Good bodyweight exercises for beginners?

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EmmaHardy17
EmmaHardy17 Posts: 4 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm currently a student and I run four times a week. I'm just looking for some strength training I can do once or twice a week to supplement my running and keep me fit. I don't own weights and my university gym is a hassle to get to as I don't live close to campus so I was wondering if anyone could recommend some good bodyweight exercises/videos for beginners? I have some strength since I'm in decent shape but I could do with starting from the basics with this. Thanks!

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  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
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    Log on to Fitness Blender and search Body Weight routines.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,191 Member
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    Get You Are Your Own Gym by Mark Lauren or "Convict Conditioning" (not sure on the author. Both are good books on bodyweight training.
  • HamsterManV2
    HamsterManV2 Posts: 449 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Reddit's bodyweight fitness will have what you are looking for.
    REDDIT wrote:
    Strength work (~40 minutes)

    Pairing two exercises means doing a set of the first exercise, then resting 90 seconds, then doing a set of the second exercise and resting 90 seconds, and then repeating until you've done all sets of that pair.
    You can rest anywhere from 90 seconds to 3 minutes between pairs, whatever you like.
    All exercises are to be done in a 10x0 tempo. That means 1 second down, no pause at the bottom, explode up and no pause at the top. When "exploding up", it's the intent that matters. If the actual movement is slow, that doesn't matter. Just don't artificially slow it down.

    First Pair
    If you can't do diamond pushups and horizontal rows yet (you haven't met the criteria listed on the exercise page), simply skip these for now.
    3x5-8 Pullup progression
    paired with
    3x5-8 Dipping progression

    Second Pair
    We recommend doing barbell work for legs. If you have access to barbells (and a squat rack), see below on how to incorporate this in the routine.
    3x5-8 Squat Progression
    paired with
    3x10sec-30sec L-sit Progression

    Third Pair
    3x5-8 Pushup progression
    paired with
    3x5-8 Row Progression

    This is just a portion of it, read the whole thing, especially the progression (so you can start at your level)

    Edit: Here is a cheat sheet you can print and leave in your work out area.
  • EmmaHardy17
    EmmaHardy17 Posts: 4 Member
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    Thanks guys! Any more suggestions are welcome :)
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    Squats, lunges, push-ups, narrow grip push-ups, planks, tricep dips, supermans, glute bridges
  • rickyll
    rickyll Posts: 188 Member
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    aggelikik wrote: »
    Squats, lunges, push-ups, narrow grip push-ups, planks, tricep dips, supermans, glute bridges

    Yup!
    If there's a playground or something nearby you can go there to do all of the above workouts as well as have room to do any cardio or HIIT (sprints etc). Plus you can use the monkey bars for pull ups, chin ups, dips etc.
  • questionfear
    questionfear Posts: 527 Member
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    Reddit's routine or You Are Your Own Gym.

    FYI the Reddit routine does have a free app on both Android and iOS.
  • EmmaHardy17
    EmmaHardy17 Posts: 4 Member
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    You guys are gems, thank you so much!

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