If you’re reading this, you’re probably looking to get a good workout at home, without having to pay for a gym membership or deal with going to a gym… you want a good bodyweight workout.

So is it possible to get a good full body workout only doing bodyweight exercises? Yes, definitely. Actually, in my opinion you can get a much better full body workout with nothing but a chinup bar and the floor than you can doing typical gym exercises like bench press, bicep curls, and so on.

Why? Well, these gym exercises isolate specific muscle group and work them out by themselves, generally along one plane of motion. In the real world, things don’t work like this… you generally use multiple muscle groups at once, and you use them along multiple planes of motion. Will lifting weights at the gym get you muscle? Of course, but in my opinion it could be better quality muscle. Additionally, you’ll be lacking a lot of little stabilizing muscles you haven’t worked out.

So what types of exercises can you do in a good bodyweight workout? This is only a simple article, so I can’t describe every single exercise in detail. I will however name several great bodyweight exercises that can build some serious muscle. Don’t underestimate simple things like the pushup or the chin up… used in unison with other exercises you can build some awesome full body strength.

So let’s name a few exercises (if you don’t know what some of these are, just Google them, or better yet, look for a video explanation on Youtube). Also keep in mind, to get the full benefit any exercise you must always use PROPER FORM. Don’t cheat your way through these, you’ll simply be doing yourself a disservice. I would also recommend high intensity workouts… rotate through these with little rest in between sets… you’ll get yourself into awesome shape.

Ok, so some exercises:

Pushups
Grasshopper pushups
Hindu pushups
Dive Bombers
Burpees
Chinups (palms towards you)
Pullups (palms facing away from you)
Chinups or pullups with kipping
Squats
Lunge squats
Jump squats
Air squats

That should be enough to get you started. If you’re looking for more variety, I would highly recommend going over to the crossfit main website, and checking out a list of their bodyweight workout exercises. Also look into gymnastics exercises. Ever notice how amazing a gymnasts body is? Well a lot of those guys workout solely doing a bodyweight workout.

To add quite a bit more variety, I would also highly recommend buying a kettlebell or two (like a dumbbell, but much more versatile).

Don’t underestimate the simple bodyweight workout. Use these exercises, and workout hard, and you can develop a great body for yourself!