The Advantages of Bodyweight Exercises

Bodyweight exercises are practical, effective, and low-cost! Whether it be cardiovascular, muscular, or stretching exercises, our bodyweight offers the resistance required to improve our physical condition. It is a simple way of exercising that allows you to work all the muscle of your body at your own rhythm.

Here are some of the benefits* of bodyweight exercises on the body:

Super-effective

This type of exercise does not require any equipment, which means that the transition times between movements are shortened. With shorter pauses, it is easier to maintain a higher heart beat, thus resulting in a higher energy expenditure (burning more calories!).

Available to anyone

These exercises are a good choice because they can be modified easily in order to continually improve your physical condition, whether you are a beginner or a highly-trained athlete: you can change the execution speed, perform more repetitions, or even perfect some moves.

Combine cardio and muscular work in a single workout

By integrating exercises such as burpees, jumping jacks, jump squats, jumping rope, etc. between muscular exercises, you will increase your heart rate while developing your muscular strength and endurance.

Improve flexibility

By performing muscular moves through their whole range of motion, these exercises promote optimal joint mobility. Just as in yoga, bodyweight movements improve flexibility just as much as strength.

Improve core strength

Many bodyweight exercises engage several muscles from the abdominal, lumbar, and hips regions. When your core is stronger, all daily activities and sports become easier, in addition to improvements in your posture.

Experiment bodyweight exercises

Don’t hesitate to experiment with various exercises until you find what works best for you. Seek help from a personal trainer for a complete, varied, and effective workout! You canb also simply integrate a few of these exercises to your current training routine.

For (extreme) exercise examples… watch the following video! For a sample bodyweight-only workout, refer to this weight loss mini-circuit.

*Source: Huffington Post, January 27, 2013 by Dave Smith : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/27/exercises-bodyweight-training_n_2543656.html

The Advantages of Bodyweight Exercises is a post from Nautilus Plus. The Nautilus Plus blog aims to help people in their journey to fitness through articles on training, nutrition, motivation, exercise and healthy recipes.
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