Motivation

13 Reasons Why You Need to Start Doing Bodyweight Exercises

Published

5 years ago

Oct 5, 2013

I’ll admit it; I am hooked on bodyweight exercises. I have been working out for 2 decades, rotating through dozens of different workout fads, but one aspect to my workout programs that have always been consistent are the use of bodyweight exercises.

I never really thought about why bodyweight exercises were so important to me until I started marketing my fitness product Strength Stack 52 (currently launching on Kickstarter). Now, all the importance aspects of bodyweight exercises have become clear.

If you exercise regularly and don’t incorporate bodyweight exercises, here is what you’re missing:

13 Reasons For Body Weight Workouts

1) They are dual purpose workouts

It’s easy to mix strength training exercises with cardio exercises.

2) They are efficient workouts

Reduce the time spent loading barbells, adjusting machines and driving to a gym.

3) You can burn that fat, fast

Just a few minutes of exercise increases your metabolic rate, which allows your body to burn more calories throughout the day.

4) Great accessibility

Any age or skill level can do them.

5) Improved core strength

Most people don’t know that the core area comprises more than just abs. The core actually makes up almost 30 muscles and bodyweight exercises can improve them all.

6) Gumby like flexibility

With a full range of motion, bodyweight exercises are a great way to keep joints limber.

7) Convenience

The number one excuse for not working out is a lack of time. With bodyweight exercises, no time is no excuse.

8) Better balance

Since no weights are used, you are using your body as balance to complete the exercises.

9) Reduced boredom

With hundreds of bodyweight exercises you can do just about anywhere, there is little chance you could get bored compared to sitting in a machine doing the exact same movement over and over.

10) They are fun exercises

There are many ways you can compete with other people to challenge yourself to push out more exercises and reps.

11) It’s Cheap

No need for gym memberships!

12) Injury prevention

Usually safe as you won’t drop a weight or bar on yourself and the movements are usually quite simple.

13) These workouts are plateau breakers!

If you are at the gym and want to add variety to your workouts, it’s easy to turn a normal set into a super set with bodyweight exercises.

As you can see, bodyweight exercises are a necessary step to progress a workout routine at any skill level.

44 of the Best Bodyweight Exercises Ever!

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Sergeant Michael Volkin

Sergeant (SGT) Michael Volkin is a U.S. Army veteran and one of America’s most successful military authors. He served in Operation Enduring/Iraqi Freedom as a Chemical Operations Specialist and received an Army Commendation Medal for his efforts and for the military fitness programs he designed to help his fellow soldiers. He has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Science from Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas and also a Real Estate Brokers Degree.

2 Comments

Austin Cross
Apr 1, 2018 at 12:39 am
I love body weight exercise!
Reply
RAM
Dec 12, 2014 at 10:46 am
Wonderful article. I love bodyweight exercises . I am going to gym kick off from tomorrow and reading this article really gave me a full positive energy
Reply

Motivation

It’s What You Do On A ‘Bad Day’ That Matters.

Published

4 days ago

Feb 20, 2019

Tim Denning

Last Friday was a bad day for me. I woke up late, missed the gym and didn’t meditate.

None of this was intentional.

I then turned my computer on to do what I do every day: blog. I was not prepared for the whirlwind that followed.

As I opened up my social media channels, there were a lot more than usual, direct messages. I started reading each one and they were from colleagues and friends who wanted to warn me that I had a large amount of hate-fuelled comments on social media. I’m usually pretty good at dealing with hate comments. Not on that day, though — I was having a ‘bad day.’

I turned off the computer and didn’t respond to anybody. In the same week, I’d been told I was now a LinkedIn Top Voice for 2018.

I should have been celebrating and I didn’t because I didn’t feel worthy. If anything, I wanted to give up there and then. Luckily I didn’t follow through with any of these ideas. I knew it was just noise in my awful day.

I went away to sit on the couch and think about what I’d just read. Without really thinking about what I was going to do for the rest of the day, I began thinking about my team at work. There were several leadership challenges that I had to solve.

One was from a customer that was being abusive to female staff. Another was a rejection I had to deliver to someone that wanted to work with us. The hardest part about delivering the rejection was that I’d already said yes.
Despite the day being bad, I made a fundamental decision — to keep doing what I do and not stop. I said to myself “How can I inspire people while simultaneously solving both these challenges?”

I’m a big believer that it’s not what you say that matters; it’s what you do. Talk is cheap. I came up with a bold plan to address both challenges.

I was going to do something that made me see the good in the people involved.

Even if the people in both situations had let me down, I was going to assume they were still good.

I concocted a plan to help both people and try and show them a more positive way to move forward. If I break down the plan, it was about being an inspiration in both situations.

I didn’t feel like being inspiring.
It was not the day to be inspiring.

But it was the only way I could motivate myself to finish off this bad day and wake up the next morning fresh. It’s funny how a good nights sleep takes away all the pain and negativity from the day before.

So, by the end of the day, I enabled both plans. I set out to release inspiration in both scenarios and that was my only focus. I didn’t look at anymore hate fuelled comments or go near social media.

On that bad day last Friday, my actions helped me keep moving forward and not give up.

It’s not about necessarily seeing the good in your bad day.

I’ve read this sort of advice heaps, but it requires a lot of willpower.

“Using your actions to make the day better rather than trying to think your way out of your bad day seems to be a lot easier to implement”

It’s not about the bad day.

Bad days will happen.

It’s what you do on a bad day that determines if you’ll feel the full effect of all the negativity that can potentially knock you out like a Tsunami that comes your way when all you wanted to do was lay on the beach and soak up some sun.

I’ve learned to find situations during a day that’s not working out well for me, to do something good, and often that’s not something that benefits me. If I was to look at it another way it would be “How do I not focus on my own bad day?”

Trying to make someone else’s day good distracts you from your own bad day.

<<<>>>

If you want to increase your productivity and learn some more valuable life hacks, then join my private mailing list on timdenning.net

Motivation

Follow This 2-Step Process to Stay Motivated When You Feel Like Nothing Is Going Right

Published

2 weeks ago

Feb 13, 2019

Andrea Albright

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The dialogue in your mind is the battleground where your motivation lives and dies every day. In every moment, your words are either lifting you or sabotaging your success. Unfortunately, most people are losing this battle within themselves. They are using their most powerful asset — their mental energy — to beat themselves up, play victimization games, or stop themselves from sharing their passion. (more…)

Motivation

6 Surefire Ways to Motivate Marketers in 2019

Published

1 month ago

Jan 25, 2019

Joanne Criss

If your company did well in 2018, you must be sitting there challenged with a thought inside your head – How can I continue the streak and keep up my marketing game this year? You have knocked yourself enough to meet your 2018 goals, and all you need now is a boost of morale to face all that 2019 has in store for you. (more…)

Motivation

This Is How An Ordinary Person Can Make Their Country Better.

Published

1 month ago

Jan 16, 2019

Tim Denning

Someone asked on the internet how they can make their country better.
They considered themselves ordinary and felt that they had to be someone special to make a difference in their country, India.

Their question made me feel a bit emotional because I can relate. I too have also dreamt of making my country better.

The most common answer to this question is to get involved in politics.

Many of you reading this find politics really boring including me. I’ve learned through my own experience that politics is not the only way you can make your country better.

Here’s how you can make your country better:

Use your voice

When I was faced with the question “How do I make my country better?” I decided to use my voice.

It was this decision that changed everything. I spent every day using my voice to stand for something. I wanted to inspire the world through entrepreneurship and personal development.

So, I started using my voice by posting on LinkedIn. I used my voice and transcribed it into words to tell the citizens of my country what I think they needed to hear.

Using your voice is incredibly scary at first. As soon as you start sharing your thoughts, many people will say nothing. You’ll get almost no feedback. As your voice starts to get louder over time (probably years) the opposite will happen and you’ll attract trolls and critics.

The hardest part about using your voice is having the courage every day to use it and not being obsessed with the outcome.

By using my voice online through blogging and LinkedIn, I managed to get a 35,000 person bank to start talking about my ideas with staff and customers, and I was voted LinkedIn Australia’s Top Voice that year.

Using the power of your voice is the number one way you can change your country.

It’s in your experiences, ideas and thoughts that you can find what it is that can help your country.

In my country, Australia, we are quite well off, but we still lack a positive mindset. Some of us work jobs we hate and we like things that only money can buy. There’s a competition to get the biggest house or the most expensive car.

It’s not a problem everyone in Australia suffers from, but it’s widespread. I believe by using my own voice to inspire people to seek alternatives, I can change my country.

The results thus far suggest I’m well on the way to changing my country.

Be kind

Changing your country seems like a huge task. It sounds like something only a Nelson Mandela sort of fella can achieve. That’s not true.

A simple understanding of the power of kindness can change your country.

There was this guy I read about online that changed his country by giving out free hugs because he couldn’t run in the local marathon. He embraced his kind nature and ended up impacting millions of people in his country.

Being kind is infectious because we’re wired to do it. When we see one person be kind, we want to do the same.

The problem in my country (and many others) is that we’ve sacrificed kindness for greed.

We’ve let our country’s economy become the most important factor instead of measuring the way we treat people and the ability of a country’s nation to overcome adversity together.

Kindness is so important because every one of our countries will face adversity, and kindness is the solution to that inevitable problem.

Pick up the trash

This one seems even smaller in impact. It’s not.

I found that by picking up the rubbish I saw in places like my apartment lobby, I was able to show myself that I care about my country.

When we care about our country, we choose to make it look beautiful so others can enjoy it. Something simple like picking up the trash can take you a long way towards helping your country.

Every country has an environmental problem and picking up rubbish can help solve it. If we all picked up one piece of trash, then each of our country’s would be a hell of a lot cleaner.