Bodyweight exercises consist of movements that use the weight of your body as resistance to work against. Bodyweight exercising is an extremely efficient way to build muscle and stay fit as it provides short bursts of intense training. Only a few exercises cover almost all muscle groups and they are great to build strength and lean muscle.
Benefits of bodyweight exercises
Bodyweight exercises have their own benefits, making them an excellent alternative to weight training:
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- They can be done indoors and outdoors
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- Hate lifting metal weights? Try an intense bodyweight home exercise workout
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- Your cardiovascular endurance improves and so does your muscle strength.
Resistance exercises
The following bodyweight exercises build good strength and muscle in a fitness programme:
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- Basic crunch: Crunches really work if you want to firm and tone your abdominal muscles. One of the most effective is the basic crunch. You need to keep the movement slow and to focus on good technique for the crunches to be effective.
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- Reverse curl: This variation of abdominal crunch targets the lower part of the abdominal section and puts less strain on the neck area.
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- Full crunch: The full crunch is the most advanced abdominal exercise. It works the entire stomach area by combining the basic crunch and the reverse curl.
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- Lunges: The lunge can give you wonderfully toned inner thighs and buttocks. When you perform lunges, keep your back straight, your torso upright and your abdominals tight.
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- Basic push-ups: This type of resistance exercise works your upper body. The push-up is possibly the most classic of all strength-training exercises.
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- Rear leg lifts: The rear leg lifts concentrate on your hamstrings and buttocks. If you do this properly and regularly, you will eventually be able to perform advanced versions of it.
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- Squats: This resistance exercise concentrates on your thighs and buttocks. Squats also work your lower leg muscles, abdominals and lower back since they are used for balance.
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- Triceps dips: Fitness exercises that involve lifting your own body weight help improve your posture and strengthen and protect your skeletal system.
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- Fitness of stability ball exercises: Learn how to progress in your core strength by doing different exercises on the stability ball.
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- Core exercise ball workout: A core exercise ball workout is also great for improving your balance and posture for sports and day-to-day activities.
Our Employee Wellbeing Programme (EAP) is available 24 hours a day if you want to know more about bodyweight exercises.
Sources:
http://etc.usf.edu
http://exercise.about.com