Our health awareness has increased enormously in recent years and more and more people are taking care of themselves. Training with your own bodyweight sets new standards here - it's not just about lifting dumbbells for hours in the gym, but feeling good overall and also being mentally fit.
Bodyweight workouts are a strong alternative especially for people with little time, because only a few minutes are needed for the sport - the short workout has a corresponding effect on the quality of life and especially on the well-being. A good work-life balance is essential and creates an effective balance to the stressful working life.
- Flexible in time, place and equipment
- Bodyweight training is free
- High intensity training saves time
- Suitable for any fitness level
- Low risk of injury
- Bodyweight training is one of the functional fitness trends
- Environment, exercises & speed can be flexibly adapted
- Bodyweight training is versatile & varied
- No hurdles for beginners
- Improves mental & physical health
While most gyms have lavish equipment parks, this special equipment is missing in your own four walls. Even when traveling, it is usually not available. Since bodyweight training does not require any equipment, the fitness athlete is independent of time and place. He trains when and where he feels like it.
The Bodyweight Workout is easy on your wallet in many ways. Especially when traveling, you don't have to pay the often steep daily rates for visiting a local gym. If you forego the gym altogether in favor of training with your own body weight (which also has its disadvantages), you save on all fees and possible travel costs. However, there is no need to invest in new fitness equipment for the home, as it is not required for self-weight training.
For many recreational athletes, saving time is the most important argument of all. You reduce your gym visits to a minimum, perhaps to one or two visits per week, and compensate for the rest of the workout with a bodyweight workout. Again, this works just as well in your own home as it does in the office, at the park, or on the playground that's deserted in the evenings. Wherever you are, you are always ready to go. There is no loss of time here and the workout itself takes a comparatively short time thanks to the high intensity.
While training on the highly specialized equipment requires both professional training and precise adjustment of the machinery, the necessary hand movements and optimal positions are quickly explained during bodyweight training. The learning phase is eliminated or at least shortened considerably. This is all the more true since many of the simple exercises are already familiar from physical education classes.
Anyone who overestimates themselves in the gym or skimps on professional instruction from a personal trainer runs a high risk of injury. The muscles are quickly overloaded by weights and resistances that are set too high or too many repetitions. Even compared to training with free equipment such as barbells, the risk of injury is lower with bodyweight workouts, if only because they come closest to the natural movement pattern and thus the natural load.
Bodyweight training is one of the so-called functional fitness trends. This means that it is a holistic workout that activates many muscle groups. While many fitness machines are aimed at training specific muscle groups, training with your own body weight benefits the entire body. But most importantly: You feel the training effect immediately in everyday life, since the same movement sequences and muscles are required here. This also makes losing weight easier - in terms of robust health.
Every athlete has his or her very own training terrain, individual exercises, rhythm and pace. Depending on the shape of the day, health and the local conditions, the training is freely scalable. This means it is open to all age groups. The time budget also varies. For seniors in particular, the Bodyweight Workout is therefore an ideal form of training that can be combined with swimming, for example.
The number of bodyweight exercises is basically almost impossible to limit; around 300 are now standard in sports literature. So there is no danger of boredom. But even more important: The physical strain can be scaled within the individual exercise and with the change between the exercises. It makes a big difference, for example, whether the buttocks are tightened during lunges or the muscles burn after sweaty burpees. Both exercises have a training effect and a positive effect on health.
Many a good plan to force oneself into the gym with high monthly fees fails after the initial euphoria because of the inner pig. Suddenly the dates don't fit, a business trip gets in the way and a thousand other plausible-sounding reasons lead from exception to exception. Your bodyweight training plan does not present you with this hurdle. For something that always and everywhere works, there are no arguments not to do it.
Many sports develop their own kind of fascination. In Zumba, it may be the intense experience in the group, and in bouldering, the interplay of mental fiddling and progress on the wall. Bodyweight training also has this momentum. It lies in the exploration of the environment to be used in nature, the feeling for personal performance improvement and also in the comparison with the greats of this guild. Anyone who has seen professionals like the US American Mark Lauren is as fascinated as he is motivated - and simply tries to imitate them.
Flexible in terms of time, cost-effective, good for the body and intensive - the advantages of a bodyweight workout speak for themselves. Especially for busy people, who are busy with work far more than 40 hours a week, benefit from training with their own body weight. Much more important than the physical progress (which improves with every sport) is namely the mental well-being - and even a short training session contributes decisively to this.
Finally, we answer frequently asked questions about the Bodyweight Workout.
If you like your workout intense, you can't do without the following exercises: Burpees, push-ups in different variations, jumping jacks, squats, sit ups, mountain climbers, free biceps curls and calisthenics exercises in general.
Breaks are part of every sport, as they are important for muscle recovery. Beginners should take three breaks with one day in between. Advanced athletes can take a break only after two days of training. Professionals usually train six times a week. How many breaks are needed to avoid muscle soreness depends on the individual and also on other factors (e.g. duration and intensity of training).
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