Building muscle using bodyweight?

kenniedk

Can you build muscle using bodyweight only exercises? What are some of the best exercises to do? I don’t have weights at home but I do have booty bands!

Cahgetsfit

Nowhere near as much as you would build using actual weights. You can possibly add some mass to your butt doing all those variation of booty exercises, but yeah, no.

Sorry.

mom23mangos

Much easier for upper body. Check out You Are Your Own Gym.

Tedebearduff

No - end thread

sardelsa

If you area beginner it's easier but you will need to add progressive overload and that can be difficult over time with bodyweight exercises especially for the lower body. You can get creative with your bands, eventually you might want to invest in some dumbbells, kettlebells etc.

DaddieCat

You will need to add progressive overload and even then you'll hit a limit at some point. For example, you can migrate from half pushups to pushups, to planche pushups or handstand pushups, but at some point, you'll max out increasing strength and shift to endurance when you can't add more difficulty. At that point you'll have to add weight to keep progressing.

That said, you can get quite a ways.

You might check out this guys programs in addition to YAYOG mentioned above.

http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/exercise-progressions_12.html (not affiliated, just a pretty ok bodyweight program)

sijomial

"Can you build muscle using bodyweight only exercises? "
Of course as your muscles don't know what they are pulling against: weights, bands, gravity...
But a lot depends on where you are starting from. You have to challenge your muscles beyond their current capabilities.
The difficulty is as your capabilities improve you have to keep progressively overloading and that is more difficult, but not impossible, compared to simply increasing weights on a bar.
For example:
Plank to elbows -> plank to hands -> plank to hands in forward position -> plank with hands in forward position and alternating shoulder taps. Then what?

"What are some of the best exercises to do? I don’t have weights at home but I do have booty bands! "
See list at top of this forum - you probably want a program rather than a random collection of exercises.

It could be start point for you and depending on your goals might get you where you want to be, but it might not as your end goals aren't stated.

kdillingham7718

You can build some muscle but will eventually plateau. You have to continue adding more and more resistance to your workouts to continue to build muscle.
Body weight moves are fantastic for toning though!! Just don't expect to get "swole"

erickirb

check out these bodyweight routines, I believe all or most have progression built in:
You are your own gym
Convict Conditioning
Nerd Fitness Beginner Body Weight Routine
StrongCurves BootyFul
AthleanX

AZTeri2016

I use the TRX at the gym and that uses bodyweight only. Yes, I do use weights as well, but I'd say it's a start so go for it. You will need to add weights though - there are multiple things you can use as weights at home - a gallon of water, bags of flour and sugar, even canned goods for example.

ExistingFish

My DH is trying Tom Merrick's (the Bodyweight Warrior) program, it has a free app that is fantastic.

It is harder to make mass gains, but your body provides plenty of resistance for strength gains, especially in the beginning.