Tag: body weight training

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3 Reasons to Do Low-Impact Exercises

There aren’t too many fitness professionals out there advocating low-impact exercises. In the age of cross-fit and HIIT, some think that the more intense the work out the better. I don’t believe that. In fact, I encourage people to engage in low-impact exercises.

What are low-impact exercises?

Low-impact exercises include any form of physical activity that has a “low-impact” on your joints. Exercises like walking, bike riding, swimming, and yoga. It’s even possible to convert a number of high-impact exercises, like jumping jacks, to low-impact exercises.

There are four distinct reasons people may want (or need) to consider low-impact exercises.

Reason #1: Change Things Up

The human body is completely adaptable. Your workout starts to seem ineffective if you always to do the same thing. However, incorporating some low-impact moves can help get things going again.

Reason #2: Increase Intensity and Preserve Your Joints

Some people are convinced that you can’t get a good workout with low-impact exercises. That’s not true. In reality, you can have super intense low-impact workouts that produce more sweat than some high-impact workouts. How? If your high impact workout, requires a great deal of jumping, you can only jump for so long. Your knees and ankles will eventually need a break from all the pressures. However, switching to a low impact form of the same exercises will enable to have longer more intense sessions because your joints won’t suffer.

Reason #3: Build Strength and Endurance

If you’re just starting out on your fitness journey, you might not be in the best shape right now. You may even have a significant amount of weight to lose right now. The idea of doing plank jacks, burpees and high knees probably sounds a bit intimidating or even painful. Starting out with low-impact exercises allows you to gain strength and see just how far you can grow in your fitness. When you’re ready, you can switch out some low-impact exercises with their high-impact counterpart and see how you feel.

Reason #4: Injury Recovery or Limited Mobility

Every exercise isn’t for every body. In other words, we all have physical limitations. There are things some people simply can’t do as a result of limited mobility and former injury. Someone who blew out their knee playing college football, might not be able to perform jump squats. The person who had shoulder surgery won’t be able to do push-ups or planks. Even so, there are low-impact versions of exercises individuals can do that will help them reach their fitness goals.

Hopping on the Scale! Don’t forget to hop on the scale and see where you are this week. Remember: if you were able to maintain and not gain, that’s still a win!

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Benefits of Bodyweight Training

As you may know, I’m a huge fan of Body Weight Training! I know that I said that before, and I’m sure that I’ll say it again. Here are 3 incredible benefits of bodyweight training.

#1: Affordability

Bodyweight training is extremely affordable! Why? You always carry everything you need for every workout. There’s no need to invest in a home gym. You won’t need any weights or fancy equipment. All you need…is you!

#2: Accessibility

You can workout any time and anywhere! You can perform bodyweight exercises at your desk, in your living room, in a hotel room or in your back yard. Instead of waiting for the gym to open, you can work out first thing in the morning!

#3: Adaptability

When you’re performing bodyweight exercises, you’re not stuck. You don’t have to do a particular exercise a certain way. There are tons of options for nearly every type of bodyweight exercises. Take jumping jacks, for instance. If you have mobility issues or prefer low-impact exercises, you can do one-legged jumping jacks. On the other hand, if you want to up the intensity, you can alternate jumping jacks with stars jumps.

Summing it all up…

There are far more than three benefits of bodyweight training. However, I wanted to showcase the three benefits that are most applicable for getting fit at home.

Hopping on the Scale! Don’t forget to hop on the scale and see where you are this week. Remember: if you were able to maintain and not gain, that’s still a win!

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What is Bodyweight Training?

Every personal trainer has a specialty, a niche, an area of fitness that is near and dear to their hearts. It’s not that they have no regard for other specialties or think they have no value. It’s just that something about that specialty area stood out to them pretty early in their career.

Some are really into Crossfit. Others have a passion for functional fitness. This week, I’m weighing in on my specialty area: bodyweight training.

What is Bodyweight Training?

In the event that you’re unfamiliar with this area, bodyweight training is precisely what it sounds like. It is a form of strength training where you use your bodyweight to tone, strengthen, and condition your muscles rather than free weights or machines.

Before I give you the reasons why weight training is amazing, in my opinion, I want to give a little bit of a backstory.

As I’ve mentioned before, I gave up my gym membership nearly two decades ago. Although my main reason for letting my gym membership code was due to the fact that I wasted tons of money by only going once a month every other month or so, I also gave it up because I simply didn’t feel comfortable. I felt as if people are ogling me or sizing me up. I’m sure that probably wasn’t the case, but it certainly felt that way.

Discovering Bodyweight Training

I really wanted to exercise in the comfort of my own home, but I didn’t have the equipment. Somewhere along the way, I’d bought into the notion that you had to lift weights or exercise on cardio machines to get fit, but I was wrong.

When I finally released the gym membership, I bought some of the equipment that I used at the gym – minus the machines, of course. I had a mat, a stability ball, and several sets of dumbbells.  I thought that I would use that equipment to help me stay in shape. However, since I use them about as much as I used my gym membership, I proved to be wrong once again.

Somewhere along the way, I rediscovered bodyweight training. I remembered the exercises my sports teams did when I was a high school athlete. We did very little weightlifting, but we were amazingly fit.  In fact, my junior year of high school was the time that I remember being my most fit and most flexible, and I don’t recall spending any time in the weight room.

As I prepared to weigh in on this topic, it occurred to me that there are four main reasons I’m sold on bodyweight training.

1. There’s No Need for Any Equipment Whatsoever

The main reason I’m sold on bodyweight training is the fact that you don’t need any equipment to workout or get fit. Of course, you can use things like gliding discs, resistance bands, or figure 8 tubing to enhance your workout, but you don’t actually NEED those items. You can learn how to use your own bodyweight to get amazing results, and I’m excited to show you how.

2. You’re Able to Workout Any Time, Anywhere

One major flaw that both weights and exercise machines have in common is the fact that you simply can’t take them with you. BUT your body goes everywhere that you go, so no one can say that they don’t have the right equipment to workout. As long as you have yourself, you have everything that you need.

3. Positive Changes are Easy to Identify

When you do bodyweight exercises, it is easy to sense when you’ve gained strength or increased your fitness level. You can easily tell if there is less discomfort when you do plié squats. You’ll quickly notice that you can hold your plank longer than you did the week before. You will see that your legs don’t give out as quickly on you during wall sits as they used to. In as little as four weeks (maybe sooner), you’ll be able to identify major progress on your fitness journey.

4. Bodyweight Exercises are Practical than

I will readily admit that weight lifting is effective, but nobody does bench press type moves during the course of a day. However, we do a little squat every time we sit. Whenever we stand from a sitting position, we do what resembles a sit up. Bodyweight exercises are more practical because you can mimic activities are you do you do during the course of a day.

Hopping on the Scale!
Don’t forget to hop on the scale and see where you are this week. Remember: if you were able to maintain and not gain, that’s still a win!

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