Bodyweight Exercises for Strength and Fitness
Bodyweight exercises are an extremely versatile fitness tool that can be used to build muscle and burn fat. The best part is that unlike most forms of exercise, bodyweight moves don’t require any equipment and aren’t time sensitive. This means that you can perform them anytime, anywhere, regardless of whether you have five minutes or an hour to spare. In this article I’m going to be taking a detailed look at why bodyweight exercises should be part of your fat loss routine and listing five of the best calories burning bodyweight moves.
Why Bodyweight Exercises?
1) Bodyweight Exercises Burn Lots of Calories: Most bodyweight exercises burn over 500 calories per hour with some burning close to 1,000 calories per hour. This means with just a few hours of bodyweight training each week; you can directly burn a significant amount of body fat.
2) Bodyweight Exercises Build Up Your Muscles: As well as directly burning calories, bodyweight exercises also bring your muscles into play and increase your muscle mass over time. Muscle cells burn three times more calories than fat cells which means the more muscle you have, the more calories you consume daily. Therefore, by performing bodyweight exercises regularly, you will naturally burn more body fat each day as a result of increasing your muscle mass.
Top 4 Calorie-Burning Bodyweight Moves
1) Step Ups = 972 Calories Per Hour
Step ups are a simple bodyweight exercise that burns close to 1,000 calories per hour and tone up all the muscles in your legs. To perform step ups, simply find a step, then step on and off rapidly, making sure you alternate the foot that steps first each time.
Click Here for A Video Demonstration of Step Ups
2) Jump Squats = 900 Calories Per Hour
Jump squats are another useful bodyweight exercise that targets the muscles in your lower body and blast through an impressive 900 calories per hour. To perform jump squats, stand with your feet a hip-width apart, slowly bend your knees until your butt is parallel with them and then straighten your knees and jump in the air.
Click Here for A Video Demonstration of Jump Squats
3) Jumping Jacks = 576 Calories Per Hour
Jumping jacks work your leg muscles and burn off over 500 calories per hour. To perform jumping jacks, stand with your feet together and your hands by your side, jump in the air and extend your arms and legs, then jump in the air again and bring your arms and legs back to the starting position.
Click Here for A Video Demonstration of Jumping Jacks
4) Burpees = 546 Calories Per Hour
Burpees are one of the most popular bodyweight exercises. Not only do they blast through a notable 546 calories per hour, but they also give all the muscles in your body an intense workout. To perform burpees,
Click Here for A Video Demonstration of Burpees
Summary
By incorporating these four bodyweight moves into your weight loss regime, you can burn plenty of extra calories and pack on some muscle which increases the number of calories you burn while resting. So, take another look at the article, practice the bodyweight moves until you have memorized them and start making them part of your routine today.