You know those moments when you just don’t have time to make a pilgrimage to the gym, or when you’re forced to go the gym at the busiest time and every bench, squat rack and barbell are in use? These are the perfect opportunities to deploy any or all of these bodyweight exercises to help you burn more fat and build muscle without having wait around at the gym.
1. Pull-ups
The most classic of all bodyweight moves, the pull-up hits almost every muscle in the body at various points throughout the move and its effectiveness at developing your arms and abs is often underrated. Are all the dumbbells in use at the gym? Don’t fret; jump on one of the pull-up bars for an equally good workout for your arms.
10 different ways to perform a pull-up.
2. Glute bridge
Having strong glutes is far more important than most people think. Well-trained glutes are essential for good back health and it’s fairly common knowledge that they’re popular with the opposite sex. Glute bridges are used commonly in Pilates as a way to strengthen the core and lower back, and they can be done pretty much anywhere.
3. Plank
Did you know that the world record for holding a plank is four hours and 26 minutes? Yep, you read that right. We’re not telling you to get anywhere near that. Holding a plank for over a minute is widely considered to be an impressive measure of fitness, requiring excellent shoulder stability and great muscle endurance of your shoulders, neck, legs, abs and lower back. Try to beat your previous best each time you perform the move for an added challenge.
How to vary your plank to unlock your abs.
4. Close-grip pushup
This pushup variation works to target your triceps, and as you know big triceps make your arms look that little bit bigger. Once you’re comfortably able to do 25 of these, start holding your bodyweight at the bottom of the move for 3 seconds before pushing back up.
5. Burpees
A definite candidate for the least favourite bodyweight exercise of many a gym goer, but the burpee is great for burning fat and has become a staple in most bootcamp style fitness programs. Full-body explosive motion that requires better cardio than hill sprints and more coordination than nearly any exercise, there’s no doubt this will accelerate your progress toward your leanest, most ripped self.
5 of the best burpee varitions for rapid fat loss.
6. Dips
Dips are often seen as an exercise that solely targets the triceps, but in actual fact they hit the chest and shoulders just as hard. It also takes a decent amount of core strength to perform a dip properly, so it’s a pretty well rounded move.
7. Bulgarian split squat
The challenge of a single-leg squatting motion is tough enough, but add to that a stretch and mobilization of the rear-leg's hip flexor and you have the makings of a double-edged sword: an exercise that improves strength and mobility. Use it in place of a squat for a few weeks and see if your regular squat numbers don't improve.
8. Inverted row
Inverted rows will help to develop your back just as quickly as pull-ups will and it’s the perfect opposing motion to the pushup. Turn the hands around so you’re holding the bar underhand and you’ve got a better bicep builder than any curl variation out there. Do enough and you’ll start to develop the much-coveted v-shape.
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