4 Bodyweight Exercises that can Build a Seriously Fit Physique! (For both Men and Women)

4 bodyweight exercises that really surprised me with serious gains (and now I do them with added resistance for continued gains):

1. Box Step Ups 

2. Pullups

3. Bulgarian split squats

4. pushups

These are pretty simple and basic but they provide an incredible base of strength and hypertrophy that you can easily overload via reps, sets, density (EMOMs, for example), and adding extra resistance (adding external weights to the sets like dumbbells, kettlebells, weighted vests, back pack with added weight, etc).

Box step ups are incredibly simple, yet surprisingly challenging. Keep the foot of your working leg on the top of the box at all times. Do all reps with one leg then rest and switch legs.

Begin this exercise using a low box – like 8-12 inches. Over time, add resistance to this exercise by holding onto dumbbells, kettlebells, or sand bags. Over time, increase the height of the box, but, there's no reason to increase the height of the box beyond what would put your knees at 90 degrees. I'm 6'2, and the tallest box that I use for step ups is 16 inches. 

You don't have to use a box that puts your knee angle at 90 degrees. I find a 14-16 inch box is ideal for me and both allow me to maximally stimulate my quads and glutes without any unnecessary strain to the knees or hip joints.

Make sure you try to slow down the lowering phase and do NOT push off the ground with your non-working leg to help the working leg (reminder: the working leg is the one attached to the foot that's on top of the box).

No box? No problem. Most park benches, boulders, and chairs will work just fine for step ups. This is an awesome leg exercise that you can do anywhere, any time, with or without equipment. I urge you to pick that low hanging fruit and do box step ups!.

Let's talk about pullups next.

Pullups are an incredible upper body pulling exercise and they also train your core quite well. I honestly don't care what hand position you use. Play around and see what feels most comfortable for you. If many hand positions feel comfortable, then use a variety of hand positions, switching from set to set or session to session.

Many people cannot do pullups, so here's some regressions to train that will help build strength, muscle, and control needed to perform strict pullups for reps:

1. Eccentric pullups. Use a box or chair and jump up so that your collar bones are at the bar, rings, whatever (collar bones should be at the same level as your hands). Focus on maintaining a big chest and slowly lower yourself down. Repeat by jumping back up, holding yourself over the bar for a second or 2, and then really fighting that negative, lowering phase of the movement. 

2. Assisted pullup machines. These actually work pretty well and allow you to get multiple reps per set. 

3. Feet elevated pullups. This is a great variation that works well if you can adjust or lower the implement you're using for pullups. Smith machines or rings are ideal for this reason. Sit on the ground with your feet straight in front of you. Arms should be stretched above your head holding onto rings or a bar. Pull yourself up from this position. Over time, elevate your feet on a bench, box, or chair in front of you and pull up. This allows you to build strength and muscle while only pulling half or slightly more than half of your body weight. I love this variation if you've got a conducive setup for it.

Next, let's look at Bulgarian split squats. These are supremely challenging, yet simple. Just elevate your back leg on a bench, chair, or box. It doesn't need to be a tall bench. In fact, I find for most people, 12-14 inches is probably an ideal height for that back leg. Take one step out from the implement you're elevating your back foot on and – you guessed it – perform a squat with that front leg.

Some regressions for Bulgarian split squats are truthfully just easier exercise variations. Below are 3 I generally have people progress through before going full blown Bulgarian:

1. Box step ups

2. Standard split squats

3. Reverse (step back) lunges

All 3 of these exercises are amazing in their own right. For variety's sake, I recommend implementing these exercises alongside or in place of Bulgarian split squats from time to time. That gives you 4 excellent single leg "squat" exercises that you can make great gains from while using just your own bodyweight. Over time, of course, hold onto some dumbbells or kettlebells to continue to overload the exercises as you become stronger. 

Finally, let's look at the pushup. Pushups are amazing and super accessible. When doing pushups, keep your tempo slow on the way down, explosive on the way up, and pause at the top of each rep. You can begin doing pushups from your knees and build up from there. Just be sure you're NOT flaring your elbows out to the sides! Keep the arms at about 45-60 degrees from your torso. The shoulder should remain packed. 

Honestly, there are countless pushup variations once you've mastered the traditional pushup. Too many to mention for the purposes of this article. Maybe I'll do a series on different pushup variations, but, do your pushups. They're an incredible upper body (and core) exercise that you can do anywhere, any time.

What's missing?

These 4 exercises cover your basic push, pull, leg compounds, but, they don't sufficiently cover the hinge pattern. Hinges are tough to get a lot of bang for you buck with just your bodyweight, but glute bridges, hip thrusts, and unilateral variations of these exercises are good. Truthfully, though, I'd recommend getting a kettlebell or pair of dumbbells and doing swings, Romanian deadlifts (and eventually kickstand, aka, B stance RDLs and single leg RDLs) to cover the hinge pattern.

Wrapping up

These are all great exercises that you can begin practicing in your own room. Over time you can progress by adding more reps and more sets. Once you're knocking out 30 reps of pushups, box step ups, Bulgarian split squats, glute bridges, and 15 reps of pullups, it's probably time to get a couple dumbbells or kettlebells or a weight vest so you can continue overloading these movements.

These 4-5 exercises will build great strength AND muscle. They're super effective. 

Remember, I always recommend including at least 3 isolation exercises for the 3 isolation muscle groups: calves, biceps, and triceps. You could cover these with bodyweight calf raises (2 leg or single leg), ring or bar bodyweight tricep extensions, ring or bar bicep curls. That's easy enough to add into the routine. If you prefer, get a cheap pair of resistance bands and wrap the band around something above your head to do tricep pushdowns and stand on the band for banded bicep curls.

Put all that together and you have a very effective workout program with practically no necessary equipment.

For best long term gains, though, all these exercises are easily adaptable if you have some dumbbells (adjustable) or kettlebells. So you can seamlessly progress from bodyweight-only to dumbbell and/or kettlebell only while performing the exact same movements, now with additional resistance. 

That's a formula for never ending gains, friends.

Bonus Program!

I figured I'd add a sample training program since I know there's going to be questions about how one might put this all together into a routine. Those that have followed me for awhile may know that I have an annoying habit of trying to leave no stone unturned. So, as a thanks for reading this far, I'm sharing 2 programs. 1 with the assumption of bodyweight only, followed by a second program for when you add some dumbbells or kettlebells to your simple home gym.

I would be remiss if I didn't add that this program is not the only template you could use. There are many great program splits one could use with these exercises. But I find a 4 day per week upper/lower split works very well for the goal of building muscle and strength, while taking into account plenty of recovery days for recovery and while keeping session length around 30 minutes. I've said it before and I'll say it again, upper/lower programs make it easy to train each muscle twice per week while providing 3-4 days of rest and recovery for the muscles.

Rest as much as needed or desired between sets. If you need a specific time: 1.5-2 minutes seems good for most. On single leg or single arm movements, rest that long (1.5-2 minutes) between each side. 

Bodyweight only plan

Warm up before each session with some general movement and 2 sets of any ab exercise you like

Upper Body 

Ex 1: pullups-2-3 sets of max reps

Ex 2: pushups-2-3 sets of max reps

Ex 3: bodyweight bicep curls or band curls-2-3 sets of max reps

Ex 4: bodyweight skull crushers, close grip pushups, or band pushdowns-2-3 sets of max reps

Lower Body

Ex 1: Bulgarian split squats-2-3 sets of max reps

Ex 2: Box step ups-2-3 sets of max reps

Ex 3: single leg glute bridges-2-3 sets of max reps

Ex 4: calf raise-2-3 sets of max reps

Do 4 sessions per week: upper, lower, upper, lower. 

Bodyweight plus dumbbells or kettlebells plan

The bonus with this plan is we can add an overhead press, so you'll have 5 exercises on upper body day.

Warm up before each session with some general movement and 2 sets of any ab exercise you like

Upper Body 

Ex 1: pullups-2-3 sets of max reps

Ex 2: pushups-2-3 sets of max reps

Ex 3: dumbbell or kettlebell overhead press-2-3x6-12*

Ex 4: dumbbell bicep curls or band curls-2-3x6-12

Ex 5: dumbbell overhead extensions, dumbbell skull crushers, or band pushdowns-2-3x10-15

*You could also swap out dumbbell overhead presses for lateral raises. If doing lateral raises, do 2-3x10-15

Lower Body

Ex 1: Bulgarian split squats-2-3x6-12 (use dumbbells or kettlebells)

Ex 2: Box step ups-2-3x10-15 (use dumbbells or kettlebells)

Ex 3: single leg glute bridges with weight on hips-2-3x10-15

Ex 4: single leg calf raise-2-3x10-15

Do 4 sessions per week: upper, lower, upper, lower. 

Do that for 12 weeks and enjoy the gains. If you need to, start with 8-12 weeks of the bodyweight-only program and then move on to doing 12 weeks of the bodyweight + DBs/KBs program.

When you can do 2 sets for the upper end of the designated rep range (for the exercises that have specific target rep ranges), increase the weight.

Now get to work and enjoy the gains!

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