Skip The Heavy Equipment: Why Bodyweight Training Is The Way To Go
We’ve been led to believe that fitness is highly dependent on things like the gym and its equipment. However, that isn’t the case. In fact, you don’t need to invest in fancy equipment or all kinds of elaborate accessories to get into shape at home. On the contrary – bodyweight training is highly efficient and great for your health. So, if you’re someone who’s been hesitant to start your fitness journey due to the lack of gym membership or equipment, this article will explain just why you don’t need any of that to achieve your fitness goals. Bodyweight training – aside from being extremely cost-efficient since it literally costs nothing – is great for you and your health. Let’s talk about why that is.
It’s Suitable For All Fitness Levels
Whether you’re a true beginner or someone who’s been moderately working out for some time, bodyweight training is great for everyone. It’s rather self-explanatory, but each body is different, and so, bodyweight training will differ from person to person. Training this way can be easily modified and tailored to the person working out by switching up the exercises, the number of reps they do, and more.
You Can Work Out Anywhere
Since bodyweight training obviously doesn’t include any equipment, it’s something you can do anywhere you are. Whether you’re at home or even traveling, you can do an entire workout wherever you may be. It’s especially great for busy parents – they can do a quick and effective workout while watching the kids.
There’s A Lower Risk Of Injury
Since bodyweight training involves no weights, it’s a safer method of working out. You never run the risk of working out with weights that are above your strength level. This means the muscles strain less, leading to a lower risk of injury. In fact, bodyweight training can help protect your joints. Since bodyweight exercises build muscle, your overall resistance to injury will improve more and more with time.
It’s Extremely Efficient
Since bodyweight workouts naturally work multiple muscle groups all at once, you will see great results rather quickly. You might think of push-ups as an upper-body exercise, but it helps build core strength too. The same goes for exercises like squats – it may be a lower-body exercise but it too works the core. Core strength is essential for things like good posture, proper movement patterns, and injury prevention as well.
It Improves Your Balance
Another big benefit of bodyweight training – from certain exercises, at least – is that it helps improve your balance significantly. While this isn’t the case for all exercises, you can incorporate those that help into your regular workouts. For instance, 1-legged pistol squats are excellent for building balance, like side planks among other exercises. Naturally, these won’t be easy at first, but the more you do them, the easier they’ll get over time.
Increased Flexibility
Last but certainly not least, certain bodyweight exercises can greatly improve your flexibility and range of motion. While some people who build a whole lot of muscle tend to lose some range of motion with time, that doesn’t always have to be the case. There are so many different kinds of exercises you can do that force you to engage your body and force all your joints and muscles to work through a wide range of motion. Eventually, this will lead you to be more flexible than when you started out. One of the best bodyweight workouts to do for increased flexibility is, of course, yoga, but there are more options as well.