Bodyweight Workouts Can be Just as Good as Weights
As part of Fitness February, I wanted to make a post dedicated to just body weight workouts. My one friend is sick and isn’t allowed to use weights for six weeks, so she asked me for some tips on exercises to do without weights. I thought I would share it on here with everyone who wanted some more good workouts without any weights!
I will go over some exercise tips for each muscle group including core, back, chest, bicep, tricep, and legs. The TRX exercises listed can be done in moderation, and I will explain in the description.
Core:
oblique twists on stabilization ball: Lay on your back on the stabilization ball so your shoulders are resting in the middle of the ball, making sure your legs are shoulder width apart. Then raise your arms straight in the air and bring your hands to touch. Then, bring arms down to the left and let your torso follow with it. Then bring your arms back to the middle and realign the core, then bring to the other side and repeat. If that seems too easy, then just bring your arms back towards your head and trying it again.
TRX standing planks: Put your hands in the handles of the TRX and raise your arms so they are over your head. Step out until the straps are almost straightened and lean into the straps, making sure your glutes are squeezed to activate the core more. Make sure your shoulders are down and don’t go up. If that is too easy, then step in one step so you are more towards the ground and repeat the same steps. Modification: staying at a standing up position so it’s less difficult.
Plank on stabilization ball: Put your legs on the center of the stabilization ball and you can either go on your elbows or hands and hold. If that is too easy then you can move your legs towards your chest.
Back:
push ups on stabilization ball: With your legs in the same position as the plank on the ball, this time you are on your hands and just go down and up like a normal push up.
TRX T hold: Holding the handles in the air, making sure the straps are straightened, make a T with your arms and then bring them in so the handles are touching and then bring them out to a T position again. Modification: staying at the standing up position instead of walking in a step to make it easier.
swimmers on a mat: Laying on your stomach, lift up both arms and legs and flutter them both like you would be if you were swimming. You can modify it by only lifting the opposite arm and leg in the air and alternating between the two.
Biceps:
TRX arm curls: holding the handles making a 90 degree angle with your arms, do curls. The more you are standing at an angle, the harder the curls will be. If you need a modification, then just stand up straighter with the TRX so there’s less tension.
modified push ups: Instead of doing push ups on your feet, bend your legs so they are on the ground and do push ups that way. You can change up the push ups by changing your grip to either a diamond shape, fingers angled straight, or fingers angled out.
Triceps:
TRX tricep kick backs: Holding the handles and standing at a bit of an incline, do a tricep kick back. Make sure that the handles are not together and your shoulders are down. Modification: bringing the handles together will make the kick backs easier.
Bench tricep dips: On a bench, line up your arms with the edge of the bench and walk legs out one or two feet (the further you go out, the more difficult the tricep dip will be). The triceps dips should be smaller on the way down and a burst on the way up to target the tricep.
tricep kickback on stabilization ball: With stomach in center of stabilization ball, extend your arms from 90 degrees to straight and pause for a second to get in the tricep.
Legs:
TRX lunge: Holding onto the TRX for balance support, lunge with one leg (making sure that the knee doesn’t go over the foot), and then switch to the other side. To make it more difficult, you can bring the back leg back and not let the foot touch the ground until it is back to the starting position. Modification: making the movement separate by relying on the TRX more for balance support.
Glute with roller: Get a foam roller(preferably a longer one), and put one end of it against the front of your sneaker while holding the other end down with your hand. Then kick the leg with the roller in the arm and hold it there, doing pulses. If you push down on the other end with your arm, you can target your triceps as well as your glutes.
calf raises on elevated surface: standing on an elevated surface, like a bench or a little elevated surface on the edge of the cable machine, hold onto something for balance as you stand at the edge of the surface. Then let your heels go down until they can’t anymore, pause for a second, and bring your heels all the way up so you are on your tip toes. Bring your heels down slowly, then quickly bring them up again.
I hope you find these workouts helpful and get stronger with using them!