Bodyweight exercises are a great way to improve your functional fitness, strength, and mobility. They can be done anywhere, anytime, and with minimal equipment. But what if you want to challenge yourself more and increase the intensity of your workouts? Here are some ways to intensify your bodyweight exercises and make them more effective and fun.
One of the simplest ways to intensify your bodyweight exercises is to add some external resistance. This can be anything from a pair of dumbbells, a kettlebell, a resistance band, or even a backpack filled with books. Adding resistance can increase the load on your muscles, joints, and bones, and stimulate more growth and adaptation. For example, you can add some weight to your squats, lunges, push-ups, or rows, and see how your performance and endurance improve.
Another way to intensify your bodyweight exercises is to vary the tempo or speed of your movements. Tempo refers to how fast or slow you perform each phase of an exercise, such as the eccentric (lowering), isometric (holding), and concentric (lifting) phases. By changing the tempo, you can create more tension, challenge your muscles in different ways, and improve your mind-muscle connection. For example, you can slow down the eccentric phase of your pull-ups, hold the bottom position of your plank for longer, or explode up from your burpees.
A great way to add intensity to bodyweight exercises is to change up the tempo. Slow and controlled movement creates more time under tension. Ultimately this makes the muscle work harder. A 3,2,1 pause 1,2,3 will intensify a tempo other than 1 : 1 ratio tempo You can also add in isometric holds and pulses. This will hit the muscle in a different way other than a “classic”concentric and eccentric movement. Another way to add intensity is doing super sets and giants sets. Lowering the rest period in between will make the body work harder with less recovery time.
I would also consider in this section increasing the number of repetitions, lowering the rest time between sets, increasing the frequency of exercise... All of those will intensify the workout. But these changes should be implemented slowly or by using a periodisation pattern. For example, alternating a week of slightly higher intensity and a week of lower intensity. These patterns are used by professional athletes and help improving the performance in the long run by providing sufficient rest time and by keeping a changing stimulus for the body.
A third way to intensify your bodyweight exercises is to modify the range of motion or how far you move your joints and limbs during an exercise. Range of motion refers to the distance and direction of movement of a joint or body part. By modifying the range of motion, you can target different muscle groups, increase the difficulty of an exercise, and enhance your flexibility and mobility. For example, you can increase the range of motion of your lunges by elevating your front or back foot, decrease the range of motion of your push-ups by doing them on an incline, or change the direction of motion of your squats by doing them sideways or diagonally.
A fourth way to intensify your bodyweight exercises is to use advanced variations or more complex and challenging versions of an exercise. Advanced variations can involve adding more movement, instability, or coordination to an exercise, and require more strength, balance, and skill. By using advanced variations, you can test your limits, learn new skills, and have more fun with your workouts. For example, you can use advanced variations of your core exercises by doing leg raises, windshield wipers, or dragon flags, of your upper body exercises by doing handstand push-ups, dips, or muscle-ups, or of your lower body exercises by doing pistol squats, jump squats, or skater hops.
I would also consider in this section implementing new exercises for muscular groups we don't train so much that add a synergistic effect to the main muscular groups. For example, implementing shoulder or hip rotation exercises, which are not very common exercises, can unlock new potential and aid in performing better with during the main exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups, lounges or squats and jumps.
A fifth way to intensify your bodyweight exercises is to combine exercises or perform two or more exercises in a row without resting. Combining exercises can increase your heart rate, burn more calories, and save time. It can also create more variety, challenge your endurance, and improve your transitions. By combining exercises, you can create different types of workouts, such as circuits, supersets, or complexes. For example, you can combine exercises that work the same muscle group, such as push-ups and tricep extensions, exercises that work opposite muscle groups, such as squats and lunges, or exercises that work different muscle groups, such as burpees and mountain climbers.
There are other indirect factors that can modulate the intensity of any exercise. Por example, peak muscular performance occurs in the afternoon (provided a normal sleep pattern at night). Thus, rescheduling our exercise session from morning to afternoon or evening can help improve the performance and thus intensify the exercises. In addition, supplements such as creatine, taken before or during exercise, can also help achieving higher levels of muscular performance. It is not necessary to say that proper rest and diet can also help us intensify our exercise routines indirectly. Having an organized sleep schedule will help us feeling more energized throughout the day, and sufficient nutrients like aminoacids will help building muscle.