Tips to Structuring Your Bodyweight Workout Routine

Don’t have Enough Time? Here are the Key points

Set your fitness goal: Balance, strength, or cardiovascular health.
Choose exercises based on your goal, e.g., squats, planks, lunges, pull-ups, etc.
Start with more straightforward exercises and progress to more difficult ones.
Include rest times that match your fitness goals (less rest for cardio, more rest for strength)
Increase difficulty by adding reps, reducing rest, or making exercises explosive.

Are you stuck at home or looking for a way to stay fit without a gym membership? Are you feeling overwhelmed about how to start?

Creating your bodyweight workout plan is the perfect way to build strength, improve endurance, and stay steady without equipment.

Whether you’re a beginner wanting to take your first steps into fitness or someone with experience looking to build muscle and stay active, this article will help you achieve your goals by helping you create a bodyweight training program that works for you!

Pick Your Goal

First, decide what you want to do with your bodyweight workout plan. Do you want to:

Stay Steady: This helps you stay strong and not fall when you are tired or walking on bumpy ground. It keeps you safe from getting hurt. Staying steady is important for everyone, especially when playing, running, or walking on uneven surfaces. It helps you keep your balance so you don’t fall and get hurt.
Balance exercises can help you move better and feel more confident when you are active.
Get Strong: Getting strong helps you run faster and lift or climb better. It makes your muscles work well together. You can play longer, jump higher, and lift heavier things when you get stronger. Strong muscles help your bones stay healthy, making climbing a hill or riding a bike easier. Strength exercises also help you build muscle, feel powerful, and prepare for fun adventures.
Heart Fitness: This helps your heart and lungs stay strong. You can do this even if you can’t go running. Heart fitness is essential because it gives you lots of energy to run, play, and have fun without getting tired too fast. When your heart and lungs are strong, you can keep playing games like tag or soccer for a long time. Heart exercises are fun because they get you moving a lot, like dancing or jumping, and they make you feel happy and healthy.

These goals are interconnected. For instance, engaging in strength exercises can improve your balance, while cardiovascular exercises can also contribute to your overall strength.

Each goal benefits your body uniquely, and pursuing them can help you feel your best.

Pick Your Exercises

Once you know your goal, you can pick your exercises. It’s best to start with easy bodyweight exercises. Here are some good ones to include in your bodyweight routine:

Bodyweight Squats help strengthen your legs. They are like sitting in an invisible chair and then standing up again. They target major muscle groups in your legs and glutes, helping you build muscle and strengthen your legs to run and jump better.
Planks: Planks help strengthen your core. Holding a plank is like holding a push-up position without moving. Planks strengthen your tummy muscles, which improves posture and balance. It’s like being a solid, strong board! Planks are one of the best bodyweight exercises for core strength and stability.
Push-ups: Push-ups strengthen your chest, shoulders, and arms. You can do them on your knees if they’re too hard at first. They help build muscle in your upper body, preparing your arms for lifting and climbing. They are a great bodyweight exercise for beginners and advanced fitness enthusiasts alike.
Lunges: Lunges are excellent for your legs and balance. They help strengthen your legs and help you practice standing steady on one leg. They target the major muscle groups in your legs, helping you build strength and balance.
Pull-Ups: These make your back and arms strong. You can use a pull-up bar to pull yourself up. If you need help, you can use a chair. Pull-ups are like climbing, and they help you build strength in your upper body.
Bird Dogs: These help with balance and make your back strong. You get on your hands and knees, then lift one arm and the opposite leg. Bird dogs help you practice balance and make your back and core strong.
Dips: Dips are great for building muscle in your triceps and chest. You can do dips using a chair or bench, and they are effective for upper-body strength training using only your body weight.
Inverted rows are a great bodyweight exercise for building back strength. They target the upper back and arms, which can be done using a bar or a sturdy table.

If you want to work on your heart, try:

Jumping Jacks: Jumping jacks are fun! You jump and spread your arms and legs, then jump back. They make your heart beat faster and help you feel full of energy. They are a great aerobic exercise to include in your workout program.
Burpees: Burpees are a little more complicated. You squat, jump your feet back, do a push-up, jump back in, and then jump up. They make your whole body move and are great for your heart and muscles. Burpees are a full-body exercise that builds muscle endurance and aerobic fitness.
Mountain Climbers: Mountain climbers are like running in place while in a plank position. They strengthen your heart and help your arms and legs, too. They are an excellent exercise for building cardiovascular endurance and core strength.

Order, Rest, and Sets

Order: Start with easy exercises and then do the harder ones. This way, your body warms up and prepares for the more challenging exercises.

For example, start with bodyweight squats and lunges before moving on to burpees or pull-ups. Compound movements should come first in every workout to help engage multiple muscle groups and prepare your body for more specific exercises.

Rest Time:

For heart fitness, rest time between sets should be kept to a minimum, or no rest should be taken. This keeps your heart beating fast and helps build endurance.
For strength training, you can rest for a bit between exercises. Adequate rest allows your muscles to recover and prepare for the next set, vital for muscle growth and avoiding muscle fatigue.

Number of Sets and Reps:

Beginners can do 1-2 sets. A set is a group of exercises, like 10 squats. Doing 1 or 2 sets is an excellent way to start so your body can learn the exercises.
Advanced people can do 3-4 sets. If you’ve been exercising for a while, you can do more sets to keep getting stronger and better.
Reps per Set: A good range for bodyweight exercises is 10-15 reps. This helps build muscle and endurance without causing too much muscle fatigue.

Example Bodyweight Workout Plans

Routine for Stability

Plank Workout:

Push-Up Plank: Hold your body in a push-up position to strengthen your core.
Side Arm Raise: In a plank, lift one arm to the side. This helps with balance and strengthens your shoulders.
Forearm Plank: Hold a plank on your forearms to work your core and back.
Spiderman Plank: Bring your knee to your elbow while holding a plank. This exercise strengthens your core and hips.
Leg Lifts: Lift one leg while holding a plank to work your balance and strengthen your core.

These exercises strengthen your core and help you stay steady. Balance exercises help you move better, play better, and avoid falling.

Beginner Bodyweight Workout for Strength

Medicine Ball Workout:

Plank: Hold your body straight to make your core strong.
V-Up: Lie on your back and lift your arms and legs to meet in the middle. This makes your tummy muscles strong.
Single-Leg Deadlift: Stand on one leg and bend forward. This makes your back and legs strong and helps you balance.
Lunge with a Twist: Step forward into a lunge and twist your body. This makes your legs and core strong.

You can also increase the difficulty of your bodyweight exercises by doing the downward part slowly. For example, squat down slowly and then stand up.

This helps achieve progressive overload by increasing the time your muscles are under tension, which helps build muscle strength and mass.

Workout to Help with Heart Fitness

MetCon Workout:

Warm-up: Start with a few jumping jacks or high knees to get your body ready.
Burpees: These work your whole body and make your heart beat fast.
Mountain Climbers: These are like running on the ground. They strengthen your arms, legs, and heart.
Side Plank with Leg Raises: Hold a side plank and lift your top leg. This exercise helps your balance and strengthens your core.
Jumping Lunges: Jump and switch legs in a lunge. This makes your heart beat faster and makes your legs strong.

This bodyweight training program helps your heart strengthen so you can play longer and have lots of energy.

Tips and Tricks for Your Bodyweight Training Routine

Basics First: Be able to do easy exercises before moving to harder ones. This helps your body get used to moving and keeps you safe.
Move Fast: When you do a push-up, move fast to help build power. Moving fast activates different muscle fibers, strengthens muscles, and improves jumps and runs.
Don’t Do Too Much: Don’t do so many repetitions that you can’t do another. This keeps you safe and helps you not get too tired or hurt.
Listen to Your Body: If it hurts, stop and rest. Resting if something doesn’t feel right is important to prevent further injury.

Bodyweight Standard for General Fitness

Before you start lifting weights, try to do these bodyweight exercises easily:

25 Bodyweight Squats: Squat down like sitting in a chair and standing back up.
5 Pull-Ups: Pull yourself up on a pull-up bar.
25 Push-Ups: Keep your body straight and lower down to the ground.
25 Lunges per Leg: Bend your knees forward, then switch legs.
3 Handstand Push-Ups or 5 Pike Presses: Try doing push-ups upside down or with your body in a V shape.
20 Inverted Rows: Use a bar to pull yourself up while your feet stay on the ground.
10 Hanging Knee Tucks: Hang from a pull-up bar and lift your knees to your chest.
90-Second Plank Hold: Hold a plank position for 90 seconds to strengthen your core.

Bodyweight Gauntlet

This is a test to see how strong you are:

Push-ups for 3 minutes. See how many you can do!
Pull-ups for 3 minutes. Try your best to do as many as you can.
Bodyweight Squats for 3 minutes. Keep squatting without stopping.
Burpees for 3 minutes. Jump, squat, and push up as much as you can.

Do this every 4-6 weeks to see how you are getting stronger. It’s fun to see how much better you get each time!

Making Your Bodyweight Workout Harder

As you get stronger, you need to increase the difficulty of your workout to help you keep building muscle and strength:

Do More Reps: Add more reps per set to make your muscles work harder.
Take Less Rest: Rest time between sets should be shortened to increase intensity and build endurance.
Add Weight: To make exercises harder, use a medicine ball, resistance band, or even a water jug. Using body weight as resistance or adding extra weight helps you build muscle and achieve progressive overload.
Harder Exercises: Try more challenging variations of the same exercise, like one-arm push-ups or jumping squats. These will challenge different muscle groups and increase the intensity of your training routine.

You can also make your exercises more explosive by moving faster. Jump higher, move quicker, and make each movement big and powerful. This helps build strength and prepares your body for sports and fun activities.

Conclusion

Bodyweight training is a great way to get fit. It can be done anywhere, and it doesn’t cost much. By following these tips, you can create a bodyweight workout plan that helps you stay healthy and strong.

You can work on staying steady, getting strong, and keeping your heart healthy. It’s important to keep trying, have fun, and remember to listen to your body.

You will feel happy, strong, and ready for anything when you stay active and challenge yourself!

Useful Resources

Bodyweight Training Tips – Nerd Fitness – A beginner-friendly guide to mastering bodyweight exercises.
Benefits of Bodyweight Workouts – Healthline – A beginner-friendly guide to mastering bodyweight exercises.Detailed benefits of bodyweight exercises for overall fitness.
Advanced Bodyweight Training Moves – Men’s Health – Explore more advanced bodyweight exercises to improve your workout.
Cardio vs. Strength Training – Verywell Fit – Learn the difference between cardiovascular and strength workouts.