Bodyweight Exercises
All the Good, None of the Bad!

The following bodyweight exercises have many benefits and none of the negatives (injuring your muscles or joints) associated with some forms of exercise.

These body weight exercises will:

build lean muscle and reduce fat (say good by to belly fat )
free you from the need to join a gym - you can do them at home or on the road
give your body much more strength, endurance and flexibility
free you from having to buy expensive equipment and machines (although you may need to buy smaller, better fitting clothes :)
improve your health and wellness and
make you will feel better mentally and physically all the time.

Why are they the Best Exercises?

Other exercises tend to isolate muscles with the intention of bulking the muscle up. This may create "pretty" muscles, but the functional strength and lean muscle you get from bodyweight exercises is more powerful and healthy.

These exercises work your entire body and strengthen it from the core. When you workout you engage all the organs, the glands and the muscles.

When coaching a client to move from being a couch potato to a super spud, I always recommend they start with these. This is a "get er done", no frills and great results type routine.

Hindu Push Ups

You will find that the literature on Hindu push ups says that they will increase the flexibility of your hips, spine and shoulders. This is in addition to the core strength that you will build. I can vouch that all this is true.

Go to Hindu push ups to learn how they rehabilitated my left shoulder!

Hindu Squats

Hindu squats build endurance and strength in the:

thighs
calves
butt
chest
low back and
maybe most importantly in the lungs.

If you think that you are in good physical condition because you workout, spend the same time on this exercise as you do your run, exercise machine or whatever. You will find that Hindu Squats are challenging.

The Exercise Wheel

You can pick one of these up at most any sporting goods store. Mine was $15.00 or so.

The exercise wheel not only works the abdominal muscles, it also works the entire upper body as you contract and stretch the muscles in your back, shoulders, chest, and arms.

These lightweight abdominal exercise wheels are perfect for traveling and exercise on the go.

It takes a lot of core strength to be able to utilize the Exercise Wheel.

Jumping Rope

You probably jumped rope when you were a kid many moons ago. Well, you might want to start this excellent bodyweight exercise again.

Jumping rope is a great cardio exercise, burns up to 1000 calories an hour, is very inexpensive and it's fun. Which is probably why you did it when you were younger.

The Abdominal Crunch

Abdominal crunches aren't just for having a fit and flat stomach. This exercise improves your health, helps you breathe and supports your back.

The benefit to your back alone makes abdominal crunches worth doing daily!

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