subject: Bodyweight Exercises Should Be A Part Of Any Weight Training Routine [print this page] Every single person that is involved in a weight training routine should, to some degree, incorporate bodyweight exercises into that routine. It does not matter if you are weight training for tennis, football, soccer, baseball, skateboarding, rugby, parkour, volleyball, track and field, basketball, and bodybuilding or just for the sake of staying healthy. These exercises are wonderfully effective for any and all athletes looking to improve their physique and fitness levels.
Depending on your goals, the amount to which you include bodyweight exercises will vary but again they are an absolute must for anyone or any athlete looking to get the most out of their weight training routines. A soccer, basketball or volleyball player for instance would rely very heavily on bodyweight exercises and should incorporate these exercises much more so than would a bodybuilder. With that said any bodybuilder would be doing themselves a great disservice if they did not incorporate the same bodyweight exercises into their regimen at least one day a month in lieu of a light weight, high rep day at the gym. The reason for this is simple and that is because someone that is accustomed to lifting tremendous amounts of weight and whose muscle memory is accustomed to the same should switch things up and shock the muscles every so often.
Some other nice aspects of these exercises is that they are safer, easier on the joints, and allow for a more natural and full range of motion than weighted exercises. And when I speak of bodyweight exercises I am not speaking exclusively of high rep exercises like bodyweight squats and pushups (although both of these are wonderful, functional exercises that everyone should be doing). You can really test yourself with some bodyweight exercises like the hand stand pushup, performed while doing a hand stand against a wall for balance, and then lowering yourself until the top of your head is touching the ground and then extending your arms and raising yourself back up. The vast majority of humans on this planet could not perform 1 rep of this exercise so I assure you performing such an exercise will usually be a high weight, low rep situation for most.
You can also be extremely creative when it comes to bodyweight exercises. For example, change angles on a basic pushup by putting your feet on a chair and you target and stimulate a completely different set of muscle fibers than you would doing a traditional, feet on the ground pushup. And you can perform these exercises anywhere and with any amount of space available. So please strongly consider bodyweight exercises and how to fit them into your current weight training routine.
