Who says muscles are only built in the gym? You can build them at home with simple bodyweight exercises. Yes, you read that right.
Until now, we believed that lifting several kilos of dumbbells and consuming an adequate amount of protein was enough to build muscle. While there is no denying that protein is essential, dumbbells are not. You have your natural weight with you, i.e. your body mass. So you better put aside the excuse you tell yourself that you don’t have a good gym nearby. You have the gym you need with you: your body weight.
This isn’t to say that they are better than dumbbells, but they are very useful if you use your body weight strategically, which includes challenging your body with each repetition.
We’ll tell you how bodyweight exercises can help you improve your overall fitness by adding muscle. Let’s get started, shall we?
How do bodyweight exercises work?
First things first: You might be surprised to learn that bodyweight exercises do work. So, to make things clearer, you should know that bodyweight exercises involve a lot of pulling, pushing, and jumping. Basically, they involve activities that require you to use your own body weight as resistance. You might be surprised to learn that even the smallest changes you make to those poses, like moving your hands or increasing sets or reps, can make a workout challenging. And remember, muscles only develop when they are challenged.
How do muscles grow?
Before we talk specifically about bodyweight exercises, it’s essential to understand how muscles grow in the first place. Muscle growth, also known as hypertrophy, occurs when muscle fibers are subjected to stress and then repaired, becoming thicker and stronger. This process is usually triggered through resistance or strength training, where muscles are forced to work harder than usual, causing small tears in the muscle tissue. As the body repairs these micro-tears, muscle mass increases.
The most common method of inducing hypertrophy is through weight lifting, but the fundamental principle here is resistance, which can come from a variety of sources, including your own body weight.
The science behind bodyweight exercises
Bodyweight exercises involve using the resistance provided by your body to strengthen your muscles. These exercises often engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously, improving overall functional strength, flexibility, and balance. The key is that your muscles must work against some form of resistance, and bodyweight exercises can be very challenging if executed correctly.
Can bodyweight exercises build muscle?
Yes, bodyweight exercises can build muscle, but this largely depends on how you perform them and how consistent you are. In order to build muscle, the main factors are intensity, volume, and progressive overload. Let’s break these factors down:
Intensity:
Your muscles need to be challenged to create the micro-tears necessary for growth. Many people mistakenly assume that bodyweight exercises lack the intensity needed to achieve hypertrophy. However, exercises like pull-ups or single-leg squats (pistol squats) can be incredibly demanding. The key is to push yourself to the point where your muscles fatigue at the end of each set.
Volume:
Volume refers to the number of sets and reps you perform. A high volume of exercises can induce hypertrophy even without weights. By doing more reps, you increase the total time under tension of the muscle, which helps stimulate growth. For example, doing 3 or 4 sets of pushups with 12 to 15 reps per set can help develop the chest, triceps, and shoulders.
Progressive overload:
Progressive overload is the principle of gradually increasing the resistance or challenge placed on your muscles over time. With bodyweight exercises, this can be achieved by adding more repetitions, modifying the angle of the movement (e.g. elevating your feet during push-ups), or transitioning to more advanced variations such as single-arm push-ups or handstand push-ups. This ongoing challenge is crucial for long-term muscle growth.
Common misconceptions
While bodyweight exercises can be very effective, some misconceptions can lead people to believe that they cannot build significant muscle mass without weights. Here are a few:
“Bodyweight exercises are only for toning, not building muscle”:
This is false. The idea of “toning up” is simply to build muscle while reducing fat. With the right intensity and volume, bodyweight exercises can build muscle just as effectively as weight lifting.
“You cannot perform progressive overload with bodyweight exercises”:
As mentioned above, it is possible to perform progressive overload exercises with bodyweight. By increasing the reps, adjusting the angle of the exercise, or moving on to more advanced variations, you can continually challenge your muscles.
“Bodyweight exercises do not develop lower body muscles”:
While it’s true that exercises like squats may not seem as intense as lifting a loaded barbell, challenging variations like pistol squats or jump squats can be incredibly effective at building strength and muscle in your legs.
Final thoughts
You can certainly build muscle with bodyweight exercises if you approach them with the right intensity, volume, and progressive overload. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to supplement your weightlifting routine, bodyweight training can help you on your path to muscle development. So start with some pushups, squats, and pullups and witness your physique transform through the power of your own body.
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