Bodyweight workout is better than gym
Bodyweight training has several benefits over resistance training in the gym. You may want to think about the disadvantages first; however, this should not be the case. Even if you want to build muscle or lose weight as effectively as possible and specifically define your muscles, bodyweight training may be the way to go.
I keep hearing that you need a gym to workout effectively. Bodyweight gymnastics can be a temporary solution at least once, at least a little, if there is no suitable gym nearby. I admit that I myself am a great friend of strength training with heavy weights. However, in recent years I have been training very effectively for several weeks and months without weight.
In any case, I strongly believe that bodyweight training can be a viable alternative to training in the gym. With the right approach, it is even possible to build muscle mass with your own weight. You read that right: Besides the fact that obvious strength endurance training can make sense at times, hypertrophy training is also possible. With a little creativity and practice, you can even train your maximum strength with your own weight.
In fact, bodyweight training is not only an alternative to, but in many ways superior to traditional weight training. There are several reasons why bodyweight training may be preferable to gym training. I would like to present you with nine of the most important reasons here.
After reading this, finding out about it and trying it for a while, you might not want to go to the gym anymore.
Why do weights at all?
There may be various reasons why you decided to train with your own weight.
Maybe you are on your way and your gym is 1000 km away. Of course, now you can search for a gym and work out in it. For example, author Anchu Kögl travels a lot and still trains almost exclusively in fitness studios, as he once told me in an interview (To an interview with Ançu Kögl). But you can also just work with what is always with you, with your body.
Or maybe you just don’t have the opportunity to work out at the gym because all the available gyms have just closed.
In both situations, I almost always choose bodyweight training. While I usually have at least a few tools like the slingshot trainer and a few Thera bands that I use for a few hotel room workout exercises, also use.
However, you can also make an informed decision to train outside the gym without heavy weights. After all, there are several reasons for this:
1) The trip / path to the studio takes time
In short, if you don’t train in the studio, you save time on going to and from the studio. In some cases, it can be assembled in an hour or more.
Very few people have a well-equipped studio right at home, and if you travel a lot, that won’t help you. I know many who take 20 or 30 minutes to go to the gym. By the time these people drive to the studio and back, I have already finished my workout in the hotel room.
It’s up to you how you want to use your time. However, I’m pretty sure you can spontaneously think of at least 20 things about how you could use your time better than going to the gym. In fact, No Time for Sports “is still the most common excuse I hear.
2) opening hours do not matter
How many times has it happened to you that your gym closed just when you just wanted to work out? How many times have you had to stop work or do something else so you can start training on time before the store closes? Both happened to me several times.
Yes, my McFit is (usually) open 24 hours a day, but actually not everyone can train at McFit. Plus, McFit isn’t always at hand. As for the arrival time, I would like to refer to the item earlier.
None of this matters in bodyweight training. My body has no work hours. Whether I want to train early in the morning or late at night, bodyweight training is always possible.
3) You don’t need to carry things with you
What do you take with you to the gym? I will definitely get gym equipment, fitness gloves, running shoes, current workout plan, workout towel, shower set, drinking bottle, stretching aids, protein powder shaker and fresh dressing in a gym bag. All this must be packed and delivered to and from the studio.
If you’re not going anywhere, then logically you don’t need to carry anything with you. This way, you save the time and work required to load and carry your training equipment.
4) You don’t have to queue for equipment and weights
What annoys you most about gyms? My biggest concern is that I have to queue up with equipment and weights and wait until I can use them. Especially if I want to squat or deadlift, it may take some time before the stance is free.
Studios are usually overcrowded in the evening after work. Then I like to stand in line for 5-10 minutes before I can do the exercise. Sometimes I have to look for an alternative exercise to keep my muscles from freezing or wasting too much time. As a result, I deviate from the planned training, and it also (unnecessarily) stretches.
This cannot happen to you unless you train with equipment and weights in the studio. This saves you time and hassle.
5) You don’t need to talk to anyone
Sometimes you have days when you don’t want to talk to anyone. Maybe you were having a tough day or were just not feeling well. It happens to everyone once. In the gym, however, socializing with other studio attendees is sometimes not easy to avoid. There you meet someone you know or have just spoken to.
A pair of large earbuds (such as from our Bluetooth sports earbuds test) is a good deterrent, but it also doesn’t always help. While I hate to talk, I don’t want to be rude and at least let myself be part of the conversation.
Especially when you avoid communication with others, you communicate with them as well. The only way to avoid this is to avoid being around people. Bodyweight workouts at home or on the road are great for this.
6) It doesn’t matter how you look
In fact, I believe that you don’t have to be ready for the runway to train. However, if you are very interested in always looking good when someone sees it, this can be a problem for you.
This makes every fitness studio a challenge. I do know people who shower and dress before training and of course (hopefully) after. And then you wonder if you don’t have enough time to learn and use techniques like super kits to save time on learning …
However, if no one sees you, it doesn’t matter what you look like. During bodyweight training, you can simply pull up the curtains and then even train in your underwear if you like.
This will save you a lot of time and dirty laundry.
7) You visit the theater for the first time when you visit the studio
This point is pretty specific to my regular readers. If you always train in the same place, you will be less familiar with this problem.
Especially if you travel a lot, you should go through the same steps in every new studio:
- First find a suitable studio near you
- Ask the staff / operator that you can train without a long subscription (day ticket, week ticket, trial training, etc.)
- adapt your learning plan to the circumstances on the site
If instead you always do your bodyweight workout on the go, you can save yourself in this theater and thus save a lot of time and frustration.
8) You save a lot of money on bodyweight training
The above arguments also apply to home gym workouts. However, the equipment that is usually required for this is heavy and requires a lot of space. Most of all, it is quite expensive. I’m convinced that you can put together a solid set of home equipment for just a few hundred euros, but you can also use that money to pay your gym membership.
By training with body weight, you save on membership fees and equipment.
9) Bodyweight training is functional
They talk about functional training, when a sequence of movements depicts the movement of everyday life and thus has a direct positive impact on stress in our daily life. With this training, we prepare our body for realistic scenarios of physical stress. This is especially true for basic weight training exercises.
Basically, I think functional training with your own weight, such as pull-ups and push-ups, should be part of every training plan. At least as part of my warm-up, I actually always planned the exercises in one form.
9 Reasons to Choose Body Weight Workout Over Studio Workout:
- You save a lot of time
- Opening hours don’t matter to you
- You don’t need to pack and carry your gym bag
- Save time on devices
- You don’t need to talk to anyone
- It doesn’t matter how you look
- You save yourself when you first visit the theater
- You save a lot of money
- Your training works
These were my nine benefits of bodyweight training versus training in the gym. I hope that with the help of this article I was able to give you a few benefits, and you now realize that classic strength training is not without an alternative.
At the end of the day, it’s important to do something at all. Timing is usually the hardest for me. I plan my training accordingly.
Bodyweight Tips Book
At the end of this article, I have two books that I want to present to you on this topic. I can absolutely recommend the following books if you want to continue to train with your own weight. Especially if you want or need to replace your gym workout, it makes sense to do it more intensely. You must use the correct sources. Ultimately, this type of learning is a little more difficult.
Training without equipment by Mark Lauren
One of the first books I bought on this topic. Today I have this book on the shelf, and I constantly check something in it. I’ve copied some of the exercises and techniques from this long-standing Amazon bestseller and used it to build my reputation as the right business consultant.
Marc Lauren is convinced that we only need one fitness item and our body, so gyms are a waste of time and money (here’s an interview with him on Stern.de). I recommend this book to anyone looking to get started with bodyweight training.
P.A.T. Patrick Bauer’s Weight Training
If you really want to do an intense yet effective bodyweight workout, I can also recommend a book by my friend and fellow blogger Patrick Bauer. I don’t know anyone who is so familiar with training without equipment in German speaking countries. The book contains over 85 instructions with videos and nine workout plans.
Now I wish you a lot of fun learning, I hope that the article helped you and that you enjoyed it, and that you will be able to visit the blog again soon.
Sports greetings
And don’t forget: your health is your health.