Can You Build Power and Muscle With Bodyweight?

Master bodyweight moves to prevent injury, build muscle and generate explosive power

If you want to pack on muscular size and strength, it can be tempting to head straight for the weights and do compound lifts such as bench presses and squats rather than press-ups, lunges and other bodyweight exercises. There’s a common assumption that bodyweight moves are too easy to be effective in building muscle, whereas heavy lifts break down the most fibres in your muscles, shocking them into growing back bigger and stronger.

While bodyweight training does have its limitations – it can’t effectively target your back and biceps, for instance – it offers many more benefits. These moves can reduce your risk of injury, are a perfect way to warm up and can actually improve your ability to go heavier when hitting the weights –plus you can do them anywhere, at any time.

Still need convincing? Any form of training done by boxers and MMA fighters to prime their muscles for explosive speed and strength is good enough for us. For these athletes, getting a ripped body is just a bonus.

BASIC TRAINING

Bodyweight moves are great for people who don’t have a gym membership or access to kit. They are especially beneficial to beginners, whose own weight is a sufficient stimulus to improve muscular size and strength.