15 Best Body Weight Exercises for a Strong, Athletic Body

If you walk into a gym any time after work between five and seven p.m., you probably already know that trying to find a pair of dumbbells, a squat rack, or even a bench press is nearly impossible. You could wander around for 20 minutes with no end in sight. Aside from building your own state-of-the-art home gym, waking up at five a.m. to sneak in a session, or just skipping your workout altogether, your options are pretty limited. That’s where bodyweight work comes in. It might not get you the traps of your dreams, but movements like bodyweight tricep exercises and bodyweight back exercises are a hell of a lot better than ditching your session to eat chips on the couch.

“Bodyweight exercises are convenient to do anywhere because they require nothing more than your body and the floor,” says Dr. Jim Stoppani, CPT, Owner of JYM Supplement Science. “That means you can get a workout in virtually anywhere at any time.”

To get you started, we’ve rounded up the best bodyweight exercises you can do anytime, anywhere. You can bang out a handful of these moves in one go, revving up your heart rate in a quick, efficient workout. They’re basically equipment-free, which means you can do them just about anywhere. The best part? You can switch them up endlessly, keeping your muscles guessing and your workouts interesting.

Related: Effective Leg Workouts at Home That Prove You Don’t Need a Full Gym to Get Results

15 Best Bodyweight Exercises

Instead of waiting an eternity for the bench to free up, find a spare corner of the gym and choose a few of the best bodyweight exercises from Stoppani below. With these in your arsenal, you’ll burn fat and gain more muscle in no time.

Jumping Jacks

How to Do It

1. Stand with feet close together and arms at your sides, to start. 
2. Jump and spread your legs outside shoulder width as you clap your hands overhead. 
3. Jump and return your hands and feet to the starting position. 
4. That’s one rep. 

Pro Tip

“Stay light on your feet and keep the tempo consistent throughout the set,” Stoppani says.

Glute Bridge

How to Do It

1. Lie on your back on the floor with legs extended, to start.
2. Brace your abs and drive your heels into the floor to extend your hips, raising them until they’re in line with your torso.
3. Lower your torso back to the ground.
4. That’s one rep.

Power Pushup

How to Do It 

1. Start in a standard pushup position with hands under shoulders and body in a straight line.
2. Lower your chest toward the floor, keeping elbows at about a 45-degree angle.
3. Explosively push off the ground so your hands leave the floor.
4. Land softly with elbows slightly bent.
5. That’s one rep.

Pro Tip

To maximize power development, consider using the rest-pause technique, where you rest about 10 seconds in between each repetition.

Deadbug

How to Do It

1. Lie on your back on the floor and bend your hips and knees 90 degrees. 
2. Reach one arm overhead behind you while you extend the opposite leg. 
3. Reverse the motion and repeat on the opposite side. 
4. Breathe in as you extend your limbs and out as they come back. 
5. Each in-and-out breath counts as one cycle.

Jump Squat

How to Do It

1. Stand with feet either hip- or shoulder-width apart, to start.
2. Hinge at hips and lower down and back as if you were going to sit down on a seat behind you.
3. As the hips drive back, allow your knees to bend until you reach your desired depth (no deeper than thighs parallel to floor). Depth will vary from person to person depending on anatomy, mobility, and lower-body strength. When your knees begin to shift forward, that’s your end range.
4. From the bottom position, explosively jump up for height. Land softly to protect your joints. That’s one rep.
5. “Shoot for six to 10 reps of jump squats per set and no more, even if 10 are easy to do,” Stoppani says.

Related: Want to Strengthen Your Core, Chest, and Back in One Move? Experts Say This Exercise Works

Pike Pushup

How to Do It

1. Get into pushup position and push your hips back so your torso is nearly vertical.
2. Your hands, arms, and head should be in a straight line.
3. Lower your body until your head nearly touches the floor between your hands, then press back up.
4. That’s one rep.

Pro Tip

“Focus on pointing your elbows behind you versus out to the sides,” Stoppani says.

Lunge

How to Do It

1. To start, take a split stance so that when you lower yourself into the lunge, both knees are bent at 90 degrees.
2. If your right leg is forward, place most of the load through this foot, aiming to keep it firm and flat against the floor at all times.
3. Your trailing left leg should be used to support and balance you as you drive upward through the heel of your right (forward) leg.
4. Make sure you stay on the balls of your feet as your left (trailing) leg comes back up.
5. That’s one rep.

Mountain Climbers

How to Do It

1. Get into pushup position, to start. 
2. Drive one knee up to your chest and the other back behind your body. 
3. Alternate back and forth swiftly.

Pro Tip

Keep your neck in line with your spine by focusing on a spot on the floor a few feet in front of you. You can make this harder by balancing your hands on a medicine ball, as shown above.

Pushup

How to Do It

1. From a high plank, keep your spine straight with elbows veering out slightly. 
2. Drop down toward the floor, either touching chest to ground or stopping a few inches away. 
3. Bend your elbows to at least 90 degrees before slowly coming back up.
4. That’s one rep.

Bodyweight Squat

How to Do It

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, toes slightly turned out.
2. Brace your core and keep your chest tall.
3. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower until thighs are parallel to the floor.
4. Drive through your heels to return to standing.
5. That’s one rep.

Bodyweight Triceps Extensions

How to Do It

1. Get in a plank position with your elbows directly under your shoulders. 

2. While keeping your forearms flat on the floor, lower your body down and forward so that your shoulders are now just above your hands. 

3. Then immediately extend at the elbows allowing the forearms to raise off the floor until your arms are extended straight and your torso is lifted. 

4. Reverse the motion and repeat for reps.

Pro Tip

If these are too hard to do with your legs extended, perform them from your knees.

Related: Stiff Hips? Unlock Mobility With These 6 Moves

Side Plank

How to Do It

1. Get into a plank position with your forearms down and your hands in a fist, to start.
2. Turn to one side, placing your elbow directly under your shoulder, feet stacked, and hips lifted to create a straight line from your head to ankles.
3. Hold for a beat, then lower leg back to start.
4. That’s one rep.

Burpee

How to Do It

1. From a standing position, squat, place you hands on the ground, and “jump” your feet out into a push-up position. 
2. Perform a pushup and then jump your feet to your hands. 
3. Then jump as high as you can, throwing your hands over your head.
4. That’s one rep.

Lateral Bound

How to Do It

1. Stand on your right leg, with your left foot off the ground. 
2. Squat slightly on your right leg and use your leg and glute to jump laterally (to the left). 
3. Land on the opposite leg, maintaining balance. 
4. Hold for three seconds. 
5. Repeat to the other side.

Hollow Body Hold

How to Do It

1. Start flat on your back. 
2. Press your lower back into the ground, fire your core muscles, and lift your arms and legs up off the floor. 
3. Don’t tense your neck muscles or tuck your chin too far into your chest. 
4. Hold this position for 20-60 seconds.

Related: 11 Best Functional Strength Moves for Everyday Power

Are Bodyweight Exercises Useful?

Although bodyweight exercises are useful, “they are limited as to how strong and muscular they can make you due to the fact that it’s difficult to employ progressive overload,” Stoppani says. “It’s also difficult to train the pulling muscles, such as the back and biceps, with bodyweight exercises that do not involve anything but the body and the floor.”

Do Bodyweight Exercises Build Muscle?

Bodyweight exercises are easy to knock out anywhere since all you need is, well, your body. They may not pack on muscle quite like weighted moves, but they’re still a highly effective way to build strength, endurance, and control.

“Another great benefit of bodyweight exercises is that while they strengthen the target muscle, as well as those that assist, they also train the entire body because you’re moving the entire body,” Stoppani says. “For example, the push-up doesn’t just work the chest, shoulders, and triceps, but also the core, the upper back muscles, the glutes, and other lower body muscles, which must help hold the body straight.”