Top 5 Body Weight Exercises
Anywhere, anytime! The following 5 exercises are in our opinion, the best exercises to increase strength using only your own body weight as resistance.
1. Push-ups
Drop and give me 20! The push-up is an old favourite of any drill sergeant or sports coach, but it is for good reason. Push-ups are a great way to increase upper body strength, especially across your chest, shoulders and arms. It is also a highly relevant and functional movement for a wide range of people such as an athlete requiring strength and power in this area to push off an opponent or pass a ball or an elderly person having the strength to push them selves up off the floor following a trip or fall.
2. Squats
Another highly functional movement, the squat strengthens the leg muscles to perform movements as powerful as jumping for an athlete or as basic and essential as getting in and out of a chair independently.
3. Chin Ups
Many people find this exercise daunting, but it is an excellent way to strengthen the muscles of the upper back, shoulders and abdominals. If you find chin ups too difficult, you can always modify this exercise by finding a low enough bar which allows you to assist the chin up movement keeping your feel on the ground.
4. Lunges
Lunges are a great way to exercise multiple lower limb muscles at once including the quadriceps and gluteals. The main benefit of this exercise is to improve stability and control of the knee joint.
5. Dips
Body weight dips are an excellent way to strengthen the muscles in your arms as well as across your chest and shoulders. They can be performed using something like a bench or a chair behind you. This is again a functional movement where you are replicating pushing yourself up out of a chair.
