Best Bodyweight Exercises: These 5 Advanced Moves Will Carve You Up a Lean, Mean, Athletic Physique

 

Video demonstrations of the 5 best bodyweight exercises are at the bottom of this post.

A lot of guys out there are under the impression that the only way to build real man-muscle is by lifting weights at the gym.

These guys often believe that bodyweight exercises are effective only for beginners.

But you want to know something?

These guys are about as wrong as wrong gets.

(And wrong can get pretty wrong.)

Don’t get me wrong…lighting weights is AWESOME.

I love pumping me some iron, brah.

But the truth is, you can also get a great muscle-building workout from bodyweight exercises.

And not just cardio…

I’m talking about a strength-constructing, lean-muscle-making workout that will help you maintain or even increase your strength levels…

Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced weight-lifter with an already amazing physique.

If this is news to you, then get excited. Because it’s GOOD news. And here are the reasons why:

• It means you can get a great workout anywhere. Whether you’re on vacation, traveling for work, or just don’t feel like driving to the gym that day, you can still keep up your routine with the bodyweight exercises in this post. After all, it’d be a shame to let months of hard work go to waste with a week-long break.
• It means you don’t have to be dependent on a gym. Ideally, you should have access to a gym—whether it’s a gym you pay for, or just a home gym in the basement. But sometimes there are periods in your life when you don’t have access to one (due to location, money reasons, time constraints, spending the summer at Uncle Jim’s farm, etc.). That’s OK, though: because with this bodyweight routine, you can still keep in great shape—even at Uncle Jim’s farm.
• It means no excuses. Aw, you mean you can’t work out because it’s Veteran’s Day and your lame-ass gym is closed? Suck it up, pussy. Your great-grandfather from WWI wouldn’t want you taking a break; he’d tell you to get down in the basement and do some pull-ups like a man.
• It’s impressive. Anytime you can do a muscle-up, human flag, or one-arm pull-up, you’re bound to impress. Not man guys can perform these advanced moves, but by practicing the exercises in this post you’ll be well on your way.
• It’s functional. The exercises you do in the gym don’t always translate well to real-world movements. Sure, benching 300 pounds is great…but it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to push 300 pounds in real life. Bodyweight exercises, on the other hand, do a much better job of activating your core & stabilization muscles to bring you practical, whole-body strength.
• It’s quick, easy, and convenient. Sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you want to work out, but you don’t have the time to change, drive to the gym, exercise, shower… Fortunately, when you have a good bodyweight routine in your back pocket, all you need is a couple minutes to blast your body and put your muscles into “construction” mode.

Without further ado, here are the 5 best bodyweight exercises that will carve you up a lean, athletic physique:

Best Bodyweight Exercises, Move #1: Pull-Ups & Chin-Ups

And guess what, buddy?

It’s a bodyweight exercise.

The great thing about pull-ups is that it’s easy to adjust these depending on your strength level.

Now it is true that you’ll need a little bit of equipment for this, but the good news is that a doorway chin-up bar is cheap, easy to install, and you can use it with any doorway in your house.

I’ve used these doorway chin-up bars many, many times, and it’s an EXTREMELY worthwhile investment. Trust me.

Pull-Ups vs Chin-Ups

Pull-ups and chin-ups are very similar moves; the only difference is how you hold onto the bar with your hands.

Chin-ups take an underhand grip, while pull-ups take an overhand grip.

Different grips will stress your muscles in slightly different ways, so I would suggest varying your grip over time. If you do an overhand grip one day, next time try an underhand grip. Some pull-ups bars also give you an option for a neutral grip (where your palms are both facing inward).

No one grip is better than another; just vary your grip to work the full range of your muscles.

What if you can’t do pull-ups?

If you can’t do any pull-ups right now (or if you can only do a couple before your arms get too tired), don’t despair.

You’ll get there, buddy!

And luckily, it’s easy to modify this move to make it easier (which is exactly what you want, at least until you get stronger).

Just take a chair and place it in front of you. Now when you do your pull-ups, put one foot on the chair.

At first, you can use your leg to assist the movement. (Just be sure to assist as little as possible.)

As you get stronger, move the chair farther and farther away—this will have you lifting more and more of the weight with your arms and back.

Eventually, you’ll be able to do your first few sets without the chair. Then, if you get tired later on in your workout, use the chair at the end to bang out those last couple sets.

What if regular pull-ups are too easy?

Oh, so you think you’re a badass because regular pull-ups are too easy, huh?

Well…I have new for you.

You ARE a badass.

Being able to do 12, 15, or even 20 pull-ups is awesome.

(Golf clap.)

But where do you go from there?

The next step is to graduate to weighted pull-ups, muscle-ups, and if you’re up for it, one-arm pull-ups.

• Weighted pull-ups. To do these, you’ll need a dip belt (this is the same belt I have and it has lasted forever) and a few barbell plates. I would recommend a 2.5, two 5’s, and a 10 to get started. That combination of weights will let you add 2.5-22.5 pounds in 2.5 increments. Once you can do that, just add a 25. (Right now I’m doing 5 pull-ups with 75 extra pounds, and my goal is to reach 90 extra pounds, which is 50% of my bodyweight).
• Muscle-ups. Muscle-ups are impressive (and tough to do), but they’re not my favorite exercise because they have a relatively high risk of injury. Feel free to show these off once in a while, but I wouldn’t perform them on a regular basis.
• One-arm pull-ups. These are seriously tough, but they can be done! Work your way up by performing weighted pull-ups.

Best Bodyweight Exercises, Move #2: Handstand Push-Ups

Handstand push-ups are the bodyweight equivalent of doing overhead press with a barbell.

(Which, if you didn’t know, is one of the best and underrated exercises out there. In fact, it’s so effective that weight-lifting guru Mark Rippletoe puts it ahead of bench press in terms of importance…and I would have to agree.)

Both overhead press and handstand push-ups do one thing really, really well:

They build you up some swole-ass shoulders.

(Although they also hit your triceps really hard.)

If you’re a member of the Better-Looking Guy Program, you know that shoulders are one of the most important muscle groups to focus on if your goal is to create a lean, athletic-looking physique.

How to Do Handstand Push-Ups

For starters, you definitely want to use a wall for balance & support. Eventually you can graduate to doing these without a wall, but start with one foot against the wall.

Ideally you should also do these with a pair of push-up handles. The handles will allow you to achieve full range of motion and work your entire shoulder muscle.

Best Bodyweight Exercises, Move #3: Push-Ups & Advanced Variations

Push-ups are probably the most popular bodyweight exercise out there, and for good reason.

They’re a great way to hit your chest, triceps, and the front part of your shoulders.

(They’re basically the bodyweight equivalent of doing bench press.)

However, regular old push-ups are not the best, for one main reason:

They’re too easy.

It won’t be long before you can do 20+ push-ups, and when you get to that point, it will cease to be a strength exercise and start becoming an endurance exercise.

But don’t worry, guys: I got your back. Here are 3 variations you can do to put some difficulty back into your push-up routine.

Variation 1: Elevate Your Feet

The first variation I recommend making with your push-ups is to elevate your feet by putting them up on a chair, couch, etc.

This will cause your push-ups to mimic an incline bench press, focusing more on your upper chest.

Variation 2: Do Assisted 1-Arm Push-Ups

Odds are you probably can’t do a whole set of 1-arm push-ups.

(Yet.)

But you can get there by moving to assisted 1-arm push-ups.

To do this, just place one hand out to the side, so that only one arm is lifting most of your weight (say 75% or so).

Then switch and do the other arm.

Before you know it, you’ll be able to perform…

Variation 3: Do 1-Arm Push-Ups

At this point, you should be able to put your other hand behind your back and do 1-arm push-ups just like Rocky.

Eye of the tiger, baby. Eye of the tiger.

Best Bodyweight Exercises, Move #4: Pistol Squats

This is because your legs are strong…and most leg exercises (like squats, lunges, front squats, etc.) require a lot of extra weight to really stress your leg muscles.

Fortunately, there’s one bodyweight leg exercise that can give your legs an amazing workout without a single piece of equipment:

Pistol squats.

Let’s not over-complicate this move. Pistol squats are basically one-leg squats, where you hold your other leg out in front of your.

Usually you put your arms out in front of you, too, for balance.

At first, balance is liable to be your biggest obstacle. You’ll probably be leaning and falling over the place.

Don’t sweat it, my man. It’s all part of the process.

Eventually you’ll be able to go up and down while remaining relatively stable. At that point, there are few variations you can add to make pistol squats even more challenging:

• Put your arms over your head. This changes your center of gravity and makes it much more difficult to balance.
• Jump at the end. Plyo-pistol squats? It’s just crazy enough to work. Go down slowly on one leg, then power your way up and leap up into the air. You can either land on the same leg, and do more…or land on the opposite leg, and go back and forth. Your call.

Best Bodyweight Exercises, Move #5: Hanging Leg Raises

Screw crunches.

Screw sit-ups.

And especially screw those bicycle leg-kick things.

The problem with most ab exercises is that, like regular old push-ups, they’re too easy.

They don’t challenge you enough to build strength—and pack on real muscle—around your midsection.

(I know a dude who used to do 200 sit-ups a day. Let me tell you, guys: any exercise you can do 200 times in a row is NOT a strength exercise.)

Enter your savior: the hanging leg raise.

This exercise is tough, it’s simple, and it’s effective. Just hang from your handy-dandy pull-up bar, and hold your torso steady while you slowly raise your legs out in front of you.

Hold them there…hold it…hold it…

Now lower them, slowly, while still keeping your torso steady.

Are hanging leg raises too hard for you?

If so, not to worry. There’s an alteration that will help you build up to doing full hanging leg-raises.

And it’s as simple as keeping your knees bent.

Instead of doing hanging leg raises (which are more difficult), just do hanging knee raises instead (which are much easier).

Over time, you can gradually straighten your legs more and more.

Before you know it, you’ll be doing hanging leg raises like a pro.

Are hanging leg raises too easy for you?

Over time, as you get stronger, hanging leg raises will start to seem easy.

When that day comes, I recommend doing 2 things:

1. Do a happy dance. I mean, c’mon—that’s an achievement!
2. Add some weight. You could do this a few ways, like using ankle-weights…but I prefer adjustable dumbbells because you can easily add or subtract weight. Hold the handle between your feet and lift. Repeat.

Demonstrations of All 5 Bodyweight Exercises