Do we need the gym in order to lose fat and be healthy? A long time ago, we as humans had no clue what weight lifting or a gym even was. So, in order to stay in shape we used our bodies. Occasionally, using nature to help with strength, but mostly our bodies were doing the work. Using your body for training is a great way to stay lean, burn fat, build endurance, and overall live a healthy life.
CONS
Even though body weight training is great, it’s missing a few key elements. The fact that using your body tends to keep the stress on the muscles almost the same. There are no weights to provide that extra stress in the muscle fibers. If your goal is to gain some strength or build muscle, body weight exercises can only go so far. For example; if you see marathon runners, usually they are just using their bodies and don’t do a lot of lifting. They might be thin, but the muscle definition is not as clear as someone who weight lifts 3 plus days a week.
In order to really make the body weight exercises count, you must switch up the intensity, reps, sets, and rest periods. Another issue that can happen for most people, is body weight exercises can get really boring. After a while you just want something different. Doing the same exercises over and over doesn’t sound fun. Even if you switched a few things up, it can still get boring. As our bodies age, we need strength in our bones and muscles. Body weight programs can only go so far with this. Once you gain enough strength from a body weight exercise, the right way to gain more strength is by using weights, resistance bands, or even machines.
PROS
If you are a beginner or experienced, body weight programs provide a great level of endurance. Body weight programs can provide great benefits from high intensity interval training, balance exercises, core work, post rehab, and much more. When you are starting out, it may be a great idea to add body weight exercises in your routine. This way you are staying active, can learn movements, start slow, and avoid injuries. Doing burpess, jumping jacks, push ups and planks, provides great endurance, helps burn calories, and helps with core strength.
Balance is a big factor when it comes to doing anything, especially as you get older. Standing on one leg and trying to squat is a great way to build some muscle and strength, which helps with balance. Adding HIIT into the mix can be fun and energetic. For example; doing mountain climbers, burpees, push ups, jumping jacks and body weight squats as one round, helps keep the heart rate up, which can help burn fat. If you are not adding some body weight exercises into your routine, you should. Especially balance exercises to help perform other exercises.
As mentioned before, body weight exercises can be beneficial to a point. After a while, you should be adding weight training into the mix to help build muscle, strength, and burn more fat. The only real downside to body weight programs, is the amount of calories being burned and muscle being built. In order to really burn more fat and get that definition, weight training should be in your program. Also, if you are weight lifting it’s important to add body weight exercises into the mix. Certain exercises can help with balance and strength.
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