1. Bodyweight training makes you strong without lifting weights
Bodyweight training is a terrific way to build brutally strong muscles.
It will be easier to imagine the strength I gained through bodyweight training if I give you some numbers.
A few years ago, after I got my six-pack abs with bodyweight training, I wanted to get bigger.
The way to get bigger is lifting heavy weights. 4 months after I started lifting weights, I was deadlifting 460 pounds, bench pressing 275 pounds, squatting 365 pounds and military pressing 175 pounds (I always keep a training journal).
Bodyweight training had built me such an amazing muscular foundation that I began lifting more weights than most gym rats in a matter of months.
2. Bodyweight training helps you lose fat
Bodyweight training not only burns fat during exercise but also keeps burning fat long after the exercise is finished – which is also known as the afterburn effect.
Muscles are fat-burning machines. Strength training is the only way to build muscle and bodyweight training is one of the finest forms of strength training.
People go crazy about “passive income” which means you make money when you are sleeping. Being muscular is the fitness equivalent of passive income. It is which I call “passive fitness”. When you are muscular, your muscles keep burning calories even when you are sleeping.
One of the most annoying aspects of dieting is the metabolic slowdown. When you are eating fewer calories than you burn, your metabolism will slow down and burn fewer calories which sabotages your fat loss efforts.
Strength training solves this by speeding up your metabolism the natural way. No other type of exercise compares. For example, when you do cardio, you stop burning calories the moment you stop exercising. Strength training helps you burn fat 7 days and 24 hours.
3. Bodyweight training delivers results fast
Allow me to tell you the story of how I started bodyweight training.
It was September of 2013. One of my closest friends at the workplace was constantly talking about how he started high-intensity bodyweight training, and how much he likes it. I knew this man for years. He used to be a chubby, flabby guy although he used to do tons of cardio – just like me.
After a few weeks, everybody at the workplace started to notice his physical transformation. Girls at the workplace were complimenting him.
One day we were getting our lunch in the company cafeteria. I still remember that day more vividly than yesterday. As we were standing in front of the counter, my friend was talking about his previous evening’s bodyweight training session.
He was saying that some unbelievable things were happening to his muscles. He asked me to knock on his triceps muscles as I would knock on a door. I did, and I was instantly mindblown. It felt like I knocked on a concrete wall. It had only been about 4-weeks since he started bodyweight training and he already had arms of steel.
That day, I decided to start bodyweight training. My friend gave me his training routine and I had my first training session the evening after I came back home from work. It was tough and intense but it was exhilarating.
That day was the day I started strength training and I never looked back. Before, I used to do tons of cardio, with nothing to show for. A few weeks after I started bodyweight training, my body started to change. I started to receive compliments from girls just like my friend did. Other men at the workplace were asking me and my friend what the hell are we doing to get jacked in such an insanely short time.
I kept simplifying and perfecting my bodyweight training routine and adjusting my diet until I got the lean, muscular, and athletic body I wanted to build.
That’s how powerful bodyweight training can be. There’s nothing more exciting than witnessing your efforts paying bountiful dividends.
4. Bodyweight training builds you muscle without going to the gym
Bodyweight training can be done in the privacy of your home or any other place that has a few square meters of area.
I built my six pack abs without stepping foot into a commercial gym. The ability to train at home is priceless, especially if you are living in a city with a lot of traffic. It also works wonders when there’s no gym in the vicinity of your home.
If you are like me and travel a lot, the convenience of bodyweight training is priceless. When you plan to travel, you don’t worry about interrupting the consistency of your training schedule. You don’t worry about being able to find a good gym.
I did bodyweight training in hotel rooms, parks, stadiums, facile gyms at Airbnb apartments and so on. All you need is a few square meters of area and if your training session involves pull-ups, a pull-up bar.
5. Bodyweight training saves you money
You don’t need to pay for a gym membership. You don’t need a personal trainer. You don’t need to buy treadmills or exercise bikes which are both expensive and provide greatly inferior workouts compared to bodyweight training.
A few days after I started bodyweight training, I bought a pull-up bar and installed it in my house. It cost me around 10 bucks if I am remembering correctly. And that’s it. No other costs.
6. Bodyweight training saves you time
Bodyweight training sessions are short yet efficient, energizing and powerful. I built the body you see on this page by training less than 3 hours a week.
Lots of people have trouble finding the time to work out. Not a problem with bodyweight training. As you get better and better (and you will), the workouts take a shorter and shorter time. This is because progressive overload at bodyweight training (a topic which I cover in great detail throughout my book Ripped with Bodyweight) is accomplished by completing the same workout in less time.
I can go anywhere in the world and squeeze in a full training session that takes less than 20 minutes.
On the other hand, cardio is extremely time inefficient, ineffective and boring. I shudder when I think about the long hours I wasted on a treadmill at a time when I didn’t know any better.
7. Bodyweight training is indiscriminate
You can benefit from bodyweight training regardless of your gender, age, height or present build.
Some men (and most women) don’t want to get too big and bulky. They just want that toned, athletic look. Bodyweight training can give you that.
Some people want to get stronger but are intimidated by lifting weights. They can do bodyweight training and get strong.
Some people are beginners. They want to start strength training but don’t know where to start. They can start with bodyweight training.
Some people are old. Lifting weights seem impossible to them (which I disagree with by the way). They can do bodyweight training.
Some people are out of shape. These people should not be discouraged that they are not fit enough to do bodyweight training. Every bodyweight exercise has an easier version. They can start with the easier version until they build the necessary strength to do the full version.
For example, when I started bodyweight training, I was so out of shape that I wasn’t able to muster a single pull-up. I did negative pull-ups until I built the necessary strength to do a regular pull-up. Now I can do 30 strict pull-ups in a row.
8. Bodyweight training fights aging
One of the most visible indicators of aging is muscle loss. We begin to gradually lose muscle mass after the age of 30. A big chunk of the health problems of older age is directly caused by muscle loss. Bodyweight training can solve this problem.
Bodyweight training strengthens the muscles and the bones.
Stronger muscles and bones decrease sagging, reduce wrinkles on the skin and improves posture, which helps older people look younger and better.
Strength training is proven to increase testosterone and growth hormones. High testosterone and growth hormone levels are the fountains of youth.
Furthermore, Your skin will instantly look glowing, radiant and vibrant after a bodyweight workout session, and stay so if you are consistent with it.
I’m 42 years old and people often guess my age below 30. Not only I look younger, but I also feel younger. I often have more energy than I had when I was in my 20s.
9. Bodyweight training improves your mental well-being
Bodyweight training gives you a natural high which is the result of reduced cortisol and increased endorphin levels. Consequently, it decreases stress, fights anxiety and increases your well-being.
You feel more energetic and you have a more positive outlook on life.
Exercise is also proven to increase cognitive function. Your ability to problem-solve will go up, you will sleep better and you will be in better emotional health.
10. Bodyweight training improves your endurance and stamina
Bodyweight training is essentially a high-intensity strength training regimen.
High-intensity training improves your endurance and stamina.
11. Bodyweight training helps you build self-discipline, mental toughness, self-confidence, and self-esteem
Self-discipline is one of the most difficult skills to develop but it’s also incredibly rewarding.
Bodyweight training pays its greatest dividends when you make it a habit.
Acquiring good habits requires self-discipline. When you build something worthwhile with self-discipline, you improve your chances of adopting other good habits. It’s like a chain reaction. One good habit begets another.
After I started bodyweight training, I started to eat better and drink less alcohol because I didn’t want to waste the positive results of my training. As my body got better in shape, I started to dress better, work harder on my private projects, approached more girls, traveled more and so on.
Bodyweight training gave me something even more important than an athletic and strong body. It helped me build mental toughness. It taught me how to overcome challenges.
Most men never realize their potential. When you see the first-hand results of self-discipline, you start to cultivate a can-do mindset. A can-do mindset unlocks your hidden potential.
12. Bodyweight training makes you healthy
Strength training improves heart health, prevents and treats diabetes, fights sarcopenia, beats obesity and cancer.
Strength training also strengthens your brain and memory. As a result, it helps prevent memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia. Moreover, strength training strengthens your bones so it helps prevent diseases such as osteoporosis.
As I said, bodyweight training is one of the finest forms of strength training. So, when you do bodyweight training, you get all the health benefits of strength training.
13. Bodyweight training makes you look good naked
When you build a fit, lean and strong body, you will look terrific naked. Women will go “wow” when you take off your shirt. And of course, sex will be much more enjoyable with women who genuinely and passionately desire you.
PS – If you want to find out the details of my bodyweight training routine, feel free to check out my new book Ripped with Bodyweight.