BEST BODY WEIGHT EXERCISES TO BUILD MUSCLE

THE PUSH UP

Push-ups are brilliant for building strength through the chest, shoulders and triceps.

It's a great exercise to master before moving on to the (much more strenuous) bench press. The push up allows you to build adequate strength in your upper body and

Stability through your torso, better equipping your body to bear weight.

Doing repeated push-ups can get a little monotonous, but there is a multitude of ways to vary and progress with this exercise. For example, elevate the feet on a nearby step, adapt your hand position, or make the movement plyometric by adding a clap. All of these variations will add difficulty and stop you from getting bored.

BODYWEIGHT SQUAT

Bodyweight squats are a fantastic exercise for developing movement and strength through your glutes, quads and hamstrings. The squat is a very functional exercise, as your body automatically adopts the movement when getting up and down from a seated position. Practice squats using only your bodyweight and you should find your everyday movement becomes far easier.

Squats can also help to assess flexibility and range of movement through the ankle and hips. You'll soon find if you have any susceptibility in those areas.

The intensity of the exercise can be increased by changing the speed of the movement, either by speeding up for a higher heart rate, which will reap cardiovascular benefits, or slowing down to increase the duration of muscle engagement.

It is important to master proper technique on the bodyweight squat before moving onto weight bearing squats.

The names pull up and chin up are often used interchangeably - but don't be fooled

into thinking they are one and the same thing.

The key difference is grip. On a chin up, your palms face your body (if you were wearing a traditional wrist watch, the clock face would be pointing away from you). With pull ups, it's the opposite: your palms face away from you.

It's best to begin with chin ups, which are the easier variation. These help develop strength through your upper back. They're also great for increasing muscle bulk: whereas push ups and bodyweight squats will make your muscles stronger, chin ups will make your muscles bigger.

The relative difficulty of the chin up implies a a barrier to entry. But don’t give up on this one. Just practice one repetition at a time, even if it’s only partially completed - you'll soon start to see a big improvement in your performance.

Advance the chin-up by moving on to pull ups. This is a far more difficult exercise, so expect the number of reps you complete to be far lower.

PLANK

Bodyweight exercise are just that: exercises that require only the weight of your body to be effective. They provide a versatile training option when access to gym equipment is limited. Bodyweight exercises improve strength and enhance range of movement, while preparing you for the next time you do manage to make it to the gym.

TRICEP DIP

The Tricep dip is an isolation exercise for the tricep, which is the largest muscle in the

upper arm.

The exercise in the above video uses a bench for stability, reducing the amount of

weight on the tricep. To advance the tricep dip, use parallel bars so that your triceps

take your full bodyweight throughout the repetition. Using the bars will take quite a

lot of tricep and chest strength, so make sure you can do multiple reps with the aid of

a bench first.

Welcome to Ritspoke Blog

Search This Blog