The best bodyweight exercises — no equipment necessary

Bodyweight exercises don’t require any equipment, and you can power up in the comfort of your own home. Worthwhile bodyweight exercises help you enhance your strength and endurance as well as your ability to perform your daily functional activities. From the bear crawl to the glute bridge and the triceps dip, read on for the best bodyweight exercises to include in your workout routine. 

What are bodyweight exercises?

Bodyweight exercises are strength training movements that involve using your body’s weight as the resistance instead of grabbing a dumbbell or kettlebell. Instead of external resistance, bodyweight training uses your own bodyweight as the resistance. You can target multiple muscle groups and build strength and stability over time. 

What are the benefits of bodyweight exercises?

Here are some of the many benefits of bodyweight exercises:

• They allow you to ease into using weights if you’re a beginner. 
• Exercise releases mood-boosting endorphins, so it’s a good idea to get your blood pumping.
• Improve core stability, flexibility, and balance.
• Support good posture.
• Work multiple muscle groups at the same time.
• Improve your ability to perform your everyday functional tasks.
• Build muscle.
• Improve speed and endurance.
• No equipment or gym membership is required.
• Do them at home or anywhere.

Are bodyweight exercises effective for building muscle?

Bodyweight exercises are effective for building muscle because your muscles are working under tension. In fact, they can be just as constructive as training with weights as long as you have good form and you continue challenging your muscles with repetition. Anyone can benefit from these classic bodyweight exercises, and they’re an excellent way to work on your strength and cardio at the same time with one repeated movement. Research shows simple bodyweight training improves cardiorespiratory fitness.

Adding weights is also beneficial because, at some point in time, your body will get used to the amount of resistance, which inhibits further muscle growth.

The best bodyweight exercises

Accelerating the pace on mountain climbers or burpees gets your blood pumping and continues to challenge your most important muscles. You don’t even need to grab a set of dumbbells to get started. Here are the best bodyweight exercises to try: 

Bear crawl

You’ve been crawling since you were a baby, so why stop now when there are plenty of benefits? The bear crawl involves balance and coordination and works nearly every muscle in your body, including your shoulders, chest, back, glutes, quads, hamstrings, obliques, and core. Comprehensive agility workouts often include the bear crawl, and research reveals that agility drills can help athletes meet the changing physical demands of various phases of training.

How to do a bear crawl:

1. Start on all fours in the tabletop position.
2. Engage your core and lift your knees one or two inches off the ground.
3. Try to keep your glutes in line with your back.
4. Move your right hand forward while moving your left foot forward at the same time to start crawling.
5. Now, do the same movement with your left hand and right foot.
6. Continue crawling forward and try to make sure your knees are just above the ground throughout the movement.

Burpees

Most people have heard of burpees, whether or not you’re a gym enthusiast. This full-body calisthenics exercise is basically a push-up followed by a leap up into the air. Burpees can enhance your cardio fitness and burn calories while working your back, arms, legs, chest, and glutes.

How to do a burpee:

1. Start in a squat position with your feet about shoulder-distance apart.
2. Place your hands on the floor in front of you, just inside your feet.
3. Lean your weight onto your hands and kick your feet back behind you so you’re in the pushup position, resting your weight on your hands and toes.
4. Try to keep your body in a straight line from your head to your heels.
5. Perform one pushup before frog kicking or jumping your feet back into the squat starting position.
6. Jump to stand while reaching your arms up overhead.
7. When you land softly with your knees bent, get back down into the squat position, and you can begin another rep.

Top tip: Try jumping up onto a box to up the ante.

Chin-ups

Chin-ups are a powerlifter favorite where you lift your entire body weight up until your chin is level with the bar. You should add this compound exercise to your routine when you want to hit your biceps and pectoral muscles and multiple muscle groups across your upper body. You’ll also have better grip strength over time.

How to do a chin-up:

1. Grip the pull-up bar with your hands shoulder-distance apart and your palms facing toward you.
2. As you hang in the starting position, your arms should be straight.
3. Brace your core and pull your entire body up to the bar until your chin is level with or just over the bar.
4. Pause for a second before lowering yourself back down with control until you reach the starting position.
5. Repeat for your desired number of reps.

Tricep dips

Tricep dips are a leading player when it comes to swelling your triceps. Your tricep muscles are even bigger than your biceps, and this compound bodyweight exercise will give you a real triceps workout. You use the strength of your triceps and arm muscles to lift your body weight up and down again. Tricep dips also work your back, shoulders, and core. You can use a bench, box, chair, or parallel bars to perform tricep dips.

How to do a tricep dip:

1. Stand between the parallel bars and grip the bars with your elbows bent.
2. Lift your body up vertically while straightening your arms.
3. Lower your body down with control by bending your elbows until your arms are roughly at a 90-degree angle and parallel to the floor. Avoid flaring out your elbows, and try to keep them tucked in closer to your body.
4. Try to keep your torso upright and your core engaged.
5. Push down through your hands and lift your body back up again by straightening your arms.
6. Repeat for your desired number of repetitions.

Top tip: Try to avoid hunching your shoulders and locking your elbows.

Glute bridge

As the name suggests, the glute bridge works your glutes and improves core and spine stability. The glute bridge is a simple bodyweight exercise where you lie on the floor, bend your knees, and thrust your hips up toward the ceiling. You hold the position while engaging your glutes and core. Studies show glute bridges also activate and strengthen your erector spinae, which is a set of muscles in your back that allow you to straighten, bend, and rotate your spine.

How to do a glute bridge:

1. Lay on your back on the floor with your feet flat on the floor and your knees bent. Your feet should be about hip-distance apart, and your arms should be by your sides, with your palms facing up.
2. Engage your core, squeeze your glutes, push through your heels, and lift your hips up high to the ceiling.
3. Try not to arch your back. Continue to lift up until your body forms a straight line from your head to your knees.
4. Hold the position for a moment before slowly lowering your hips back down to the ground to the starting position.
5. Repeat for your desired number of repetitions.

Lunge with hip opener

Warm up your lower body and stretch your ankles, calves, hip flexors, and hamstrings with the lunge with hip opener. You’ll feel a deep stretch and increase circulation in your legs. The lunge with hip opener works your core, glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors, quads, and calves.

How to do a  lunge with hip opener:

1. Stand with your feet about hips-distance apart.
2. Step one foot in front of you and bend your front knee to about 90 degrees.
3. Start lowering your back knee down to the ground. Try to keep your weight more on your front foot.
4. Hold your balance and keep your foot in place while opening your front knee slightly out to the side.
5. Repeat the movement on the other side.

Box jump

There’s something primal about jumping from the ground up onto a box. The box jump boosts your explosive power, speed, and jumping abilities. It’s also a superior choice for working your lower body and burning those calories. You’ll target your core, hamstrings, quads, glutes, and calves. 

How to do a box jump:

1. Stand facing the box with your feet hip-width apart and about 6 inches away from the box.
2. Bend your knees, press back into your hips, and move your arms back behind you to help generate jumping power.
3. Press through the balls of your feet to jump straight up into the air while swinging your arms up and forward.
4. You’re trying to get enough jumping power to jump up onto the box.
5. At the peak of your jump, try to make sure you bend your knees and hips to bring yourself forward to land safely with both feet on top of the box.
6. When you land on the box your feet should be about hips-distance apart in the right position. 
7. Carefully step down off the box and repeat for your desired number of reps.

Top tip: After you warm up, start with box jumps before you hit the strength training part of your workout. That way, you will have more stamina and feel fresher when taking on the jumping challenge.

Superman

The Superman exercise propels your fitness to new heights and targets your lower back muscles, glutes, and hamstrings. You lie face down on the ground with your legs straight and your arms extended overhead. Including exercises like the Superman into your workout routine gives you spinal support and better posture over time.

How to do a superman:

1. Lie facedown on the floor in a prone position with your legs straight and your arms extended out in front of you. 
2. Try to keep your head neutral and slowly lift your arms and legs about 6 inches up off the ground until you resemble the Superman pose when he’s flying through the air. You’ll feel your lower back muscles contracting. 
3. Try to engage your core and glutes and squeeze your shoulder blades at the same time.
4. The goal is to lift your belly button just a little bit off the floor.
5. Hold the position for a few seconds before carefully lowering your arms, belly, and legs back down to the ground.
6. Repeat for your desired number of reps.

Top tip: Try to avoid lifting your head or hyperextending your neck during this movement, which can lead to neck pain.