We received a question about what type of training is possible without any equipment, with a focus on getting leaner. This is an excellent question, as the lack of equipment often stops many people from exercising. However, bodyweight exercises can be an extremely effective and versatile tool in your fitness arsenal. These are exercises that you can do anywhere - at home, in the office, or when travelling. Their versatility means that you can always manage to fit in a workout.
Gymnasts train exclusively with bodyweight exercises...
Bodyweight exercises often have an undeserved reputation for being easy and are sometimes ignored by weightlifters. There are many different bodyweight exercises possible, many of which are extremely challenging. Most exercises can also be modified to increase the challenge or to make them easier. You can also modify the number of reps, your workout style, and rest periods to adapt the workout to your capacity and goals.
Bodyweight exercises are actually an ideal way to begin working out, as you can learn basic exercise movement patterns before adding weight or modifying the exercise to make it more challenging. When you consider that gymnasts often train exclusively with bodyweight exercises, it becomes rather silly to think of this as an ineffective way of building serious strength and fitness.
To respond to the question, we immediately thought of circuit-training. Why, you ask? Circuit-training is an efficient style of working out which can minimize the rest period in between exercises. By picking compound, multi-muscle group exercises with minimal rest, you will maximize the intensity and your fitness gains.
For the average person, we would recommend picking anywhere from 4 to 6 exercises and performing 2 to 3 circuits. Of course you can increase the number of exercises or circuits to increase the challenge, or decrease them to make it easier (or to fit into your schedule). On average, you could aim for 10-15 repetitions per exercise, but again do more to challenge yourself or less if this is too hard. Over time, you will want to increase the number of reps you perform, the overall number of exercises, or decrease the rest periods you take. This is how you will measure progress.
This video is a demonstration of a 5-exercise circuit-training workout, using only bodyweight exercises. Check it out!
We hope this answered the question and can give many of you without equipment at home a new workout to try. Let us know how it goes and keep the questions coming!
- Tannys & Alex
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