Best body weight resistance exercises

ThatClintGuy
ThatClintGuy Posts: 54 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
What are your best body weight resistance exercises?
And how many do you do of each?
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Replies

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,915 Member
    edited January 17
    Pullups. The problem is, most untrained people, and especially untrained overweight people, can't do them. This is also the simplest way to work the biceps with bw too, but if you can't do (m)any, that's out. I can do 11, which for my age is rated between Intermediate/Advanced, and for my weight only it's rated Intermediate, so I'm happy with that.
    https://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/pull-ups

    Dips and pushups, especially the dips. I stopped doing dips though because I attributed a bit of shoulder impingement to it. Great exercise, but do be careful.

    In general, I'm not a fan of the principle. You need progressive overload to grow strength and muscle. That typically means increasing weight resistance. It can also mean increasing intensity or reps, but then you can run into the issue of sets taking so long they're too boring and time consuming, and the higher you go above about 15 reps, the harder it is for most people to judge where failure is.

    There's also the factor that you may be reducing bw, which means less resistance over time.

    I recommend joining a gym, or buying a set of adjustable db's and a FID bench as a starter home gym.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 12,525 Member
    This MFP thread includes a section of bodyweight workouts:

    which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you
  • SweatLikeDog
    SweatLikeDog Posts: 322 Member
    Squats, push-ups, pull ups. There are variations for all of these to make them harder. For instance, one-legged squats, handstand push-ups, etc. Also, to make them easier- push-ups on your knees or against a wall, negative pull ups, etc. I like to do 5 sets of 10 for most of these. Good form is critical for results and for preventing injuries.

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