5 Quick and Challenging Bodyweight Exercises

Whether you're a beginner or an advanced bodyweight exercise enthusiast, the following exercises are sure to challenge you.

They will help improve strength and endurance, develop muscle tone, and keep your heart healthy. Moreover, they can be done anywhere.

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Quick And Challenging Bodyweight Exercises

Here's a look at five such exercises:

#1 Squat

Squats are a great way to get the body moving, strengthen the core, and build up lower body muscles.

To perform a squat

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, and slowly bend at the knees till your thighs are parallel to the floor.
• To make the exercise more challenging, try holding weights or wearing ankle weights around your ankles. That will cause you to use smaller muscle groups as you perform the squat and increase the difficulty level.
• You can also add some variation by widening or narrowing your stance and/or extending one leg behind you while performing the movement (toes pointed inward).

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#2 Plank

Planks are one of the most effective ways to build upper body strength and improve core stability. Planks also help improve posture, which can lead to many benefits for overall health.

To do a plank

• Lie on the floor, and rest on your forearms.
• Raise your hips, and make sure your entire body forms a straight line parallel to the floor.
• Tuck your tummy in, and hold this position for 30 seconds or as long as possible.

One of the best things about planks is how simple they are: you only need a mat (or any other flat surface) and enough space to do the exercise. It's easy to find time for planks in any workout routine — even if it's just adding them at the end as part of a cool-down or warm-up exercise.

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#3 Push-Up

Push-ups are one of the most basic bodyweight exercises, but they're also one of the most effective.

To perform a push-up

• Lie with both hands on the floor in front of you, and get into a plank position.
• Your back should be straight, abs tight, and legs together.
• Keep your heels close as you lower down till your chest is an inch above the floor (or further depending on how far you can go).
• Push yourself back up to starting position by straightening your arms so that your elbows lock out at the top.
• Lower down again — not all the way to where the elbows bend. Keep going till only an inch above the floor before driving them back up again.
• Do 8-12 repetitions for two sets.

Remember: don't let your hips sag or raise too high off the ground; keep everything tight and uniform.

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#4 Mountain Climber

This is an excellent exercise for developing core strength, which will help improve posture and protect against injury during activities like running or playing sports. It also helps build endurance in the upper body while helping burn calories at an impressive rate — a win-win situation

Here's how to do a mountain climber:

• Start on your hands and knees with a neutral spine.
• Lift one foot off the ground, and bring it forward so that it's about two feet in front of the other hand.
• Move back to the starting position, alternating sides for a set of 20 reps or more as quickly as you can move with good form.

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#5 Burpee

If you’re looking for an exercise that simultaneously works the arms, chest, and legs while also improving cardiovascular health and increasing flexibility in the upper body, look no further than burpees.

Burpees are used as a form of aerobic conditioning and strength training and can be done anywhere. Even though there are many variations of this basic movement pattern (such as adding push-ups in place of jumping), most people associate burpees with the standard movement: Squatting down into a plank position followed by jumping up from that position before quickly returning to it again.

This full body workout can strengthen your core muscles, improve coordination between muscle groups, and raise your heart rate for endurance training benefits like improved cardio health. That will allow you to reap all the benefits without needing any equipment.

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Takeaway

To surmise, bodyweight exercises are a great way to strengthen and tone your muscles without having to go to the gym. They also require no equipment, so you can do them anywhere.

The aforementioned five workouts can help build up your strength, endurance, and flexibility. The best part about these exercises is that they're simple enough for anyone with any level of fitness or age group.