Unlock True Strength with These 20 Bodyweight Exercises
If there's one thing 2020 has shown everyone, it's this: You're not always going to have access to a gym or gym equipment.
For a host of reasons, the dumbbells, kettlebells, treadmills, and weight machines that are the backbone of your routine won't always be available. Sometimes you'll be traveling, other times, you'll be stuck at home, and even when you have gym access, you might not always want to be there.
The one thing you will always have, though, is your bodyweight, and if you use it correctly, it's a potent tool that can help you break a serious sweat, or pack on plenty of muscle and strength. Bodyweight exercises have another benefit, too: They teach you to manage your bodyweight in various ways, and sometimes, that's more important (and useful) than moving the heaviest barbell in the gym. There are plenty of strength athletes out there who can bench heavy weight, for example, but can't do, say, an archer pushup.
Functional strength is about developing a balance between an ability to generate raw force (as you would when bench pressing) and an ability to manipulate your body through space (as you would when doing, say, a typewriter pushup).
You should build both facets of strength, and these bodyweight moves can help.
Strength Moves
Post Pushup
Bodyweight exercises don't get any more challenging than this move from fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S, which is essentially a one-arm pushup from a slightly more stable position.
Pushup
Fundamentals! The classic pushup is a bodyweight exercise that you simply have to master, a foundational move. Know this about it too: You can level it up into much more once you learn it (and you'll see that on this list too).
Close-Grip Pushup
Once you have the basic pushup down, you can venture into more targeted territory. The close-grip pushup attacks your triceps with fury.
Typewriter Pushup Countup Hell
There are standard pushups, and then there's this pushup variation from fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., which does something few pushups do, challenging you to build chest and shoulder strength in multiple planes. Most pushups have you pushing in the sagittal plane. This has you working in other ways, too.
Archer-Position Bodyweight Skullcrusher
Think you can't isolate your triceps and move serious load with only bodyweight? Think again with this unique triceps exercise, which has you shouldering most of your bodyweight with a single arm on every rep.
Rocker Bodyweight Skullcrusher
The rare bodyweight exercise that places your triceps on stretch for a brief moment. Don't expect to do oodles of reps here, but expect your triceps to be on fire nevertheless. Just 6-8 reps will, um, rock your arms.
Inverted Bodyweight Row
Sure, you need some gear (a bar, or even a table will work) to pull this off, but then it's all about managing your bodyweight, which is inherent to all bodyweight moves. This is also a backbuilder, a critical brand of move you want to load up on in your training for physique balance and shoulder health.
Burpee
The king of all bodyweight cardio exercises can leave you in a pile of mush after less than a minute of reps. But note this: The move is more advanced than some trainers make it. You should know how to squat, do pushups, and own a plank before you venture into burpee territory.
Towel Inverted Row Hold
Build grip strength and blast your back with this row variation. Your abs and glutes will be on fire too, if you do it right.
The Triple-Position-Switch Pushup Countup
Hit every part of your chest (and your triceps and shoulders too) with this series that also challenges you to mix explosive contractions with iso-holds too.
Core Moves
Hollow Hold
Master the hollow hold, because it's the basis for a host of other ab moves. And yes, it's more functional and challenging than a plank, which is precisely why you don't see people randomly setting Guiness Records for hollow holds.
Gator Roll to Sprinter Situp Countup
Blast your whole core and work athletically too with this blend of hollow holds and gator rolls that'll hit abs, obliques, and lower back muscles.
Dragon Flag Elevator Flutter Challenge
The dragon flag is one of the best (and most vicious) all-around ab moves out there. Here, you'll have to manage that position while adding in flutter kick reps to build a well-rounded core.
Corkscrew Hollow Rock Challenge
Your abs are responsible for creating rotation, but can you own that rotation? You'll be pushed to do that in this hollow body-based challenge.
Mountain Climber
The classic mountain climber will attack your abs, and it'll do more than that, too, also training your running stride. The key: Doing it in disciplined fashion.
Situp Roll Burpee
This burpee variation combines a heart-rate inducing hit-the-ground-and-jump with a situp for abdominal activation.
Uneven Hollow Rock Gator Rolls
Train rotation and anti-rotation (two key core functions) with one move, and attack your glutes, obliques, and lower back muscles too.
Workouts
The 60-Point Burpee Challenge
Blend burpees and pushups in this super-quick burner that has you racing the clock, mostly so you won't have to do quite as many pushups.
The Bobby Maximus 10-to-1 Ladder
A full-body workout from trainer Bobby Maximus that gets easier (sort of) as you go on. This ones a mental challenge.
32-rep Triceps Mayhem
This triceps-focused burner hits your arms from multiple angles, but it's still over in 10 to 15 minutes.
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