Why go to a gym when you can get the perfect body at home.

Body Weight Exercises For Strength Training

Squats and lunges are the best exercises for strength training at home. They help tone your body and improve overall muscle mass.

Overview

Body weight exercises mean using your own body weight as resistance to train your muscles. If you’re someone who has never worked out a day in their life, doing bodyweight exercises is the perfect place to start. It’s great for building strength, endurance, balance, coordination and a nice lean muscular body. They are super convenient, can be done anywhere, costs no money and requires no equipment. There are also lower chances of injury that you might get with lifting weights that are too heavy. Another great thing about this mode of exercise is that you can easily mix and match or modify them according to your liking. You don’t have to get perfect at it from the get go and can start any of these bodyweight exercises at the beginner level. Once you perfect your technique, range of motion and your form you can move on to either the normal or tougher variations of these. Some of the easiest and most useful body weight exercises you can do anywhere and anytime are listed below. Most of these can be done in 3 sets with 12 – 15 repetitions.&nbsp;

Planks

&nbsp;This is one of those perfect exercises that challenge multiple muscle groups at once and are super easy to do. They can train muscles in you upper back, shoulders, arms, abs, oblique’s, glutes and quads while helping you work on your stability. They are also great for improving posture and provide your spine that much needed stability by strengthening core muscles, this means no more back pain!&nbsp;The correct way to do a plank is to make sure you are balancing yourself on your toes and elbows, if your are doing arm planks then you are supposed to balance yourself on your palms (start off in a pushup position) while keeping your core tight and your back straight. You can do elbow planks as a beginner or put your knees on the ground to make it easier. If you want to increase difficulty you can do either an active plank which requires you to flex and extend your abdomen or a marching plank where you balance yourself on alternate feet and arms. And no you don’t have to be able to hold a 1 minute plank in your first attempt. You can start off with as little as 20 seconds and build your capacity from there.&nbsp;

Side Planks

This is great for your obliques which usually get ignored amongst all the ab exercises. It also engages your glutes and shoulder muscles and is an overall effective body weight exercise. All the same rules as the plank apply, you can start with a 20 second side plank and you can start at beginner level.&nbsp;The correct way to do this is by putting one elbow on the floor and facing the front of your body entirely to one side while balancing yourself on your feet. You can drop down one knee to make it easier. If you are pro you can do an active side plank by adding a hip dip to make it tougher and challenge more of your muscles.&nbsp;

Mountain Climbers

&nbsp;Another exercise that engages and works multiple parts of the body including your core, abs, obliques, arms, back and shoulders. These can be done in sets of 3 with however many reps you&rsquo;re comfortable with (start with 10/15 and build up to 30). Since this is an active exercise that you can either slow down or speed up, it does give you similar benefit as <a href="https://merisehat.pk/article/why-is-both-cardio-and-strength-training-important-for-a-total-body-workout">doing cardio</a> by getting your <a href="https://merisehat.pk/page/sehat-scan/">heart rate</a> up and making you sweat.&nbsp;

In order to perform mountain climbers you start off in a push up stance, make sure your back is straight and nothing is sticking up, pick your feet and bring your knees to your chest. You can also bring alternate knees to your chest to engage obliques.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
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Squats

&nbsp;The most dreaded yet the most beneficial of exercises perhaps, squats work your lower back, glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves. They also help you burn calories and are great for your joints Although there are a ton of variations of squats but here we are going to discuss the basic squat technique. You start off with your feet a little more than your shoulders’ width apart, you can extend your arms in the front, palms facing the ground and lower down slowly making sure you put all your weight on your heels. Depending upon your flexibility, balance and coordination you can go down as much as possible but note that the deeper your squat the better it works. Now after holding this position for 5 seconds or more, slowly come back up to your original standing stance. You can hold onto something in front of you for example a kitchen counter top in order to make it easier to get back up. Or, to make it tougher, you can stop coming back up entirely to a standing pose before going back into a squat.

Lunges

The first noteworthy thing about lunges is that Jennifer Lopez prescribes them to get a body like hers. The second noteworthy thing is that they work your abs, back, quadriceps, glutes, calves and hamstrings while also helping you lose weight and build up more coordination and balance. These can be forward lunges, reverse lunges, side lunges or one of the countless other variations.&nbsp;Let’s see how to do a basic stationary lunge: you stand in the same wide stance with your feet parallel to each other as you do at the beginning of a squat, hold your arms either in front of you or put them on your hips, lift up one leg and put it in front of you as far as you can go, bend your knee at a 90 degree angle and slowly lower yourself while keeping your upper body straight. As a beginner this is the easiest body weight exercise you can start off with. To make it tougher put one leg up onto something behind you before going into a lunge.&nbsp;

Pushups

The classic pushup works your chest muscles (pectorals etc.), shoulders, arms (triceps, deltoids), glutes, quads and abs. It’s also great for your back and joints. It has quite a few variations too and can be simplified for those who are just starting off.&nbsp;&nbsp; In order to do a pushup you first need to get on all fours and position your arms just a little wider than your shoulders, make sure you keep your elbows lax because this is where the movement will be, keep your back straight and core tight and slowly lower your chest to the ground as far as you can go. Your elbows should end up at a 90 degree bend. Beginners can start with wall pushups as it still engages your core and works your glutes, abs and quads or you can drop down to your knees and perform the rest of the pushup as it is. If you have been working out for a while and consider yourself a pro, you can make it harder by doing a lifted pushup which requires you to keep your feet up on an elevated surface. This helps you put more weight on your hands.&nbsp;&nbsp;

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