Bodyweight training
Bodyweight training is strength training using only your body: squats, push-ups, planks – you can do it anywhere, at any level.
Ausführlich erklärt
In bodyweight training, your body is the dumbbell. Squats, lunges, push-ups, inverted rows under a sturdy table, planks, bridges, pull-ups – with a handful of exercises you can train all the major muscle groups, without equipment and without a gym, in your living room or at the playground.
The WHO counts it fully as muscle-strengthening activity, which adults should do on at least two days a week. Twenty minutes is enough: three to four exercises, two to three sets of eight to fifteen reps each, so that the last few feel genuinely hard. Allow 48 hours of recovery between sessions.
The big advantage is how adaptable it is. Every exercise has easier and harder variations: push-ups against a wall, then against a table, then on your knees, then classic, then with your feet raised. Squats down onto a chair, then free-standing, then with a pause at the bottom, then on one leg. That's how progressive overload works without a single gram of extra weight – important for anyone who doesn't like lifting heavy or isn't allowed to.
If you weigh more, you automatically move more resistance – so every squat is already proper strength training. That's why it's better to start with easier variations and clean technique: keep your back long, knees pointing towards your toes, and breathe calmly. If your joints hurt, make the movement smaller rather than stopping.
For families, bodyweight training is a game: who can hold the plank longest? Wheelbarrow races, bear crawls, jumping jack contests. This way, children strengthen their muscles and bones exactly as the WHO recommends for them on three days a week – and parents get a workout along the way.