The Five Bodyweight Exercises You Should Know... And Do!

Hi, my name is Trent, @tzonedevlin, and for the last 10 years I have been helping people just like you achieve their fitness goals, whether that be losing weight, gaining muscle, competing in sports events or even just posing on the beach.
I have a real passion for fitness and I feel that I'd like to impart some of my knowledge to help you move from the unfit, effort shy, gym bunny, paying monthly fees to corporate fitness vampires into an all-terrain, all-weather, all-location fitness machine.

There are as many different types of exercises as there are training fads promoted by air headed celebrities that are designed to lighten your wallet

But out of those thousands of different moves you can do, which ones are the best? Which ones should form the basis of any training routine? This article is about:

The Five Bodyweight Exercises You Should Know... And Do!

So here we go, starting with the biggest and the baddest, the all-powerful, total leg worker, the Squat!

Not that type of Squat!

The Squat is an exercise that engages a multitude of muscles, from the Quads and the Glutes to the hamstrings and the lower back, it even works the core.
The mastery of the bodyweight squat should be the cornerstone of any functional bodyweight training plan.

How to do it?
Stand in a neutral stance with your feet shoulder width apart and toes pointing forward. Engage your core muscles, then keeping you chin and head up looking straight ahead bend at the knees. Keeping your back straight lower yourself until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor. Then reverse the movement to bring you back to your starting position. Well done!

Is that a bit easy for you?
Well it's simple enough to make it harder and you don't have to add any weights or equipment. Do the same exercise with one leg off the ground! Still too easy? Add an explosive cardio element by jumping as high as you can at the top of the movement! Still too easy? Do it on one leg and add the jump!

Now you can Squat let's move on to one of the favourites of Hollywood film training shots,

Ladies and Gentlemen, helping you flex out your t-shirt since time immemorial, I give you: The Press Up!

Welcome to it...!

The press up is a powerful compound move that engages nearly all of the upper body muscle groups, primarily the chest and triceps, but also the shoulders and core.
There are so many press up variations that making yourself familiar with the basic movement opens up a myriad of training possibilities some of which can look very impressive!

Show off!

How to do it?
Lie face down on the floor with your hands by your sides. Bring your hands up and place them palm down on the floor beside your shoulders. Engage your core muscles to keep your body straight, then push down to lever your body upwards. Once your arms are fully extended and your body straight, this is the press up start position. Bending at the elbows, keeping you core engaged and back straight, lower your body until your chest is about an inch from the floor. Then push against the floor to raise your body back to the starting position and you're done!

So you're thinking 'that's a bit easy' Okay, keep one foot in the air for the entire movement. Still too easy (no pleasing some people!)? Push up explosively so that you hands leave the ground and clap them together before the momentum and gravity smash you into the ground!

So, now that you're a Squatting, Press up machine we'll move on to an exercise beloved of military training camps around the world and the second half of our t-shirt busting duo: The Pull Up

The pull up works all the major muscle groups in the back and the arms, it even works the core. The basic pull up not only gives you an impressive looking back but also helps to improve your posture.

How to do it?
Hang from a pull up bar/sturdy tree branch/dooframe/piece of scaffolding/tall friends outstretched arm with an overhand grip that is slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Let your body hang completely, if you are one of the aforementioned tall friends and your feet touch the floor bend your knees so your feet are behind you. From this start position, you guessed it, engage your core.
Then, contracting the muscles in your back, pull yourself up with your arms until your chest is in line with your hands. Then, under control (no dropping), lower yourself back to the start position. Your lower body should be kept still at all times, no swinging backwards and forwards! No frog-legging (you know what I'm talking about)!
Easy huh? Make it a little harder by widening your grip. Still too easy? Use you abdominal muscles to hold your legs straight out in front of you while performing the exercise.

Those three exercises in various formats and styles will take care of most of your body and work nearly every muscle group

Now on to my personal favourite exercise, and this one will have you sweating into your eyes if you do enough correctly: The Burpee

Deodorise bro!

The Burpee is a total body exercise that works your muscles and also your cardiovascular system, it’s the grand pappy of exercises and an almost all-in-one fitness beast.
There are two main types with almost endless variations to add difficulty: The 6 Point Burpee and the Competition Burpee. We will focus on the 6 Point Burpee (or as many like to call it the ‘proper Burpee’). The Burpee combines elements of a Squat, a Press up, a Squat thrust and a Squat Jump, sounds like fun right?

Don't be afraid it sounds worse than it is... almost!

How to do it?
Start from a neutral standing position, engage your core then Squat down until your hands can touch the floor palms down, shoulder width apart. Then thrust both legs out together behind you so you end up in the Press up start position. Perform a Press Up then pull your legs back in together until your knees are under your chest, then explode upwards into a jump landing back in your neutral stance starting position. That’s a Burpee, easy once you know how. Right?
Is that a little too easy for you, you lean green fitness machine? At the top of the jump bring your knees up as high as possible. Still too easy? Before the Press up perform a Mountain Climber...

Perform... not become!

Bringing us nicely on to our fifth exercise: The Mountain Climber

The Mountain Climber is a lovely relaxing exercise that, when performed correctly, will work the core, glutes, quads and hamstrings. It can also challenge the stability muscles in your arms and chest.

I said ‘when performed correctly!’

How to do it?
Adopt the press up start position. Engage your core, keeping your core engaged bring your right knee up to your right elbow and then return it to the start position. Do the same with your left knee. This is one repetition.
Couldn’t be easier! So, to make it harder bring your right leg up to your left elbow and vice versa. If you really want to give some oomph, perform the down part of a press up as you bring the knee up and the up part as you return to the starting position.

So there you have it,

The 5 Bodyweight exercises you should know... and do!

You can build these into a workout by doing multiple reps of each in a circuit or add sets of them to you existing training programme. Have fun!

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