Can you build muscle with bodyweight exercises?
Have you ever wondered if you could beef up those muscles without lifting weights? You’re not alone. In recent years, bodyweight exercises have gained popularity, especially since lockdown. But, are they actually effective for building muscle?
This full-body workout guide explains whether you can build muscle just by using bodyweight exercises and we’ve included some exercises you can try either at home or the gym.
Contents:
What are bodyweight exercises?
First of all, let’s just clarify what exactly bodyweight exercises are. Bodyweight exercises refer to exercises that only use your body weight as the resistance. These exercises include pulling, pushing, jumping or doing any other kind of movement.
Can you build muscle just with bodyweight exercises?
The short answer is – yes! You can build muscle mass instead of traditional weight training as bodyweight exercises are a form of resistance training which means your muscles will be stimulated to help improve growth and strength.
Benefits of bodyweight exercises
Apart from putting on muscle, there are plenty of benefits to doing bodyweight training. Here are just a few of them:
They’re convenient
Bodyweight exercises are so convenient, you can do them anywhere! Well, not anywhere, we’re sure people on the bus might not appreciate you dropping to do a quick set of push-ups!
But if you’re at home, you can push that coffee table to one side and do a full-body workout in your living room. Or, if you’re in the kitchen waiting for that pasta to boil, you can quickly carry out a couple of exercises to get the heart rate up!
They’re for everyone
The great thing about bodyweight exercises is that they can be adjusted for any fitness level. You can gradually increase the difficulty of your exercises to challenge yourself and to build strength.
Help with balance and stability
Bodyweight exercises are also a fantastic way to help improve balance and stability. Through these types of exercises, you can improve your ‘stabiliser’ muscles, which in turn will enhance your primary muscles.
Tips on making the most out of your bodyweight exercises
When you exercise with body weight, there are things you can do to make your workouts as productive and muscle-building as possible. Here are a few tips:
Shorten your rest time
You can make your workouts more intense by shortening your rest time. If you usually give yourself 90 seconds of rest between sets, then bring this down to 60 seconds. It’s also a great way to monitor improvement, if you find you are performing a set easily with a shorter rest time, you know you’re getting better!
Adjust your positioning
It’s important to mix up your movements and not be too repetitive with your exercises. The great thing about bodyweight exercises is that they are so easy to adjust to work new muscles.
You can simply adjust your hand positioning or your foot placement to achieve maximum muscle stimulation.
To use push-ups as an example: you can perform a standard push-up with your hands placed shoulder width apart, or to make the movement more challenging, bring your hands in closer together to give your triceps more of a workout. Or, to change the weight distribution so you have more weight to push up, simply put your feet up on a low table or chair. This is called a decline push-up.
Slow your movements
You can help to build muscle by increasing the time under tension during your exercises. Time under tension refers to the amount of time you are putting strain on your muscles. So, when you are performing a movement, keep it slow and controlled to put your muscles through their paces!
To put this into practice, when doing a push-up, lower yourself down as slowly as possible and hold for a moment before pushing back up explosively.
Train to failure
Another strategy to use to make the most out of your bodyweight exercises is to train to failure. This means you do as many reps as possible until you can’t do anymore. It’s important to note though, that you should always ensure you have the correct form when training to failure. Training to failure breaks down your muscle tissue, so make sure you give yourself plenty of rest between workouts to give your muscles time to recover.
Bodyweight exercises for muscle growth
Here are a few key exercises you can include in your fitness plan to help you pack on the muscle.
Push up
The push-up is probably the most well-known bodyweight exercise out there. Here’s how to do one:
- Get on your mat, straighten your legs out and place your hands beneath your shoulders. Keep your weight supported on your toes and hands.
- Keep your body nice and straight and engage your core
- Slowly lower your body until your chest is about an inch from he floor then explosively push up until your arms are straight.
Variation: As mentioned above, add variation to your push-up by putting your feet on a chair/bench or bringing your hands in closer together to target different muscle groups.
Tricep dip
This is a fantastic exercise that really targets your triceps.
- Using a bench or a chair, sit on the edge and put your legs straight out in front of you.
- Place your hands on the edge of the bench/chair and slowly lower yourself until your elbows are at a right angle – keep your elbows nice and tucked in!
- Push yourself back up and repeat.
Variation: This might be cheating a bit, but you could always grab an extra weight and put it on your lap to make the exercise a bit more intense.
Squats
Squats help to strengthen your hamstrings, quads and calves. They can also strengthen your knee joint.
- Stand with your legs hip-width apart with your feet slightly pointing out.
- Keeping your head up and facing forward, start to sit down as if you are about to sit on a chair.
- Bend your knees until your thighs are parallel to the ground
- Push up through your heels back to the standing position.
Variation: You can variate this exercise by doing a one-legged squat. Before you lower yourself down, lift one leg out in front of you. Keep that leg out as you squat down, hold and stand back up. Repeat with the other leg.
Burpee
This is a great exercise to help improve your upper and lower body strength and is a great calorie burner!
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and squat down
- In the same motion, at the bottom of the squat, place your hands on the floor and kick your feet out behind you and get into a push-up position.
- Lower yourself down, push yourself up, then bring your legs back into a squat position.
- Drive yourself up into a standing position and jump up reaching your arms up as high as they go. Repeat!
Variation: To make the exercise a little easier you can slow it down by stepping your feet back rather than kicking them out behind you.
Lunges
Lunges are an underrated exercise that works your entire lower body and can help improve your overall balance.
- Stand with your hip-width apart. Take a big step forward and lower yourself so your back knee is lowered to the floor until your front thigh is parallel to the floor.
- Bring your leg to the standing position and repeat with the other leg.
Variation: To make lunges that little bit harder, try a jump lunge which is when you jump up and lower yourself into a lunge in one smooth motion.
Glute bridge
This is a great exercise for your legs and also challenges your glutes. Exercising your glutes can help improve posture and improve back pain.
- Lie on the floor and place your arms to your side with your palms on the floor.
- Bring your legs up and bend at the knees so they are at a 45-degree angle
- Thrust your hips up as high as you can, squeeze your glutes and hold for a moment before lowering your hips back down.
Variation: To make this exercise more intense, raise one leg up so it’s in line with the rest of your body when you perform the movement. Do a set then repeat with the other leg.
Pull up
A pull-up is one of the only body-weight exercises that truly uses all of your own body weight. It also uses lots of muscle groups such as your arms, shoulders and back.
- Grab the bar, shoulder-width apart with your palms facing towards you.
- Exhale and bring yourself up so that your chin sits above the bar.
- Lower back down in a controlled motion and repeat.
Variation: You can move the position of your hands to a wider grip to help work shoulders and lats.
Mountain climbers
This is a good all-rounder that targets your core and is a great cardio workout.
- Get into a press-up position and engage your core
- Keeping your core engaged and your body straight, bring one leg up so your knee is close to your chest and bring it back into the starting position.
- Alternate between the legs in a smooth motion for 45 seconds. Repeat!
Variation: By putting your feet on a bench or your hands on a bench, you can change the angle of the exercise.
Conclusion
So to conclude, it is entirely possible to help build muscle with just your body weight. By adjusting your movements and implementing the mentioned strategies into your workout routine, you’ll be building muscle in no time!
Bicester Gym Health and Fitness
Whether you are looking to build muscle with your own body weight, or want to have access to free weights and machinery, you’ll have everything you need at Bicester Gym. You’ll find all the latest equipment as well as plenty of room on our mezzanine level for bodyweight exercises.
If you need a bit of a helping hand with your training, we have fully qualified personal trainers on site who would be happy to discuss your training plan with you. Contact us today for a free tour and we’ll see you out there!
