I won’t lie: building muscle with bodyweight exercises is not ideal for everyone.
This is for one simple reason: it gets harder to create enough resistance to challenge yourself as you get stronger. If you’re in the weightroom, you just use a heavier weight. If you’re using only your bodyweight, you have to be creative.
Below you will find a bodyweight routine that gets progressively harder as you grow stronger.
Who’s It For?
This routine is for people who don’t have access to a gym. Also, I recommend it for guys who are younger than 16.
What Do I Need?
All you need is your body and a pull-up bar (get one cheap on Amazon that simply fits into your doorframe here).
The Routine
– Perform each exercise below for 3 sets of 8-15 repetitions
– Rest 90 seconds in between sets
– When you can perform 15+ reps, advance to the “hard” variation
1. Single Leg Box Squat
Muscles worked: Legs (quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes)
Hard Variation: Pistol squat
2. Push-Up
Muscles worked: Chest, shoulders, triceps
Hard Variation: Decline push-up
3. Chin-Up (reverse grip)
Muscles worked: Back, biceps
Hard Variation: Wide grip overhand pull-up
4. Sit-Up
Muscles worked: Abdominals
Hard Variation: Hanging leg raises
They never really worked for me…
Do you mean bodyweight movements in general?
Actually to be honest, I do pullups and situps in the gym, but even with the pull ups I need to add weights after a while.
The pushing stuff is just too light for me, I need heavy weights to stimulate my upper body, and once an exercise gets past 20 reps I don’t really grow.
But with that being said, they are def better than nothing…
I’m in agreement, my man. It’s not optimal, but by manipulating the resistance like I suggest above you can get a progressive routine that will be very challenging for 90% of gym-goers.
David would you recommend this for someone who is cutting?
Hey Jackson, I think this routine – combined with a calorically restricted diet – would work well for cutting, yes.
Is this the whole workout?
Hey David, what about the frequency for this routine? how many times per week (3-4 times, such as mon-wed-fri-sun) Could be done every day ? Thanks man
It should be done every other day.
Aren’t one arm push-ups harder than decline clap push-ups?
Maybe, but it’s harder to keep good form.
What do you think about focusing on squats one day, push another day, pull another day, and another day just for the core…
For body weight workouts, can you isolate like that? Or is it better to do full body workouts?
Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks brotha.
It’s best to stick with full-body, especially with bodyweight exercises because you are heavily limited in the intensity of each exercise (i.e. you can’t load up a few hundred pounds for squats).
I’m 6’2 270 just diagnosed with diabetes. I haven’t lifted or worked out in prob 15 years. I’m extremely over weight. Would this be good for me or do you recommend something different or change anything. Thanks
As long as you’re cleared by your doctor to perform all of the exercises, I don’t see why this routine wouldn’t work for you.
How about gymnastics exercise such as plance push ups
front liver pull up and
The iron cross
These are hard but is it good for adding muscle?
Honestly I’m not familiar with those exercises, so I can’t give an accurate answer. I assume they would be good substitutes if you want to switch up the workout every few months.
I currently cant go to a gym because the only one nearby is extremely expensive. I have never really worked out seriously, but my question is if it’s possible to bulk with this plan?
Yes it is. Just also make sure you’re eating enough calories to gain a little bit of weight.
can this work for bulking ? i am 6ft 135 pounds need to gain weight ? thanks in advance
yes if you eat enough to gain weight, this routine will help you add size
Do you think there is any difference to muscle growth between doing all these exercises back to back compared to doing each exercise individually throughout the day?
I usually do 30 pushups 10 times ,I can see changes but why so slow,and how many months do I need to bulk up?