The Myths and Reality of Home Bodyweight Workouts

Home bodyweight workouts represent the simplest way of staying in shape. Avoiding the extra hassle of signing up for a gym membership, buying extensive equipment, or paying a coach to frighten you off the couch can actually make your fitness routine more enjoyable. We will explore the myths and realities of what it actually means to do workouts using your own weight, from the comfort of your home.

You can’t build muscle. This is by far the most widely spread limiting belief regarding home bodyweight workouts. Complexity is not always more fruitful and the truth is beautifully simple - your body doesn’t care if you are using the latest and most sophisticated workout equipment or riding the wave of the latest sport fashion trend. Muscle build-up only has to do with the amount of work you put in and the nutrients you provide your body for recovery. Dialing both up will guarantee you can build muscle at home.

You can’t increase strength. The classic cue for strength gain is adding another set of discs to your bar. Most people falsely believe that since you can’t do the same when it comes to your own weight, you are stuck with marginal gains that eventually reach a plateau. Home bodyweight workouts come in a huge variety and there will always be another exercise that will immediately make you sweat after the third repetition. Difficulty is not always about weight itself, but rather about what muscles you isolate for the job. Another factor is the lever arm. The further away from your body’s center you move the weight, the harder it will be. You can definitely increase strength at home, relying solely on your body’s self-weight.

You can’t lose weight. With the fridge just meters away the place your workout grounds and no one to judge your culinary guilty pleasures, losing weight at home seems impossible. But it’s not! If you also exercise your will, you can get past the urge to binge on sweets and other calorie bombs and repay yourself with a healthy meal after your home bodyweight workouts. Losing weight is all about burning a bit more than you refuel each day, forcing your metabolism to slowly eat into the body’s fat reserves. Exercise will truly help when it comes to slicing through calories faster than starving yourself. You can definitely lose weight at home with enough commitment and discipline.

Not feeling sore means you are doing it wrong. This is basically the motto written on the walls of every gym. “No pain no gain” might sound heroic, but it is false and there are countless medical studies disproving it. You grow muscles by allowing small tears in the fibers, which the body repairs and enhances. While pain might make you think you are speeding up the process, you are, in fact, reaching for an injury, or at least a level of discomfort that will make you skip multiple workout days. Bodyweight workout are often pain free because you exercise in a way that is more in harmony with the anatomy of the human body. Muscles undergo recovery and transformations after each time you put them to work and it is certainly a myth that you need to feel sore to know when you are done for the day.

You can’t enhance stamina at home. Home bodyweight workouts are often put against the wall for not being helpful in enhancing resistance. The cause is simple. The treadmill or stationary bike are visual cues for aerobic workout and it is definitely hard to think for something equally effective without an equipment. The good news is that your body doesn’t care what you are doing, as long as you increase keep your heart high. Many home bodyweight workouts are low intensity and can become a good source of cardio, even without any aid.

The last myth on home bodyweight exercises is that you don’t need rest days. By not taking a break once in a while you are not allowing your body to recover effectively. While negative effects don’t always show up, they are nasty when they do. Injuries are often a result of neglecting to take a break while pursuing fast and spectacular results.