BLACKDAY / Shutterstock
This makes bodyweight training convenient in a way that other activities can’t match. If you spend a lot of time traveling or don’t have access to a commercial gym, a good bodyweight routine can help you stay strong and gain muscle.
Scalable for All Levels
You may think that squatting or doing a push-up with your bodyweight is the ground floor for all exercise, but that’s not the case. A true beginner can squat to a chair, hang from a pull-up bar to build their base, or elevate their hands for push-ups on the edge of a couch.
And when you eventually outgrow the basic variations above, there are ways to make bodyweight moves harder. Push-ups can be performed with one arm, squats can be turned into 1-1/2-rep squats, and you can elevate your legs for inverted rows.
More Bodyweight Training Tips
Now that you have a better understanding of the basics of bodyweight training and the best bodyweight exercises worth learning, read more about how to turn your body into the ultimate performance machine.
References
[*]Podstawski, Robert, Markowski, Piotr, & Clark, Cain C. T. International Standards for the 3?Minute Burpee Test: High? Intensity Motor Performance. Journal of Human Kinetics. 2019; 69 doi: 10.2478/hukin-2019-0021
[*]Paoli, Antonio, Gentil, Paulo, & Moro, Tatiana. Resistance Training with Single vs. Multi-joint Exercises at Equal Total Load Volume: Effects...
Click here to view the article.
Foregoing free weights — for a few weeks or months — has a few key benefits. For one, bodyweight exercise is convenient. You need yourself and a floor to train effectively. You’ll train stabilizer muscles you often forget about and gain mastery over your weight (which is useful for athletes like rock climbers or Brazilian jiu-jitsu players.)
Credit: Viktor Hladchenko / Shutterstock
On the list below, you’ll find 16 of the best bodyweight exercises that don’t reinvent the wheel but stand on their own merit. You’re not being duped. These moves have survived the test of time for a reason — they’ll help you achieve the muscle and mobility you’re striving for.
16 Best Bodyweight Exercises
Push-Up
Squat
Inverted Row
Chin-Up
Glute Bridge
Bear Crawl
World’s Greatest Stretch
Burpee
Tricep Dip
Pull-Up
Plank
Wall Walk
Broad Jump
Lunge
Step-Up
Box Jump
1. Push-Up
The push-up is one of the most basic and effective moves for improving upper body strength. And it really couldn’t be easier to do. You get on all fours, keep your back straight, and repeatedly lower yourself down and up — working the chest, triceps, and shoulders. Your core will also benefit, as the push-up is a moving plank that stabilizes your entire body.
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The push-up is an exercise you can do anywhere with no equipment. It activates your core from front to back and strengthens your entire torso in the process.
How to Do It
Get into a plank position with your feet together and hands underneath your shoulders.
Keep the abs tight and your butt just slightly up.
Lower yourself under control until your chest is about an inch from the floor.
Hold for a beat, and then drive yourself back up.
Coach’s Tip: Keep your elbows directly atop your wrists the entire time.
Sets and Reps: Start simple with 3 sets of 10.
2. Squat
The squat is regarded as one of the best movements — loaded or unloaded — for improving mobility and taxing your legs. Some even refer to the squat as the king of all lifts. You should be squatting if you want to sprint faster, jump higher, lift heavier, and look better.
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You’ll improve mobility as the squat has your body move through multiple planes of motion to complete the exercise. Moreover, you stand to gain more leg muscle as the squat targets your glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, and hip flexors.
How to Do It
Stand tall with your feet in a comfortable stance. The width and toe angle is entirely individual, so take time to find out what your body feels best doing.
Extend your arms in front of your torso as a counterweight, then slowly sit your pelvis downwards.
Sink as deep as possible while keeping a straight back before standing back up.
Coach’s Tip: Fix your gaze on a stationary object or point several yards in front of you.
Sets and Reps: Try 3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions to build endurance.
3. Inverted Row
Think of an inverted row as pull-up lite. You’re pulling less of your body weight, so it’s easier to do for beginners while virtually recruiting the same muscles as a pull-up. The inverted row is technically a horizontal rowing movement, as your body is parallel to the floor, making it comparable to cable rows.
That said, it’s a lower impact than both of those moves since you’re not using weight to stress your muscles but are instead fighting gravity. Advanced trainees can bust out many reps to further tax their backs.
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The inverted row is helpful for both beginners who can’t pull up their entire body weight and advanced gym-goers who want to perform high-rep back movements. It’s also extremely low-impact, since you aren’t axially loading your spine.
How to Do It
Lay a barbell into the hooks of a power rack, and set a few feet off the ground.
Lay under the bar so the barbell is over the chest.
Extend your arms up and grab the bar.
Squeeze your shoulder blades together and row your chest to the bar or as close as possible.
Coach’s Tip: The bar should be set high enough that your butt and back hover above the floor.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3 sets of 8 and build from there.
4. Chin-Up
This pull-up variant has you supinate the hands (turn them inward) when pulling your chin to the bar. Like a pull-up, the chin-up recruits the back muscles — the lats, rhomboids, and traps — but with more emphasis on the biceps. Because of the extra biceps recruitment, most people are generally stronger in this position and can pump out a few extra reps.
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The chin-up teaches you to control your entire bodyweight, build a stronger (and broader) back, and even throws in some “free” biceps training as well. Economically, pull-up (or chin-up) bars are quite affordable for your home gym. But you can also get them done just about anywhere that has a stable surface to hang from.
How to Do It
Hang from a pull-up bar with your palms facing towards you, set about shoulder-width apart.
Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull up until your chin is at or above the bar.
Coach’s Tip: If you can’t do a chin-up yet, try jumping up to get into the top position, and hold yourself in that position for 10 seconds. Do this a few times, aiming to increase your hold time.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3 sets of 3-5 reps and add reps until you can do 10 or more before loading.
5. Glute Bridge
This exercise is popular among trainers to target the glutes while reducing potential back or knee pain. You can also load the glute bridge to increase your glute strength, which will carry over to your deadlift and squat, or perform sets of them unweighted as a warm-up. If you don’t have access to weights at home, you can make the glute bridge more challenging by performing it one leg at a time.
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The glute bridge allows you to train your glutes without directly loading your spine. Other benefits include substantial carryover to your squat or deadlift performance, without overly taxing your hamstrings in the process.
How to Do It
Lie on the floor with your heels planted firmly on the ground.
Contract the core and pull the belly button and ribs into the body.
Drive through your heels to lift the hips and lower back off the floor until your torso and legs form a straight line.
Coach’s Tip: If you feel too much pressure in your lower back, tuck your pelvis under your body to decrease lumbar extension (minimize lower back arch).
Sets and Reps: Go higher here with 2-3 sets of 12-20 repetitions.
6. Bear Crawl
Crawling isn’t just for babies. By getting on all fours and slowly crawling forward — keeping your back straight and your knees under your hips and an inch off the floor — you’re teaching the body how to move as one unit. Your core will burn from stabilizing the torso, your quads will engage from propelling your feet forward, and your shoulders will work hard to move your arms.
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Crawling forward one leg at a time will improve your coordination, and you stand (or crawl, that is) to gain some extra range of motion in your shoulder, hip, and ankles as well.
How to Do It
Get on all fours, with your hands underneath your shoulders and your knees directly underneath your hips.
Now, raise the knees an inch off of the ground.
Keeping your back straight, simultaneously move your right hand and left foot forward a few inches.
Then, repeat on the other side. Keep repeating to crawl on.
Coach’s Tip: You can also actively squeeze your muscles and hold in this position to perform a bear plank.
Sets and Reps: Try 2 to 3 rounds of crawls for up to 30 yards or 40 paces.
7. World’s Greatest Stretch
Mobility is just as important as mass or strength. The world’s greatest stretch improves mobility in three key areas — the hips, the shoulders, and the thoracic spine. It has you get into a deep lunge position, touch your elbow to the floor, and then reach up to engage your back and shoulder.
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You can (and probably should be) doing this before any workout — loaded or unloaded — as it’s essentially a one-stop-warm-up-shop. That said, you can expect this stretch to activate your back, legs, hips, shoulder, and core during your warm-up. You can also work this stretch into a general warm-up circuit.
How to Do It
Get into a lunge position so that your front foot is flat and your back foot is on the toes.
Lower the opposite arm of your extended leg to the floor and reach your other arm to the ceiling.
Hold for 10 seconds, then lower your arm to the same side as your front leg. Repeat on the other side.
Coach’s Tip: Take your time and focus on your breathing.
Sets and Reps: Try 4 rounds per side of 10-second holds.
8. Burpee
You may shudder at the word, but the burpee is the ultimate calorie burner. With several variations, the burpee can be great for beginners or challenge the fittest of athletes. This full-body exercise can be seen in gyms almost everywhere and is popular in the CrossFit Games because this high-intensity movement allows you to do more work in less time.
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Not only do burpees burn a ton of calories while performing them, but they’re also great at stimulating excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), meaning you’re burning more calories for the rest of the day. (1)
How to Do It
Stand straight up with your feet shoulder-width apart and your eyes forward.
Squat down with your chest up.
Drop your hands to the ground and quickly snap your feet behind you, so you are in a plank position.
Lower your chest to the floor like you would during a push-up and press back up.
Snap your feet back to your squat position and lift your hands off the ground.
Stand back up and jump, raising your arms overhead.
Coach’s Tip: Don’t try to jump as high as you can. It’s a hop, not a leap.
Sets and Reps: Try to do 50 burpees as fast as possible across as many sets as you need.
9. Triceps Dip
To build bigger arms, the triceps are the muscles to work. Not only can you achieve the desired aesthetic, but there are several benefits to exercising your triceps. Lifts like the bench press can benefit from solid triceps and can help improve your overall upper body strength and stability. Triceps dips in particular are great because they only require your body weight and can be done almost anywhere.
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The dip builds strength throughout your arms and shoulders, which should contribute toward other exercises like the bench press and overhead press. It also closely mimics the mechanics of other upper-body pressing exercises, doubling down on motor pattern practice.
How to Do It
Sit on the edge of an elevated surface like a chair or a bench and put your palms on the edge, fingers facing forward.
Extend your legs in front of you so your heels are on the ground.
Press through your palms and lift your body to hover above the ground.
Slowly drop your torso while bending your elbows until you reach the end of your range of motion. Push yourself back up until your arms are extended.
Coach’s Tip: Dips can be demanding on the shoulders at first, so take things nice and slow if you’re new to the exercise.
Sets and Reps: Go for 2 sets of up to 20 dips.
10. Pull-Up
The pull-up is one of the harder bodyweight exercises you can do because of the required upper body strength. Even though this exercise targets a big muscle like the lats, weak arms, and shoulders can seriously debilitate your ability to perform even one rep. Plenty of progressions are available to master the pull-up, making it possible for anyone to get their game up.
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Performing a compound exercise allows you to get more bang for your buck. Studies suggest compound exercises may benefit your VO2 max and general fitness more. (2) You can also expect the pull-up to improve your overall upper body strength, contributing to better lifts, stability, and posture.
How to Do It
Find a pull-up bar that is high enough so that your feet don’t touch the ground when you hang on it.
Grab the bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Pull your shoulders down and away from your ears to engage your lats.
Squeeze your core and use your back, arms, and shoulders to pull your body up until the bar is at chest level.
Coach’s Tip: When you initiate the pull-up, avoid swinging your legs back and forth.
Sets and Reps: Start simple with 3 sets of 5 and add reps as you’re able.
11. Plank
One of the more popular core exercises is the plank, but it doesn’t only work the core. Holding a plank can also target other major muscle groups in your body. If done properly, the plank can produce many benefits, including improved strength, stability, and posture in the trunk and hips.
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Benefits of the plank include a stronger core and more protected spine (as well as better posture). It goes without saying but a strong core is absolutely essential for compound exercises as well. The plank also has some logistical perks, since you can perform them basically anywhere regardless of your experience level.
How to Do It
Lie prone on the floor.
With your elbows bent, raise yourself off the ground such that you’re suspended by your forearms and feet only.
Squeeze your shoulder blades, tuck your hips slightly, and lock your knees out.
There should be a straight line from the base of your neck to your ankles. Hold for time.
Coach’s Tip: If you’re timing your sets, avoid looking at the clock and instead listen for an audio cue.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3 sets of 20 seconds and build until you can hold the plank for a minute.
12. Wall Walk
Climbing up walls isn’t just for Spider-Man. Wall walks recruit your back, arms, shoulders, and core and can help improve balance and stability. Often seen in CrossFit gyms and at the Games, wall walks are a high-intensity way to build strength and get your heart rate up. Performing wall walks can expose and remedy weaknesses in your movement integrity, especially in the core or shoulder.
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The wall plank is great for developing general upper body strength, and you can also use them as a progression pathway toward more complex drills like handstands, handstand walks and push-ups.
How to Do It
Lie on your stomach with your hands close to your sides and feet touching the wall behind you.
Press your body off the ground and climb your feet up the wall by stepping one foot at a time.
“Walk” all the way until your arms are fully extended and your belly button is as close to the wall as possible.
Walk back down the same way you came.
Coach’s Tip: Your hands should also move one at a time to support your movement up the wall.
Sets and Reps: Start easy with 3 sets of 3 walks.
13. Broad Jump
Plyometric training can produce benefits pertaining to physical fitness, overall health, and muscle strength. Research suggests that regular plyometrics can positively affect agility, speed, jumping, and overall performance. (3) Broad jumps involve jumping and absorbing force, increasing your heart rate and teaching your body how to land properly and effectively.
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Here are the benefits of the broad jump: It trains your body to mitigate ground forces, which can be helpful in exercises like the clean or snatch. Implementing cardio is important for improving overall performance and may reduce risks of heart disease. Finally, explosive exercises like the broad jump recruit fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are used for sprinting, jumping, and other short explosive movements. Studies suggest these muscles are more responsible for producing more power and may aid in heavy lifting. (4)
How to Do It
Start with your feet shoulder-width apart.
Push your hips back while loading the weight in your heels and swing your arms back to help prime for forward momentum.
Drive your hips forward as your feet leave the ground and jump as far forward as you can.
Land with a soft bend in your knees and absorb the weight in your heels.
Coach’s Tip: Stretch your legs out in front of you as you land to gain more distance.
Sets and Reps: Try 5 rounds of 5 explosive jumps.
14. Lunge
The lunge may get less love than the squat, but it is an effective way to target the legs and glutes. This unilateral exercise can improve your balance and stability and requires core activation. With plenty of different lunge variations —walking, forward, reverse, lateral, curtsy, and jumping — you can recruit other muscles, improve function, and add more variety to your workout.
[embedded content]
The lunge helps develop better balance and coordination, which translate into everyday activities. Lunges also provide some great glute stimulation, even without weights. Finally, unilateral exercises like the lunge can help improve muscle imbalances.
How to Do It
Stand with your feet hip width apart — this will help you keep a strong and stable base when you step.
Keep your chest up and core tight as you step straight forward, bending both knees to 90 degrees or to your range of motion.
Press through the heel you stepped with to reset in your starting position.
Coach’s Tip: Avoid letting your non-working knee touch the floor if possible.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3-4 rounds of 10 paces per leg.
15. Step-Up
The step-up might seem self-explanatory, but don’t let the simplicity of this exercise fool you. It requires strength and balance and is easily modifiable to accommodate any fitness level. The step-up recruits the muscles in the lower body — quads, hamstrings, and glutes — responsible for walking, running, bending your knees, hinging at your hips, and squatting. Doing this exercise regularly can help improve your lifts and your life.
[embedded content]
The step-up recruits some of the same muscle used to squat and deadlift, so it can improve these lifts. Unilateral exercises can also promote balance and stability and improve muscle imbalances.
How to Do It
Stand in front of a stable surface like a bench or a box.
Place your working leg on the elevated surface, brace your core, and push yourself up.
Coach’s Tip: Think of your non-working leg as a kickstand; its only purpose is to help you keep your balance.
Sets and Reps: Try 2 to 4 sets of 10 to 20 steps per leg.
16. Box Jump
The box jump is a plyometric exercise that uses your quads, hamstrings, calves, glutes, and explosive power to do exactly what the name calls for. Jumping high enough requires strength in the lower body, so you can use a shorter box if needed. However, a great aspect of the box jump is you can continue to challenge yourself by heightening the surface of which you jump onto.
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Here are the benefits of the box jump: It works as a warm-up for leg day, or as its own main movement if you opt to load it. It also strengthens just about every muscle in your lower body other than your hamstrings. Jumps also improve general athleticism.
How to Do It
Stand in front of a shin-to-knee height box with your feet shoulder-width apart.
Bend your knees and push your hips back to get ready to jump.
Push down through the floor with the quads to jump up onto the box.
Swing your arms forward as you leave the ground to create momentum.
Land on the box with your heels planted and a soft bend in your knees.
Coach’s Tip: Avoid stomping your feet on the box when you land.
Sets and Reps: Maximize your explosiveness with 5 sets of 3 jumps.
How to Train With Bodyweight Exercises
With weights, you progress by lifting more absolute load or the same amount of weight for more reps. You don’t have that option for bodyweight movements, so you’ll have to rely on additional volume above all. Start by finding how many reps you can do of a bodyweight exercise before your form really breaks down.
Exercise Selection
Don’t try to perform 16 different bodyweight movements per day. The rules of exercise selection are the same; cluster movements together to double down on muscular stimulation, or pick one for each body part to train yourself from head to toe. For example, a lower-body calisthenics day could contain squats, walking lunges, and box jumps.
Sets and Reps
Once you’ve established your limit, perform multiple sets of 3 – 5 reps shy of that limit. If you can do 12 pull-ups, hit three sets of eight.
Each week, or workout session, add one to two reps to each set. Once you reach your max reps for all three sets, drop the rep count back to your starting number and add a set. You can also alter the tempo of each movement to make the reps more challenging.
Benefits of Bodyweight Exercises
There’s a lot of upside to training with nothing but your own body. Here, we’ll breakdown all of the pros of utilizing the moves above, from the positive effects they have on your movement to the fact that they require nearly zero equipment.
Easy and Accessible
You might want a yoga mat to protect your knees or elbows, but other than that, bodyweight training requires basically no equipment. No matter where you are, you can always bust out a circuit of push-ups, squats, and glute bridges.
You can also get creative with how you structure a bodyweight workout at home. Try this deck of cards workout:
Assign one move to a suit — so push-ups for spades, squats for clubs, burpees for diamonds, and inverted rows for hearts.
Draw a card and perform the move associated with that suit for the number of reps on the card; or 11 reps for face cards and 15 for aces.
Aim to rest as little as possible. If you’re a bit rusty, cut the deck in half.
Improved Mobility
Most bodyweight moves mimic everyday life. You squat to get out of a chair; you lunge when you walk up the stairs; you technically perform a pull-up when closing the garage door. Most movement patterns can be broken down into six basic categories — a vertical pull, vertical push, horizontal pull, horizontal push, knee-based movement, and a hip-based movement. Here’s an example of each:
Horizontal push: push-up
Horizontal pull: inverted row
Vertical push: military press
Vertical pull: pull-up
Knee-based movement: squat
Hip-based movement: glute bridge
By performing bodyweight exercises, you’re improving your proficiency in these patterns and making yourself stronger in these positions. Barbell work accomplishes this as well, of course, but with the obvious caveat that you must have access to weights in the first place.
Unparalleled Convenience
Unlike powerlifters or strongman competitors who need specialized equipment for their training, bodyweight aficionados can go hard just about anywhere. Since you’re forgoing the barbell for your own body weight, calisthenics-based routines can be performed wherever you have enough physical space.
Credit: BLACKDAY / Shutterstock
This makes bodyweight training convenient in a way that other activities can’t match. If you spend a lot of time traveling or don’t have access to a commercial gym, a good bodyweight routine can help you stay strong and gain muscle.
Scalable for All Levels
You may think that squatting or doing a push-up with your bodyweight is the ground floor for all exercise, but that’s not the case. A true beginner can squat to a chair, hang from a pull-up bar to build their base, or elevate their hands for push-ups on the edge of a couch.
And when you eventually outgrow the basic variations above, there are ways to make bodyweight moves harder. Push-ups can be performed with one arm, squats can be turned into 1-1/2-rep squats, and you can elevate your legs for inverted rows.
More Bodyweight Training Tips
Now that you have a better understanding of the basics of bodyweight training and the best bodyweight exercises worth learning, read more about how to turn your body into the ultimate performance machine.
References
Podstawski, Robert, Markowski, Piotr, & Clark, Cain C. T. International Standards for the 3?Minute Burpee Test: High? Intensity Motor Performance. Journal of Human Kinetics. 2019; 69 doi: 10.2478/hukin-2019-0021
Paoli, Antonio, Gentil, Paulo, & Moro, Tatiana. Resistance Training with Single vs. Multi-joint Exercises at Equal Total Load Volume: Effects on Body Composition, Cardiorespiratory Fitness, and Muscle Strength. Frontiers in Physiology. 2017;8 doi: 10.3389/fphys.2017.01105
Slimani, Maamer, Chamari, Karim, & Miarka, Bianca. Effects of Plyometric Training on Physical Fitness in Team Sport Athletes: A Systematic Review. Journal of Human Kinetics. 2016; 53. doi: 10.1515/hukin-2016-0026
Karp, Jason R. MS. Muscle Fiber Types and Training. Strength and Conditioning Journal. 2001; 23(5).
Featured Image: LarsZ / Shutterstock
Stalwart weight lifters may shudder at the thought of trading in their barbells, weight plates, and dumbbells to pump out bodyweight exercises. Reps of air squats and push-ups won’t grant you a 500-pound back squat or increase your bench press. But bodyweight training (also known as calisthenics) has its perks — and, yes, even the iron-dedicated should heed what follows.
Foregoing free weights — for a few weeks or months — has a few key benefits. For one, bodyweight exercise is convenient. You need yourself and a floor to train effectively. You’ll train stabilizer muscles you often forget about and gain mastery over your weight (which is useful for athletes like rock climbers or Brazilian jiu-jitsu players.)
Credit: Viktor Hladchenko / Shutterstock
On the list below, you’ll find 16 of the best bodyweight exercises that don’t reinvent the wheel but stand on their own merit. You’re not being duped. These moves have survived the test of time for a reason — they’ll help you achieve the muscle and mobility you’re striving for.
16 Best Bodyweight Exercises
[*]Push-Up
[*]Squat
[*]Inverted Row
[*]Chin-Up
[*]Glute Bridge
[*]Bear Crawl
[*]World’s Greatest Stretch
[*]Burpee
[*]Tricep Dip
[*]Pull-Up
[*]Plank
[*]Wall Walk
[*]Broad Jump
[*]Lunge
[*]Step-Up
[*]Box Jump
1. Push-Up
The push-up is one of the most basic and effective moves for improving upper body strength. And it really couldn’t be easier to do. You get on all fours, keep your back straight, and repeatedly lower yourself down and up — working the chest, triceps, and shoulders. Your core will also benefit, as the push-up is a moving plank that stabilizes your entire body.
The push-up is an exercise you can do anywhere with no equipment. It activates your core from front to back and strengthens your entire torso in the process.
How to Do It
[*]Get into a plank position with your feet together and hands underneath your shoulders.
[*]Keep the abs tight and your butt just slightly up.
[*]Lower yourself under control until your chest is about an inch from the floor.
[*]Hold for a beat, and then drive yourself back up.
Coach’s Tip: Keep your elbows directly atop your wrists the entire time.
Sets and Reps: Start simple with 3 sets of 10.
2. Squat
The squat is regarded as one of the best movements — loaded or unloaded — for improving mobility and taxing your legs. Some even refer to the squat as the king of all lifts. You should be squatting if you want to sprint faster, jump higher, lift heavier, and look better.
You’ll improve mobility as the squat has your body move through multiple planes of motion to complete the exercise. Moreover, you stand to gain more leg muscle as the squat targets your glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, and hip flexors.
How to Do It
[*]Stand tall with your feet in a comfortable stance. The width and toe angle is entirely individual, so take time to find out what your body feels best doing.
[*]Extend your arms in front of your torso as a counterweight, then slowly sit your pelvis downwards.
[*]Sink as deep as possible while keeping a straight back before standing back up.
Coach’s Tip: Fix your gaze on a stationary object or point several yards in front of you.
Sets and Reps: Try 3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions to build endurance.
3. Inverted Row
Think of an inverted row as pull-up lite. You’re pulling less of your body weight, so it’s easier to do for beginners while virtually recruiting the same muscles as a pull-up. The inverted row is technically a horizontal rowing movement, as your body is parallel to the floor, making it comparable to cable rows.
That said, it’s a lower impact than both of those moves since you’re not using weight to stress your muscles but are instead fighting gravity. Advanced trainees can bust out many reps to further tax their backs.
The inverted row is helpful for both beginners who can’t pull up their entire body weight and advanced gym-goers who want to perform high-rep back movements. It’s also extremely low-impact, since you aren’t axially loading your spine.
How to Do It
[*]Lay a barbell into the hooks of a power rack, and set a few feet off the ground.
[*]Lay under the bar so the barbell is over the chest.
[*]Extend your arms up and grab the bar.
[*]Squeeze your shoulder blades together and row your chest to the bar or as close as possible.
Coach’s Tip: The bar should be set high enough that your butt and back hover above the floor.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3 sets of 8 and build from there.
4. Chin-Up
This pull-up variant has you supinate the hands (turn them inward) when pulling your chin to the bar. Like a pull-up, the chin-up recruits the back muscles — the lats, rhomboids, and traps — but with more emphasis on the biceps. Because of the extra biceps recruitment, most people are generally stronger in this position and can pump out a few extra reps.
The chin-up teaches you to control your entire bodyweight, build a stronger (and broader) back, and even throws in some “free” biceps training as well. Economically, pull-up (or chin-up) bars are quite affordable for your home gym. But you can also get them done just about anywhere that has a stable surface to hang from.
How to Do It
[*]Hang from a pull-up bar with your palms facing towards you, set about shoulder-width apart.
[*]Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull up until your chin is at or above the bar.
Coach’s Tip: If you can’t do a chin-up yet, try jumping up to get into the top position, and hold yourself in that position for 10 seconds. Do this a few times, aiming to increase your hold time.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3 sets of 3-5 reps and add reps until you can do 10 or more before loading.
5. Glute Bridge
This exercise is popular among trainers to target the glutes while reducing potential back or knee pain. You can also load the glute bridge to increase your glute strength, which will carry over to your deadlift and squat, or perform sets of them unweighted as a warm-up. If you don’t have access to weights at home, you can make the glute bridge more challenging by performing it one leg at a time.
The glute bridge allows you to train your glutes without directly loading your spine. Other benefits include substantial carryover to your squat or deadlift performance, without overly taxing your hamstrings in the process.
How to Do It
[*]Lie on the floor with your heels planted firmly on the ground.
[*]Contract the core and pull the belly button and ribs into the body.
[*]Drive through your heels to lift the hips and lower back off the floor until your torso and legs form a straight line.
Coach’s Tip: If you feel too much pressure in your lower back, tuck your pelvis under your body to decrease lumbar extension (minimize lower back arch).
Sets and Reps: Go higher here with 2-3 sets of 12-20 repetitions.
6. Bear Crawl
Crawling isn’t just for babies. By getting on all fours and slowly crawling forward — keeping your back straight and your knees under your hips and an inch off the floor — you’re teaching the body how to move as one unit. Your core will burn from stabilizing the torso, your quads will engage from propelling your feet forward, and your shoulders will work hard to move your arms.
Crawling forward one leg at a time will improve your coordination, and you stand (or crawl, that is) to gain some extra range of motion in your shoulder, hip, and ankles as well.
How to Do It
[*]Get on all fours, with your hands underneath your shoulders and your knees directly underneath your hips.
[*]Now, raise the knees an inch off of the ground.
[*]Keeping your back straight, simultaneously move your right hand and left foot forward a few inches.
[*]Then, repeat on the other side. Keep repeating to crawl on.
Coach’s Tip: You can also actively squeeze your muscles and hold in this position to perform a bear plank.
Sets and Reps: Try 2 to 3 rounds of crawls for up to 30 yards or 40 paces.
7. World’s Greatest Stretch
Mobility is just as important as mass or strength. The world’s greatest stretch improves mobility in three key areas — the hips, the shoulders, and the thoracic spine. It has you get into a deep lunge position, touch your elbow to the floor, and then reach up to engage your back and shoulder.
You can (and probably should be) doing this before any workout — loaded or unloaded — as it’s essentially a one-stop-warm-up-shop. That said, you can expect this stretch to activate your back, legs, hips, shoulder, and core during your warm-up. You can also work this stretch into a general warm-up circuit.
How to Do It
[*]Get into a lunge position so that your front foot is flat and your back foot is on the toes.
[*]Lower the opposite arm of your extended leg to the floor and reach your other arm to the ceiling.
[*]Hold for 10 seconds, then lower your arm to the same side as your front leg. Repeat on the other side.
Coach’s Tip: Take your time and focus on your breathing.
Sets and Reps: Try 4 rounds per side of 10-second holds.
8. Burpee
You may shudder at the word, but the burpee is the ultimate calorie burner. With several variations, the burpee can be great for beginners or challenge the fittest of athletes. This full-body exercise can be seen in gyms almost everywhere and is popular in the CrossFit Games because this high-intensity movement allows you to do more work in less time.
Not only do burpees burn a ton of calories while performing them, but they’re also great at stimulating excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), meaning you’re burning more calories for the rest of the day. (1)
How to Do It
[*]Stand straight up with your feet shoulder-width apart and your eyes forward.
[*]Squat down with your chest up.
[*]Drop your hands to the ground and quickly snap your feet behind you, so you are in a plank position.
[*]Lower your chest to the floor like you would during a push-up and press back up.
[*]Snap your feet back to your squat position and lift your hands off the ground.
[*]Stand back up and jump, raising your arms overhead.
Coach’s Tip: Don’t try to jump as high as you can. It’s a hop, not a leap.
Sets and Reps: Try to do 50 burpees as fast as possible across as many sets as you need.
9. Triceps Dip
To build bigger arms, the triceps are the muscles to work. Not only can you achieve the desired aesthetic, but there are several benefits to exercising your triceps. Lifts like the bench press can benefit from solid triceps and can help improve your overall upper body strength and stability. Triceps dips in particular are great because they only require your body weight and can be done almost anywhere.
The dip builds strength throughout your arms and shoulders, which should contribute toward other exercises like the bench press and overhead press. It also closely mimics the mechanics of other upper-body pressing exercises, doubling down on motor pattern practice.
How to Do It
[*]Sit on the edge of an elevated surface like a chair or a bench and put your palms on the edge, fingers facing forward.
[*]Extend your legs in front of you so your heels are on the ground.
[*]Press through your palms and lift your body to hover above the ground.
[*]Slowly drop your torso while bending your elbows until you reach the end of your range of motion. Push yourself back up until your arms are extended.
Coach’s Tip: Dips can be demanding on the shoulders at first, so take things nice and slow if you’re new to the exercise.
Sets and Reps: Go for 2 sets of up to 20 dips.
10. Pull-Up
The pull-up is one of the harder bodyweight exercises you can do because of the required upper body strength. Even though this exercise targets a big muscle like the lats, weak arms, and shoulders can seriously debilitate your ability to perform even one rep. Plenty of progressions are available to master the pull-up, making it possible for anyone to get their game up.
Performing a compound exercise allows you to get more bang for your buck. Studies suggest compound exercises may benefit your VO2 max and general fitness more. (2) You can also expect the pull-up to improve your overall upper body strength, contributing to better lifts, stability, and posture.
How to Do It
[*]Find a pull-up bar that is high enough so that your feet don’t touch the ground when you hang on it.
[*]Grab the bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
[*]Pull your shoulders down and away from your ears to engage your lats.
[*]Squeeze your core and use your back, arms, and shoulders to pull your body up until the bar is at chest level.
Coach’s Tip: When you initiate the pull-up, avoid swinging your legs back and forth.
Sets and Reps: Start simple with 3 sets of 5 and add reps as you’re able.
11. Plank
One of the more popular core exercises is the plank, but it doesn’t only work the core. Holding a plank can also target other major muscle groups in your body. If done properly, the plank can produce many benefits, including improved strength, stability, and posture in the trunk and hips.
Benefits of the plank include a stronger core and more protected spine (as well as better posture). It goes without saying but a strong core is absolutely essential for compound exercises as well. The plank also has some logistical perks, since you can perform them basically anywhere regardless of your experience level.
How to Do It
[*]Lie prone on the floor.
[*]With your elbows bent, raise yourself off the ground such that you’re suspended by your forearms and feet only.
[*]Squeeze your shoulder blades, tuck your hips slightly, and lock your knees out.
[*]There should be a straight line from the base of your neck to your ankles. Hold for time.
Coach’s Tip: If you’re timing your sets, avoid looking at the clock and instead listen for an audio cue.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3 sets of 20 seconds and build until you can hold the plank for a minute.
12. Wall Walk
Climbing up walls isn’t just for Spider-Man. Wall walks recruit your back, arms, shoulders, and core and can help improve balance and stability. Often seen in CrossFit gyms and at the Games, wall walks are a high-intensity way to build strength and get your heart rate up. Performing wall walks can expose and remedy weaknesses in your movement integrity, especially in the core or shoulder.
The wall plank is great for developing general upper body strength, and you can also use them as a progression pathway toward more complex drills like handstands, handstand walks and push-ups.
How to Do It
[*]Lie on your stomach with your hands close to your sides and feet touching the wall behind you.
[*]Press your body off the ground and climb your feet up the wall by stepping one foot at a time.
[*]“Walk” all the way until your arms are fully extended and your belly button is as close to the wall as possible.
[*]Walk back down the same way you came.
Coach’s Tip: Your hands should also move one at a time to support your movement up the wall.
Sets and Reps: Start easy with 3 sets of 3 walks.
13. Broad Jump
Plyometric training can produce benefits pertaining to physical fitness, overall health, and muscle strength. Research suggests that regular plyometrics can positively affect agility, speed, jumping, and overall performance. (3) Broad jumps involve jumping and absorbing force, increasing your heart rate and teaching your body how to land properly and effectively.
Here are the benefits of the broad jump: It trains your body to mitigate ground forces, which can be helpful in exercises like the clean or snatch. Implementing cardio is important for improving overall performance and may reduce risks of heart disease. Finally, explosive exercises like the broad jump recruit fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are used for sprinting, jumping, and other short explosive movements. Studies suggest these muscles are more responsible for producing more power and may aid in heavy lifting. (4)
How to Do It
[*]Start with your feet shoulder-width apart.
[*]Push your hips back while loading the weight in your heels and swing your arms back to help prime for forward momentum.
[*]Drive your hips forward as your feet leave the ground and jump as far forward as you can.
[*]Land with a soft bend in your knees and absorb the weight in your heels.
Coach’s Tip: Stretch your legs out in front of you as you land to gain more distance.
Sets and Reps: Try 5 rounds of 5 explosive jumps.
14. Lunge
The lunge may get less love than the squat, but it is an effective way to target the legs and glutes. This unilateral exercise can improve your balance and stability and requires core activation. With plenty of different lunge variations —walking, forward, reverse, lateral, curtsy, and jumping — you can recruit other muscles, improve function, and add more variety to your workout.
The lunge helps develop better balance and coordination, which translate into everyday activities. Lunges also provide some great glute stimulation, even without weights. Finally, unilateral exercises like the lunge can help improve muscle imbalances.
How to Do It
[*]Stand with your feet hip width apart — this will help you keep a strong and stable base when you step.
[*]Keep your chest up and core tight as you step straight forward, bending both knees to 90 degrees or to your range of motion.
[*]Press through the heel you stepped with to reset in your starting position.
Coach’s Tip: Avoid letting your non-working knee touch the floor if possible.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3-4 rounds of 10 paces per leg.
15. Step-Up
The step-up might seem self-explanatory, but don’t let the simplicity of this exercise fool you. It requires strength and balance and is easily modifiable to accommodate any fitness level. The step-up recruits the muscles in the lower body — quads, hamstrings, and glutes — responsible for walking, running, bending your knees, hinging at your hips, and squatting. Doing this exercise regularly can help improve your lifts and your life.
The step-up recruits some of the same muscle used to squat and deadlift, so it can improve these lifts. Unilateral exercises can also promote balance and stability and improve muscle imbalances.
How to Do It
[*]Stand in front of a stable surface like a bench or a box.
[*]Place your working leg on the elevated surface, brace your core, and push yourself up.
Coach’s Tip: Think of your non-working leg as a kickstand; its only purpose is to help you keep your balance.
Sets and Reps: Try 2 to 4 sets of 10 to 20 steps per leg.
16. Box Jump
The box jump is a plyometric exercise that uses your quads, hamstrings, calves, glutes, and explosive power to do exactly what the name calls for. Jumping high enough requires strength in the lower body, so you can use a shorter box if needed. However, a great aspect of the box jump is you can continue to challenge yourself by heightening the surface of which you jump onto.
Here are the benefits of the box jump: It works as a warm-up for leg day, or as its own main movement if you opt to load it. It also strengthens just about every muscle in your lower body other than your hamstrings. Jumps also improve general athleticism.
How to Do It
[*]Stand in front of a shin-to-knee height box with your feet shoulder-width apart.
[*]Bend your knees and push your hips back to get ready to jump.
[*]Push down through the floor with the quads to jump up onto the box.
[*]Swing your arms forward as you leave the ground to create momentum.
[*]Land on the box with your heels planted and a soft bend in your knees.
Coach’s Tip: Avoid stomping your feet on the box when you land.
Sets and Reps: Maximize your explosiveness with 5 sets of 3 jumps.
How to Train With Bodyweight Exercises
With weights, you progress by lifting more absolute load or the same amount of weight for more reps. You don’t have that option for bodyweight movements, so you’ll have to rely on additional volume above all. Start by finding how many reps you can do of a bodyweight exercise before your form really breaks down.
Exercise Selection
Don’t try to perform 16 different bodyweight movements per day. The rules of exercise selection are the same; cluster movements together to double down on muscular stimulation, or pick one for each body part to train yourself from head to toe. For example, a lower-body calisthenics day could contain squats, walking lunges, and box jumps.
Sets and Reps
Once you’ve established your limit, perform multiple sets of 3 – 5 reps shy of that limit. If you can do 12 pull-ups, hit three sets of eight.
Each week, or workout session, add one to two reps to each set. Once you reach your max reps for all three sets, drop the rep count back to your starting number and add a set. You can also alter the tempo of each movement to make the reps more challenging.
Benefits of Bodyweight Exercises
There’s a lot of upside to training with nothing but your own body. Here, we’ll breakdown all of the pros of utilizing the moves above, from the positive effects they have on your movement to the fact that they require nearly zero equipment.
Easy and Accessible
You might want a yoga mat to protect your knees or elbows, but other than that, bodyweight training requires basically no equipment. No matter where you are, you can always bust out a circuit of push-ups, squats, and glute bridges.
You can also get creative with how you structure a bodyweight workout at home. Try this deck of cards workout:
- Assign one move to a suit — so push-ups for spades, squats for clubs, burpees for diamonds, and inverted rows for hearts.
- Draw a card and perform the move associated with that suit for the number of reps on the card; or 11 reps for face cards and 15 for aces.
- Aim to rest as little as possible. If you’re a bit rusty, cut the deck in half.
Most bodyweight moves mimic everyday life. You squat to get out of a chair; you lunge when you walk up the stairs; you technically perform a pull-up when closing the garage door. Most movement patterns can be broken down into six basic categories — a vertical pull, vertical push, horizontal pull, horizontal push, knee-based movement, and a hip-based movement. Here’s an example of each:
- Horizontal push: push-up
- Horizontal pull: inverted row
- Vertical push: military press
- Vertical pull: pull-up
- Knee-based movement: squat
- Hip-based movement: glute bridge
Unparalleled Convenience
Unlike powerlifters or strongman competitors who need specialized equipment for their training, bodyweight aficionados can go hard just about anywhere. Since you’re forgoing the barbell for your own body weight, calisthenics-based routines can be performed wherever you have enough physical space.
This makes bodyweight training convenient in a way that other activities can’t match. If you spend a lot of time traveling or don’t have access to a commercial gym, a good bodyweight routine can help you stay strong and gain muscle.
Scalable for All Levels
You may think that squatting or doing a push-up with your bodyweight is the ground floor for all exercise, but that’s not the case. A true beginner can squat to a chair, hang from a pull-up bar to build their base, or elevate their hands for push-ups on the edge of a couch.
And when you eventually outgrow the basic variations above, there are ways to make bodyweight moves harder. Push-ups can be performed with one arm, squats can be turned into 1-1/2-rep squats, and you can elevate your legs for inverted rows.
More Bodyweight Training Tips
Now that you have a better understanding of the basics of bodyweight training and the best bodyweight exercises worth learning, read more about how to turn your body into the ultimate performance machine.
References
[*]Podstawski, Robert, Markowski, Piotr, & Clark, Cain C. T. International Standards for the 3?Minute Burpee Test: High? Intensity Motor Performance. Journal of Human Kinetics. 2019; 69 doi: 10.2478/hukin-2019-0021
[*]Paoli, Antonio, Gentil, Paulo, & Moro, Tatiana. Resistance Training with Single vs. Multi-joint Exercises at Equal Total Load Volume: Effects...
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