Bodyweight exercises to build muscle – If you want a toned body like Henry Cavill’s, but you are too lazy to hit the gym or it’s closed because of the pandemic, you can get the same results by working out at home. Sounds too good to be true?

What Is Bodyweight Exercise?

Bodyweight exercises are workouts that don’t need the use of any gym equipment or weights. Instead, you use the weight of your body as the source of resistance.

The Benefits of Bodyweight Exercises

■ Saves money

■ Can be done anytime, anywhere

■ Gives better body balance

■ Builds muscles without injuries

■ Improves stability

■ Protects joints

Full Body

Crab Walk

Sit on the floor and keep your feet apart and your knees bent. Put your hands on the floor behind your back. While pushing up your hips, crunch your core tight. Move your opposite arm and leg to start crab-walking without your buttocks touching the ground.

Inchworm

Place a mat on the floor and stand on one edge with your feet slightly apart. Breathe in, and while you breathe out, bend forward from the waist to place your hands on the mat.

With your hands before your feet, inhale and start walking your hands one after the other. Your heels should be off the floor as your hands walk to a plank position.

Go beyond the plank position, walking your hands until they are stretched out in front of you.

Once your body is in a straight line, use your feet to start walking until they reach as close to your hands as possible. You can bend your knees but only slightly.

Come back to the original standing posture by slowly raising your upper body.

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Bear Crawl

Place a mat in front of you and get down on your hands and knees. Lift your knees so that they’re an inch off the ground. Keep your legs hip-width apart and your hands at a shoulder-width distance. Make sure your back is flat.

Keeping the same distance off the ground, move one arm and the opposite leg at the same time to move forward. Repeat with the alternate arm and leg.

Crocodile Crawl

Take a push-up position and keep your hands and legs shoulder-width apart. Put your upper body close to the floor as if you were doing a push-up.

To start crawling, bring your leg very close to your elbow. If you’re starting with the right leg, then bring it close to your right elbow. At the same time, move forward by bringing the opposite arm forward.

Keep moving forward by repeating with the alternate hand and leg and keeping your upper body close to the floor.

Mountain Climber

Assume the plank position. Make sure your toes and hands are taking your body weight evenly to maintain a good balance.

Keep your back straight, your arms at a shoulder-width distance, your abs pulled in, and your head in line with your straight body.

Bring your right knee close to your chest. Then pull out your right knee while you bring your left knee close to your left chest. Make sure not to raise your hips.

Increase the pace of pulling in and out your knees so that you start running. Breathe in and out in tandem with switching your leg.

Frog Stand

Put your hands on the floor beside your toes, aligned with your shoulders, and spread your fingers wide. Put your knees next to your elbows, on the outside. Now bend your elbows a bit.

Lean your knees on your elbows and slowly raise your feet, keeping your focus on the floor.

Planche

The planche needs to be mastered step by step.

Step1: Holding on to the parallel bars, lift yourself off the floor by bending your knees at a 45-degree angle.

Keeping this position, push your shoulders a bit forward while stretching your back. Hold this position for 20 to 30 seconds.

Step 2: Pull out your legs as far as possible. As the gap between your knees and abdomen increases, you will feel more tension in your shoulders. Try to hold this position for 20 to 30 seconds.

Step 3: Pull back one leg at a time while keeping the other one close to your abs. Try to hold this position. Alternate with your other leg. Then go back to the position in step 2.

Step 4: The Straddle Planche is when you extend both your legs and spread them wide. Then choose either step 2 or step 3 positions to continue for a while.

Step 5: To come to the full circle of planche, just bring your spread legs back together.

Back Lever

You will need access to a bar.

Step 1: While hanging on the bar, raise your legs so that your knees come close to your chest. Continue to move your knees over your head and lift your hips so that you complete a flip. Do the reverse to come back to the original position.

Step 2: Lift your legs to get into an upside-down hanging position. Keep your body straight by using the support of the bar. Try to hold this position for 20 seconds.

Step 3: Now tuck in one leg while keeping the other straight and come down slowly until your body is parallel to the floor. Hold this position for as long as you can before lowering yourself to the floor. Repeat with the alternate leg.

Step 4: Repeat step 3 with both legs parallel to the floor.

Front Lever

It’s similar to the back lever but in this case, your body faces upwards to the ceiling instead of facing the floor.

Start by hanging upside-down from a bar, keeping your body straight. With your face toward the ceiling, lower your body so that it’s parallel to the floor. Hold this position for as long as you can.

Muscle-Up

You need a bar that’s above your head. With your hands holding the bar, raise your body as high as your groin or waist. Your legs should be hanging. Hold this position as long as possible and come back down.

Human Flag

You need a vertical pole for this exercise. Use an overgrip for the upper hand. The bottom hand should grip the pole in a way that your elbow faces the ground. Your upper hand position should be the opposite of your lower hand one.

Step 1: The Support Press step uses a vertical and a horizontal bar. Keep your lower hand on the vertical bar and your upper one on the horizontal pull-up bar above your head.

Place your foot at the bottom of the vertical pole and push with your bottom hand while pulling with your upper hand to move your body off the ground and away from the pole. Try to hold this position for 20 seconds.

Step 2: In the Chamber Hold step, your hands should be above each other directly. Raise your hips in the air by kicking your feet off the ground. Your hips must be above your shoulders.  

Put your knees close to your abs, and while you pull with your top arm, push with your bottom arm. Hold this position for at least 10 seconds.

Step 3: From step 2, gradually pull out your legs. Make sure your body is closer to the vertical pole. Hold the position for 10 seconds.

Step 4: Slowly put your hips down from step 3. You can keep either one or both knees bent.

Step 5: Keep both legs extended without bent knees.

Squat

Stand with your feet a bit wider than hip-width. Extend your arms in front of you. Lower yourself to a sitting position with your hips parallel to the floor and your knees at a 90-degree angle. They should remain behind the toes.

Slowly raise yourself back to a standing position and repeat.

Single-Leg Box Squat

Stand on the floor with your feet hip-width apart. Put a stool or box 6 to 12 inches behind you. When you sit on this, your knees should be bent at a 90-degree angle.

Raise your extended non-dominant leg 6 inches from the ground. Bend the knee of your dominant leg and sit on the edge of the box while keeping your other leg raised.

Press down on the heel of your dominant foot to get back up. Continue.

Skater Squat

Stand with your feet slightly apart and a cushion behind you. Extend your arms in front of you.

Lower yourself by bending the knee of your front foot and tucking the other leg behind you so that the knee is bent and touches the cushion behind. 

Press on the heel of your front foot to get up. Repeat.

Shrimp Squat

Stand on the floor and bend your non-squatting knee so that you can hold it by the ankle behind your back. Keep the other arm extended in front of you for balance.

Lower yourself by bending the front knee until your back knee touches the floor.  Get back up by pushing down on the front foot. Repeat.

Pistol Squat

Stand with your feet close together. Raise one leg to extend it while fully extending your arms before you. Keep this foot off the floor.

Keep your back straight as you lower yourself by bending the knee of the leg that’s on the floor. At the same time, keep the other leg out in a straight line.

Continue to a sitting position with your hips just above the floor with your extended leg parallel to the ground.

Press hard on the foot that’s flat on the floor to raise yourself. Repeat.

Are Bodyweight Exercises To Build Muscle Legit?

With hard work and dedication, you too can have the body of your dreams without piling up hefty gym membership bills.

Plus, bodyweight exercises are easy to do anywhere, anytime—even when you’re traveling. You just need enough space to move around.

Get also more flexibility and stability with regular bodyweight exercises to build muscle. You can face each day feeling mentally and physically energized and on top of the world!