Anytime, Anywhere - The Benefits of Bodyweight Exercise

The bodyweight squat, pushups, neck bridges, pullups, sit-ups, the variations on these core bodyweight exercises are endless.

For a beginner, bodyweight exercises, along with some basic cardio, are one of the best ways to increase bodily strength and fitness. Bodyweight exercise is great for a beginner because it can be done in your own home, at the level you want to do. No pressure from trainers or other gym-goers.

For the advanced, bodyweight exercises for very high reps or for lower reps using difficult leverages can develop your muscles and physical abilities to very high levels. Many martial artists have used BWE for years and centuries to bring their bodies to top condition.

If you are into bare-bones or minimal training styles, then there is no further to look than BWE(bodyweight exercise).

Benefits of bodyweight exercise:

Master your own bodyweight, be able to manipulate your own weight.

Can be done pretty much anywhere, no or very little equipment required

You can do them in either high-rep, calisthenic style - or low rep, strength style.

A huge variety of exercises and variations can be used.

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Cardio At Home with No Equipment, or Little Equipment

If you live somewhere that has bad weather, or for whatever reason you can't go to a gym, there are still ways to do cardio exercising indoors with little or no equipment.

Step ups



Step-ups are a great way to get exercise, and all you need is something to step on. You can buy a step-up block or use a piece of wood, or really anything under a foot tall that you can step-up onto.

Try doing these for 30 minutes a day. Step-ups can be done in a variety of ways. Front steps, side steps, backward steps, try anything you like.

You can do as little or as much as you want. 10 minutes a day to 2 hours a day. It's a great alternative to other forms of cardio like walking or running.


Mountain Climbers



This is a more advanced exercise than step-ups. If you're pretty fit you can do them as cardio. Do them in a timed manner, ie. a minute straight, when you get more fit you can do them for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Go for 3 timed sets and add time as you go.

Here is a video demonstrating the mountain climber exercise:



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Bodyweight Circuits For Fitness and Strength

A great way to get stronger and improve your fitness is through circuits. Circuits are done by doing multiple exercises in a row, with no rest, but doing a limited number of reps.

Advantages:
Easy to do multiple exercises in one workout
Can be done in a short amount of time
Great for cardio and fitness
Full body workout
You can do them anywhere, most bodyweight exercises only require some space to do them, no equipment.

Examples of Bodyweight Circuits:

20 Bw squats
10 pushups
5 pullups
25 crunches
rest

repeat 5 times as fast as possible

Or

Run 50 yards
10 burpees
25 crunches
rest

repeat 5 times as fast as possible


You can do any combination of exercises you want.

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