Surely this question has been around your head more than once, especially when you see incredibly strong people who do not lift a single weight disc and do all exercises with their own body weight. The answer is not at all simple, and it is that not being able to access a gym and not having weights at home, makes it difficult to gain muscle mass. Lifting weights to gain muscle mass is very easy if you take care of your diet, but is it so difficult to do it without any other weight than your body?
Theoretically it is not, since the weight of your body is more than enough to gain muscle mass, but in practice it is complicated by not having a structured routine and doing the exercises that are simpler to perform and that do you little good . To achieve muscle mass without moving an extra kilo it is necessary to sacrifice and have the appropriate routine to achieve it.
While bodyweight training has its limitations – for example, you can’t effectively target your back and biceps – it offers many more benefits. These movements can reduce your risk of injury, are a perfect way to warm up, and can improve your ability to gain weight when lifting weights . Also, you can do them anywhere and anytime.
Bodyweight exercises are great for people who don’t have a monthly gym subscription or access to fitness supplies. They are especially beneficial for beginners , whose own weight is a sufficient stimulus to improve muscle size and strength.
Bodyweight training can also help more advanced athletes reduce their chances of injury. Because they are compound movements that involve more than one joint movement , these exercises mobilize all the small and stabilizing muscles.
Lifting weights to gain muscle mass or using your own weight?
It is not correct to think that it is easy to achieve muscle mass without lifting weights, since the reality is very different: if you can join the gym or lift extra weight, do it. In this way, you will save yourself headaches and having to make an extra effort when it comes to getting muscle mass.
By lifting weights to gain muscle mass, you are putting a greater strain on your muscles than you can achieve with your own weight , and it also allows you to be more specific when treating each muscle group. That is why, if you are already strong, it will cost you much more to gain muscle mass without using a single weight.
Now, exercises with your own weight become your allies, if for economic reasons or time, you cannot afford to go to the gym and, although it costs, you can get a good muscle mass. If you think about it, your body is an effective tool to gain muscle strength, and with precise exercises you will notice how your strength increases considerably.
There are countless exercises that you can do with your own weight, such as:
- Push-ups
- Squats
- Dominated
- Triceps Dips
- Stride
- Self-weight bicep curl
- Handstand push-ups
These are some of the exercises with your own body weight , but surely if you think about it you can think of a lot more.
If you choose to use your own body weight to gain muscle mass, you should know that the routine has to be just as strict as if you do exercises with weight in the gym. This routine has to fulfill three premises:
Intensity
The exercises must be intense enough to produce an adaptation of the muscles, you have to finish tired the day you do the strength session with your body weight. Very often, the mistake of not applying enough intensity to bodyweight exercises is made, and this means that muscle growth will not occur by not demanding extra effort from the muscles.
Progression
You have decided not to lift weights to gain muscle mass, but you have only given up one tool and not the main goal. An error – which also happens with weights – is to stagnate with the exercises , if you always do the same repetitions in the same way and without varying the exercises, the body will not gain more strength and you will stay at your current level. Remember to surprise the body in each workout, your muscles will appreciate it.
Feeding
If you want to gain muscle mass, you have to eat enough for the muscle to grow. Your diet will have to be composed of a high percentage of carbohydrates to be able to perform the exercises correctly, as well as proteins so that the muscle heals and grows properly. If you fail to eat, nothing you do will help you achieve your goal.
