Most health clubs and gyms, however, would like you to believe that the best way to improve your fitness and body shape is by using their clubs full of 'high tech' equipment which promise to miraculously transform every body part that you desire to target. Gyms also tend to be full of dumbbells and weights that are far too heavy for the majority of their members to lift effectively. During my career, I have seen many dedicated exercisers persevering with this type of training but not noticing much change.
Although machine based training for resistance and CV exercise has its place, and although free weights can be a brilliant form of exercise, health clubs seem to forget to inform their members that you can improve your body without the need for this kind of equipment.
Body weight training is a great alternative to the kind of exercise sold by the health clubs. It offers great results with a much lower risk of injury and can be made really challenging without the need for superhero barbells! The only 'high tech' equipment required for this type of exercise is your own body (the most superior piece of exercise kit ever invented)
Most people who have played sports are familiar with basic body weight exercises such as press ups, burpees, and mountain climbers. Even these simple body weight movements are superior to a lot of the training moves done in the gym; they force you to recruit far more muscles than the weight machine and barbell versions (a bench press will mainly train your arms, chest and shoulders, but a press up will use all of these muscles as well as core, hips and even legs to stabilise). These exercises also make you work through your natural range and path of motion, letting the body move in the exact way it was designed to.
As the body becomes stronger, these exercises can also be progressed to more advanced versions to make them more challenging (and believe me, there are some surprisingly challenging options). This makes body weight training suitable for all levels of strength, fitness, coordination and ability.
Adding body weight exercises to your workout will do the following:
- Develop functional strength by moving the body through natural paths of motion involving multiple muscle groups
- Improve CV fitness through high intensity movements which involve the whole body
- Make you gain an awareness of how your body is meant to operate and how it feels to work functionally
- Increase core strength without using any equipment bought on the shopping channel!
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