Although the weight room may be trendy these days, the world of Barbells and dumbbells It can be a very scary place. There are gym bros snoring. There is metal clapping. And heavy equipment feels like an injury waiting to happen. So what about strength training without all that, just using your body with movements like air Squatting and Planks?
Officially known as Body weight exercisesThis type of exercise can provide legitimate benefits. For starters, it’s easily accessible. “Bodyweight is a great, free option that can be done anywhere.” Christy Larson, CSCS, The founder of Tension, a strength training studio for women in Brooklyn, New York, tells SELF. It doesn’t matter if it’s windy outside or you’re traveling, you can use a few Push-ups or Stabs Without any equipment (or even a lot of space).
But can you really grow muscle and become stronger with body weight exercises alone? Well, it depends. Here’s what experts want you to know before you ditch dumbbells completely.
Carrying body weight can vary
Not all body weight exercises are created equal. Depending on which muscles the exercise targets, and which part of the body acts as the “weight,” difficulty can vary from completely manageable to very difficult.
“You won’t benefit from doing a bodyweight bicep curl,” think about it. Meredith Witt, MS, CSCS, says the founder of functional strength training platform The Playground. Since the only thing you will be moving up and down is your forearm and hand, there will be almost no stress on the muscles.
However, doing push-ups requires you to support up to 75% of your body mass, according to A. He studies in Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. For a 150-pound person, that means moving 112.5 pounds, which is why push-ups are so difficult even without any weight plates stacked on your back.
Then there The lower body moves Such as lunges and squats, which also use the majority of your body as load. But since you’re working some of the largest muscles in your body — like your glutes and quads — it takes quite a challenge to create small tears in muscle tissue that build back up stronger, leading to gains. “For the average person, bodyweight squats won’t be enough,” says Witt. “Our legs are very strong, so you will feel challenged by the body weight, but it won’t be enough to build enough muscle, unless you’ve never exercised before, or you’re an older adult who hasn’t exercised.”
