What Body Weight Exercises Build Muscle?

If you have been confined to your home for months like most people, you might have wondered “What body weight exercises build muscle?”

The answer is quite simple! All bodyweight exercises build muscle if they are done correctly and with enough resistance. In order to build muscle, you need to put your muscles under pressure. And in this case, pressure means intensity.

This is the key to building muscle. You must push your muscles to near failure. If you’re simply “going through the motions,” it will be hard to build muscle. But if you feel a good burn, and you are eating a healthy diet, your muscles will respond and grow.

There are some bodyweight exercises that are more effective than others, and that’s what we will cover today.

Let’s first cover a list of the main bodyweight exercises to build muscle:

• Bodyweight Squats
• Push ups
• Pull ups / Chin ups
• Sit ups / Crunches
• Tricep Dips
• Diamond Push ups

Bodyweight Squats

Bodyweight squats are a great body weight exercise, and work your legs and your entire lower body.

They are simple to do, and can be done anywhere and anytime. They especially work your quads (front of thighs). You will feel the burn, and these are a great leg workout.

Push ups

Push-ups are one of the top bodyweight exercises that you can perform. The push up will build muscle in your chest, triceps, and shoulders.

They are considered by fitness experts to be a staple in any muscle-building workout routine. And they can be done anywhere and anytime, so convenience is always key. And not all bodyweight exercises fit this bill. For example, chin ups require a chin up bar that must support your body’s weight.

There are many variations that you can perform with push-ups, which is one of the great benefits of this powerhouse exercise. And push up variations all work different areas of your chest.

For example, decline push ups put more emphasis on your upper chest. Whereas, incline push-ups put more emphasis on your lower chest.

And your hand position also impacts the muscles worked. If you do diamond pushups with your hands very close together, this engages your triceps.

Click to learn more about a comprehensive push up workout.

Pull ups | Chin ups

This is another great bodyweight exercise, but it does require a pull up bar that can support your body weight.

Pull-ups and chin-ups primarily work your back, and are specifically effective at working your lats. This impacts and increases the width of your back. This is a popular exercise among men who often times desire a wider back and upper body.

And pull ups are one of the best exercises to work on the width of your back. But they also work your middle back, as well as your biceps.

Sit ups | Crunches

Sit ups or crunches will always be a go-to bodyweight exercise, as they work your abs and core. Both exercises are very effective at working and leaning your midsection, which most adults really need!

Partial crunches (half the motion up) are also an important exercise to improve lower back health. Even though they primarily target the abdominals, most orthopedic doctors agree that they are an effective exercise to strengthen and protect your lower back.

Tricep Dips

Tricep dips are another great bodyweight exercise and target your triceps and upper arms. All that is required to perform tricep dips is a low table or couch that can support your body weight.

This exercise is very effective to really isolate your triceps. If you do them to near muscle failure, your triceps will nearly always be sore the next day. And if you’re trying to build muscle, this is always a good sign!

Diamond Push Ups

Diamond push-ups are another great tricep exercise. Also known as tricep push-ups, this exercise is especially effective at targeting the lateral head (outside head) of your triceps.

This is a difficult exercise and takes some practice. The diamond push up motion puts a heavy strain on your elbows and wrists, so take caution and ease into this exercise.

When performing this push-up, always start slow and progress. So when first performing diamond push ups, your hands do not need to be exactly together in the start position, but can be wider (making the exercise easier). Also, you do not need to go all the way down in the down position. Start slowly, and aim for halfway down initially.

Building Lean Muscle

The most effective way to build lean muscle when performing these body weight exercises, is to do repetitions until near muscle failure.

For example, let’s assume you can do 40 pushups (max). This would be very good for the average, middle-aged adult.

So a good, effective workout to build muscle would be doing:

Set 1 – 30-35 push ups

Rest 30-45 seconds

Set 2 – 15-20 push ups

Doing two sets per muscle group to near muscle failure are all you need to effectively work your muscles. The below exercises are the best bodyweight exercises to build lean muscle:

• 2 sets of bodyweight squats
• 2 sets of push ups
• 2 sets of pull ups
• 2 sets of crunches or partial crunches
• 2 sets of tricep dips (or 2 sets of diamond push ups if you’re more advanced)

An alternate routine can be doing one set of each exercise, and this is one cycle. Rest 60 seconds, and then do a second cycle. This is better for cardio, but not as effective in building lean muscle. Again, the key to building lean muscle is near muscle failure, and back-to-back sets will best achieve this.

NOTE: Always do the largest muscles first in the workout order, and progress to the smaller muscles at the end.

Summary

So these bodyweight exercises are great for building muscle and getting an overall effective workout. You can perform the entire work out in less than 30 minutes. And if you do this twice per week, you will be on your way to a fit, lean, and muscular body.