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Bodyweight training has been proven over and over to be a very powerful way of losing weight. In fact, most of the exercises use muscles that are recruited for daily activities.Doing lunges work the same muscles as climbing stairs.
Push-ups use the same chest muscles that you’d use when pushing a door open. Hanging leg raises use the same core muscles that you use when you are getting up from bed.
It makes sense to train these muscles so that not only do all these daily activities become easier due to your increased strength, but you also lose weight by burning up excess fat.
Below you’ll find 9 tips to take your bodyweight training to the next level. These are easy tips to follow but they make a world of difference to your workouts and weight loss. It’s in your best interest to be mindful of them at all times during your training.
Bodyweight training tips
* Explosive
You want your exercises to be dynamic and explosive . For example, when doing burpees, you’ll thrust your legs out with more force and jump higher. When doing push-ups, you’ll do them with more speed and force.
By doing so, the workout becomes more challenging. Just make sure you’re doing them in an explosive but controlled manner. Don’t be explosive to the point you overdo it and dislocate your shoulder. Be powerful but maintain control.
* Stay hydrated
This applies to any exercise. Make sure you drink lots of water throughout the day and keep a bottle of water nearby to take quick sips if you’re feeling parched. Your workouts will suffer if you’re feeling thirsty or dehydration is making you feel weak.
* Speed
Keep your workouts at a fast pace. Do the bodyweight exercises as fast as you can without compromising form. The faster you execute the exercises, the more reps you’ll end up doing and the stronger you’ll get.
It’s this speed that makes the bodyweight workout take on a cardio-like nature. Only when you do this can you put your body in a state where it will be in fat burning mode for hours after the workout is over.
* Full-body workouts
Always have several different exercises in a workout that targets muscles all over the body. This is not bodybuilding where you target back and biceps on one day, legs on one day and chest/triceps on another day.
With bodyweight workouts, you want full-body workouts so that your entire body is trained and you get a huge boost in your metabolic rate.
* Short rest periods
Since you’re trying to lose weight, keep your rest periods short. About 15 to 30 seconds of rest a set should suffice. Ideally, you should aim for a 15-second rest per 45 seconds of work.
If you rest too long, the effectiveness of the workout when it comes to burning fat will drop. It’ll still be beneficial to your muscles, but if you want the workout to burn fat at an accelerated rate, it has to be fast.
* Work the legs
Include exercises such as squats, lunges, box jumps, pistol squats , etc. The more you work your legs, the more calories you’ll burn. Your entire body will also get stronger and the fat loss will be faster.
* Alternate days
Don’t train every day. This will make your body sore and tax your central nervous system. Train on an alternate day. For example, Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
* Don’t work sore muscles
If you’re feeling very sore even after a day of rest, take another daybreak. As long as your diet is on point and you’re at a caloric deficit, you will lose weight. If any isolated muscle is sore but you can still do a workout, then just avoid doing exercises that hit the muscles that are sore.
* Use additional equipment
Add resistance bands, ankle weight, TRX cables, etc. to your bodyweight workouts to make them more challenging. In this way, your performance will improve. You’ll get fitter and lose more weight.
Follow the 9 pointers above and your bodyweight training regimen will be more rewarding. This is a very effective style of training and it will work wonders for your health and fitness if you work it.
