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Did you know that you don’t necessarily have to pick up a weight to get a good workout in? Using your bodyweight can be just as tough and rewarding. Here are some of the best bodyweight exercises for your body parts:
Chest/Triceps
Very little needs to be said on this matter; everyone knows that the push-up is a great bodyweight exercise for your chest. The great thing about push-ups is that there’s room for alterations. You can drop your knees down if you’re unable to do a normal push-up. You can do clapping push-ups if you find normal ones too easy. You could even try one handed ones if you’re arong enough.
Also, you can alter the angle of your body to target different parts of the chest. Put your feet on a bench and do incline push-ups to target more of your upper chest.
Or, if you bring your hands in close and do a push-up, you’ll be targeting your triceps more. This is actually one of the best tricep exercises you can do.
Shoulders
For shoulders, you can do a variation of a push-up. It’s called the pike push up and starts off in the classic downward facing dog yoga pose. You then let your forehead drop close to the floor then push back upwards. It can be tricky to get the movement right, but when you do you really feel it in your delts.
Alternatively, you can do a handstand presses if you’re experienced and strong enough. Do your handstand up against a wall for safety and stability.
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Back
One of the best exercises you can do for your back is the pull-up. It’s a simple movement that involves grabbing a bar overhead and pulling yourself up off the ground.
Of course, pull-ups are a hard exercise to do, and not everyone can do them. If you can’t do a pull-up, or don’t have any way to do on in the home, do an inverted row instead. This is a much easier exercise to do, and you can alter the difficulty based on where you place your legs. If you’re in the gym, you just need access to a squat rack or smith machine to do this.
Biceps
Bodyweight exercises for the biceps are similar to the back. The best one is called a chin up. It’s like a pull up only you grab the bar with an underhand grip. Plus, you should focus on using your biceps to curl your chin up over the bar.
Likewise, you can do inverted chin curls, which are similar to the inverted row. But, you grab with the underhand grip and use your arms to curl your body up. This is an absolute killer, and your biceps will soon feel pumped.
Legs
The best bodyweight exercise for legs is squats. Doing loads of squat variations is a great idea to build leg strength without needing weights. You can do jump squats for an extra challenge, or one legged squat if you feel up to the challenge.
Another favourite bodyweight exercise is the lunge. There are many lunge variations that are fantastic for strengthening legs and building muscle.
