Bodyweight exercises are an extremely versatile fitness tool that can be used to build muscle and burn fat. The best part is that unlike most forms of exercise, bodyweight moves don’t require any special equipment and you can do them at times that suit you. This means that you can perform them anytime, anywhere, regardless of whether you have five minutes or an hour to spare.
In this article I’m going to be taking a detailed look at why bodyweight exercises should be part of your fat loss routine and listing four of the best calorie burning bodyweight moves.
Why Bodyweight Exercises Should Be Part Of Your Fat Loss Routine
- Bodyweight Exercises Burn Significant Calories: Most bodyweight exercises burn over 500 calories per hour with some burning close to 1,000 calories per hour. This means with just a few hours of bodyweight training each week, you can directly burn a significant amount of body fat and reshape your body.
- Bodyweight Exercises Build Up Your Muscles: As well as directly burning calories, bodyweight exercises also bring your muscles into play and in time increase your muscle mass. Muscle cells burn three times more calories than fat cells which means the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn on a daily basis. So you can see that by performing bodyweight exercises regularly, you’ll naturally burn more body fat each day.
Top 4 Calorie Burning Bodyweight Moves
1. Step Ups = 972 Calories Per Hour
Step ups are a simple bodyweight exercise that burn close to 1,000 calories per hour and tone up all the muscles in your legs. To perform step ups, simply find a step, then step on and off rapidly, making sure you alternate the foot that steps first each time.
Here’s how to do them without damaging your knees
2. Jump Squats = 900 Calories Per Hour
Jump squats are another effective bodyweight exercise that targets the muscles in your lower body and blasts through an impressive 900 calories per hour. To perform jump squats, stand with your feet a hip width apart, slowly bend your knees until your butt is parallel with them and then straighten your knees and jump in the air.
Here’s Video Demo Of Jump Squats
3. Jumping Jacks = 576 Calories Per Hour
Jumping jacks work your leg muscles and burn off over 500 calories per hour. To perform jumping jacks, stand with your feet together and your hands by your side, jump in the air and extend your arms and legs, then jump in the air again and bring your arms and legs back to the starting position.
Here’s how to do Jumping Jacks
4. Burpees = 546 Calories Per Hour
Burpees are one of the most well known bodyweight exercises. Not only do they blast through a notable 546 calories per hour but they also give all the muscles in your body an intense workout.
Here’s a demo on how to do Burpees
Summary
By incorporating these four bodyweight exercises into your weight loss regime you can burn plenty of extra calories and also pack on some muscle which increases the amount of calories you burn while resting. So take note of the exercises, practice the bodyweight moves until you’ve memorized them and start making them part of your routine today.
