Strength training is important for anyone, male or female, in any age group who takes fitness seriously, not just wannabe bodybuilders. Even if you are working out to lose weight, some strength training exercises are important to give your body a nice toned look.
And because lean muscles burn calories at a much faster rate than fat does, the more muscular you are, the more you can eat without gaining weight, and the more weight you lose on a restricted diet.
Conventional strength training using free weights or resistance machines at the gym generally requires you either to be a gym member or have the money and space to set up a good home gym. But it can also get a little boring so a change in your routine can pay big dividends.
Here are a couple of alternatives you can try either at home or at the gym, which you can use instead of, or as well as, your usual strength training regime. If you haven’t got a program of your own yet, these are also good places to start developing one from.
Benefits of Bodyweight Exercises
If you don’t have any decent fitness equipment at home and don’t really want to invest in any either, there are lots of high value strengthening exercises you can do using your own bodyweight.
The real old school arts of power came from bodyweight exercises so if you are thinking push-ups and pull-ups, then yes, but there are also many other exercises using virtually every muscle group in your body that can be done by using just your own bodyweight as resistance.
This may sound quite daunting to the beginner, but you will be amazed by how quickly strength develops and how fast the number of reps you can do goes from one poor, shaky push-up to 10 smooth, confident reps.
It is the (old fashioned) way to true strength through body weight movements and is a lot easier on your tendons and joints than weights. Ask yourself this question, “How can a person be considered to be “strong” if he can’t even move his own body around as nature intended?
If you are looking for genuine athletic strength then take note; bodyweight exercise done correctly will pack your frame with rock hard, functional muscle. It may not look fashionable in a modern day gym but I can guarantee you it works. It worked for me in the 60’s and it still works for me now I am in my 60’s. Anyone over 60 who can pump out 40 push-ups with proper form and 10 pull-ups without kipping has excellent body strength.
Take it from me; if you are looking for function and not flash then bodyweight exercise is your answer and you can do it anywhere at anytime.
For this traditional ancient form of training you don’t need weights, fancy state of the art machines, cables, spray-on tans and head to toe lycra to build powerful muscle. All you really need is your own body, a few basic exercises and a good plan for efficient and effective workouts.
7 Secrets for Super Strength and a Super Body
1. Bodyweight Training needs virtually NO equipment – you can use what you have at home, go to the park and use the benches, limbs on trees for to hang from, stairs; there are endless opportunities and they are all free.
2. Bodyweight Training develops the most useful of all athletic abilities – functionality. Bodyweight exercise is the ultimate in functional training.
3. Bodyweight Training will build maximum body strength because the callisthenic motions of the exercises work the joints and tendons as they are meant to be worked – that is, these are the most efficient exercises you can possibly do.
4. Bodyweight Exercises help protect the joints and tendons and this form of training makes them stronger. One of the big problems with many of the modern day gym programs for strength and resistance training is the damage they often do to the joints, especially as you get older.
5. Bodyweight Training Programs very quickly develop your physique to the body you have always wanted; done properly, it develops a massive, strong and muscular physique in no time.
6. Bodyweight Training normalizes and regulates your body fat levels.
7. Bodyweight Exercises can be done anywhere and at any time of the day so now there are no excuses for you not to do a workout.
Maybe this will also help to spur on to bigger and better things: “It’s rough to go through life with your contents looking as if they settled during shipping.” – Milton Berle
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