Bodyweight Training: The ultimate gym alternative

While bodyweight training was relatively unknown in Europe until a few years ago, the trend suddenly gained rapid popularity, especially through the U.S. "Ghetto Workout". Training took place in the city parks of large cities or in so-called outdoor gyms. Over the years, new sports elements from gymnastics, breakdance and parkour were added to the "ghetto workouts". Combined, this resulted in a very unique orientation that bore the name Calisthenics and was proud to call New York its sporting home.

Via YouTube and Facebook, the bodyweight workout became accessible to an even wider audience. The toned bodies of "Hannibal for King," Frank Medrano and many other sports heroes of the street were admired by millions. New social media stars were born and developed a pull for the new self-weight sport, which had an effect all over the world. Today, strength training with one's own body is a serious competitor to conventional training in fitness studios.

Hardly any strength training variant has as many advantages as training at home. First, the exercises can be performed anywhere with your own body weight. Expensive equipment is not required. So you save long travel times and are spared crowded studio classes. The training itself is also completely free.

If you mainly do bodyweight exercises such as pull-ups, squats and push-ups, you train in an extremely functional way and prepare your body optimally for the challenges of everyday life. In contrast to workouts on machines, bodyweight workouts always target entire muscle chains and not just individual muscle groups. So you train the natural movement patterns of the body. The deep muscles are also optimally stressed during the exercises with your own body weight. Especially the torso area has a great importance for our health and is involved in almost all exercises.

It's no wonder, then, that training with one's own body weight is increasingly outpacing classic strength training in the gym.

One of the most important pioneers in the success story of the modern training concept is the American Mark Lauren. The best-selling author and former martial artist recognized the advantages of strength training with one's own body already during his time in the military in the 1990s and, as an instructor, revised the fitness programs of special units. He went on to publish books such as "You Are Your Own Gym" and "Body By You," which have sold millions of copies worldwide.

Bodyweight training is becoming increasingly popular and the benefits are no surprise. You improve your endurance effectively and in a varied way, and your body control is also strengthened in a targeted manner.

Below we answer frequently asked questions about bodyweight training.

The Ghetto Workout is the foundation for bodyweight training. The workouts are performed exclusively with your own bodyweight and consist of exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups and crunches.

Calisthenics training is suitable for improving endurance and developing body control. The muscles are also strengthened, although this form of training does not replace classic dumbbell training for muscle building.

You save the trip to the gym, achieve a higher intensity with shorter training intervals and work effectively on your body control. But most importantly, you burn calories and stay in shape.