You don’t always have to lift heavy weights or use big machines to get results. You can level up your strength and fitness with bodyweight training. I love bodyweight training because it’s simpler and functional, and you can jump right into it after a little stretching and warming up. Walking lunges are challenging but one of my favorites for fine-tuning my fitness, and I’m still a fan of the good old-fashioned squat.
Research reveals that bodyweight training enhances cardiorespiratory fitness. Researchers also found that just 10 weeks of bodyweight training significantly increased explosive strength of the lower extremities, so there are plenty of reasons to give these moves a try. Even some of the most experienced powerlifters and legendary fighters still incorporate bodyweight exercises in their workout routines, particularly high-rep bodyweight training. This method is increasingly popular because it enhances your resilience, endurance, functional fitness, and strength over time.
Why high-reps?
As trainer Adam Sinicki emphasizes, the idea is to take your muscles close to total failure and focus on frequency and volume with specific bodyweight movements. Sinicki points out that when you go long enough, slow-twitch fibers begin to fail, pushing your body to recruit larger and more powerful fast-twitch fibers. Fast-twitch fibers stimulate muscle growth, even with just your body weight or lighter weight.
High-rep bodyweight training can fuel muscle growth
Researchers have found that short-term bodyweight squat training, even with 8-12 maximum repetitions, can yield significant positive results in promoting muscle growth, which aligns with previous research. Higher reps could potentially amplify these results, while further enhancing your endurance.
Breaking through plateaus
Of course, over time, you might reach a plateau, at which point you might consider incorporating progressive overload if you really want to maximize your muscle-building potential. With progressive overload, you use weights and gradually increase the weight as you develop strength.
Concluding thoughts
Maximizing time under tension and working close to failure has been shown to yield the most optimal outcome when it comes to bulking up those muscles using only your body weight. Sinicki discusses The Henneman Size Principle, stating that your body only recruits these larger motor units when necessary.
Pushing through those higher reps forces your body to recruit muscle fibers that are typically only fired up when doing heavy lifting. Sticking to your high-rep bodyweight training strengthens your tendons, connective tissue, ligaments, and muscles, which helps with injury prevention and your ability to do your day-to-day tasks and activities.
Don’t worry about powering through a hundred pushups right away. Instead, try to work with daily targets that are suitable and attainable for you, whether that’s 50 dips or more. You can work each set close to failure and modify exercises as you go along to help you push through. Anyway, I think it’s time for some rounds of squats, lunges, and bench dips instead of sitting here on my butt.
