fitness
5 tips to make your bodyweight training even more effective
© Jacob Lund / Adobe Stock
Fitness training without weights is not only extremely practical, but can also be very effective. Especially if you keep these things in mind when doing bodyweight training.
In order to have strong and healthy muscles and bones, strength training is essential. Most people think of exercises with weights, especially with dumbbells. You can do something for yours even without expensive equipment do fitness and your health. Bodyweight training is much more effective than most people think – and with a few tips you can get the most out of your workout.
These tips will make your bodyweight training even more effective
1. Compound exercises
A very good tip for good bodyweight training are so-called compound exercises. You activate more than one muscle group and get the most out of each individual exercise. Squats, lunges, push-ups, mountain climbers or burpees fall into this category and are very well suited for your workout without any equipment.
2. Slow, controlled movements
In order to make your exercises as effective as possible, you should do each one as slowly and controlled as possible. Eight to twelve seconds is a good guideline for one repetition of an exercise. In this way you keep your muscles under tension for the longest possible time and thus increase the intensity of your workout.
3. Vary the pace
To add even more momentum to your bodyweight training, you can vary the speed with pulsating movements. For example, you practice four slow repetitions of an exercise, followed by four fast, pulsating ones – always alternating. For pulsing, you should ideally choose the point where the exercise is most difficult to hold. So you will feel the effect of your training without any additional weight.
4. Increase number of repetitions
Compared to training with dumbbells, for example, you will need more repetitions of a single exercise for the same effect. For example, if you normally practice lunges with weights on your legs and repeat the exercise 16 times, you could practice the variation with just your body weight (at least) 24 times. So you don’t lose any fitness effect.
5. Unilateral exercises The squat is even more intense on just one leg. © Antonio Diaz / Adobe Stock
To intensify the effect of individual exercises, you can do them on one side. For example, you could practice squats on just one leg. To do this, you lift the passive leg straight and bend your knees with the power of the active leg and come back up. In this way you intensify the muscle strength that is required for the exercise – without any additional weight.
Sources used: verywellfit.com, healthline.com