10 Bodyweight Exercises You Can Do at Home

Are you stuck at home or simply too lazy to get a gym membership? Trying to fit a last-minute workout into your routine? You might want to try some simple bodyweight exercises that can check all those boxes.

Bodyweight exercises are simple, inexpensive, and require nothing but a flat surface. You can do them almost anywhere, from your living room to a public park, and even in your office during your lunch break, at your discretion. The point is that these are super convenient to perform, and you don't need a vast body of knowledge or prior training to do these.

Here are the 10 best bodyweight exercises you can do anytime, anywhere.

---

Best Bodyweight Exercises to Do at Home

1) Squats

Squats are one of the best bodyweight exercises you can perform. They engage your whole body, train your glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps, and can be done just about anywhere.

To perform the perfect squat, stand up tall, spread your legs out just further than shoulder distance, and form an arch with your back. Next, use your hips like hinges, push them out, and go down until your hamstrings are parallel to the ground.

---

2) Pull-ups

Pull-ups are arguably tougher to perform than most weightlifting exercises. Completing your first pull-up gives you a sense of accomplishment like no other. Pull-ups are a key exercise in building a strong and muscular back. They target your lats and even strengthen your arms and lower back.

You'll need some equipment to do pull-ups at home, but don't worry; you don't need a fancy, state-of-the-art pull-up bar with a strong grip to be able to do some pull-ups. Any bar will do, as long as it can sustain your weight.

Find a strong, sturdy bar and make sure you can safely hang from it. That's your pull-up bar. This exercise is probably the most physically demanding one on this list, but it's not for nothing. It's also the most rewarding.

---

3) Diamond Push-ups

Diamond push-ups are an intense, challenging, and rewarding exercise. If you're looking to blow up your triceps, look no further than this. Diamond push-ups are a step up from standard push-ups. While most push-ups target your chest, this one is more focused on building your triceps.

It requires you to create L-shapes with both hands, tilt them slightly, and bring them together, forming a "diamond" of sorts. Beginners might struggle to maintain balance while attempting this exercise, but with dedicated practice, anyone can do this exercise.

---

4) Leg Raises

Leg raises are a solid exercise for your post-workout core session. They are characterized by their trademark post-ab workout "burn" and will leave you sore for hours to come.

This exercise helps improve overall flexibility while using your abdominal region to stabilize the motion. Leg raises build a robust core while helping your hips gain strength.

---

5) Oblique Crunches

Oblique crunches are a great way to improve your overall flexibility while building a strong core and improving your abdominal performance. Obliques target the sides of your core, hence the name, and are the perfect exercise if you're looking to build even and good-looking abs.

To perform obliques, lie down as you would for crunches, then place your right leg on your left, overlapping it. Then, move one side of your body to the other, and repeat this for a set.

---

6) Mountain Climbers

Mountain climbers are a fun yet challenging exercise that helps build a strong core while also burning calories. This exercise engages your shoulders, triceps, and chest, using your legs to crunch your abs while working up a serious sweat. If you're looking to shed some fat and build picture-perfect abs, there aren't many that are better than mountain climbers.

---

7) Duck Walk

The duck walk is a grueling, demanding, and exciting exercise to try out. Although it is pretty unconventional and rather unknown compared to the others mentioned on this list, it's greatly underrated in terms of its ability to strengthen your legs.

It primarily targets your glutes but also engages your calves, hamstrings, and quadriceps. If you want an alternative exercise or something fun to spruce up your leg day workouts and burn calories, duck walks are the perfect match for you.

---

Takeaway

Bodyweight exercises aren't to be taken lightly (pun intended). On a serious note, bodyweight workouts, alongside a strong regime and adequate nutrition, can do wonders.

When performing bodyweight workouts, it's essential to increase the rep range from your usual workouts. This is because you aren't lifting any additional weight apart from your own body and will generally be able to do more unless the particular muscle you're training is underdeveloped. If you focus on progressive overload while increasing reps and working out in fast bursts with shorter rest time, you will see substantial results in a few weeks.