Take up the challenge

The big advantage of bodyweight workouts is that they are almost always functional in nature and ensure that you focus on form without the distraction of added resistance, writes Swetha Subbiah

In the recent past, due to the various phases of the pandemic, regular gym users have had the chance to explore both weight-based training at gyms as well as home-based bodyweight workouts. It appears that many skeptics of home-based workouts have been pleasantly surprised to see that bodyweight training can be as or more effective than gym-based workouts that involve machines and heavyweights! Based on your goals, here’s how you can make the choice between the two.

If building muscle mass is your primary objective, then it certainly helps to have access to the heavy dumbbells, barbells and machines to support this goal and help you get there without having to be too creative, however, it is definitely not impossible to achieve this goal without access to a gym.

There are a few ways by which you can tweak your bodyweight workout to support the body’s muscle-building process and they are as follows: Slow down the movement (especially during the eccentric/lengthening phase of the muscle), this increases the time under tension for the muscle thus forcing it to work harder.

For example, when you are doing a push-up, the phase of the movement where you bend your elbows and allow your body to drop closer to the ground is the eccentric (lengthening) phase of the pectoral and tricep muscle (the major muscles working in this movement) and pushing back up from this bottom position, which involves shortening of the chest (pectorals) and triceps and is called the concentric/shortening phase of the muscle. Slowing down the eccentric phase of the movement causes more muscle damage and hence encourages more growth.

Other ways by which you can challenge the muscle in the absence of an external weight in order to bring about growth is by doing more repetitions, more sets of each exercise, decreasing the rest time between sets and performing a greater number of movements for a particular muscle.

Basically, using the principle of progressive overload and challenging the muscle is key.

If developing better movement patterns, working smaller muscles and form correction is the goal, then bodyweight exercises should be the preferred choice of training. The big advantage of bodyweight workouts is that they are almost always functional in nature (follow fundamental movement patterns), they tend to be compound (engaging multiple joints and muscles) and ensure that you focus on form without the distraction of added resistance. This is particularly where bodyweight workouts win over gym-based workouts because we tend to get caught up with lifting heavier weights, often compromising form in order to go heavy and feel good about the weight we’ve lifted even if it is at the expense of proper form. Moreover, most movements in bodyweight workouts also engage smaller muscles, particularly while performing a stabilising exercise like planks, unilateral movements, etc., all of which could be missed when we focus on just going heavy with weights at the gym.

The bottom line here is that one is not better than the other and both have their advantages depending on your goal. Using both methods will serve to increase both your relative and absolute strength. Relative strength refers to strength relative to your own body weight, for example, how many push-ups you can do and absolute strength refers to how much weight you can actually lift (external load).

Both methods are important measures of fitness and overall health, and ideally, your training programme should include both forms of training to challenge your body in different ways to see the best results.

(The author has over a decade of experience in the fitness industry. She is certified in various areas of fitness such as Posture Analysis, Suspension Training, Kettlebell, Advanced Personal Training, and Pre-Post Natal Training from one of the top institutes in the UK. In 2018, she became one of the few Sports Performance Coaches in the country.)