The Pros & Cons of Bodyweight Training

I’ve been a qualified personal trainer since 2011 working in New Zealand and the UK. Throughout this time, I have specialised in training people at their homes and in public spaces with minimal equipment. You can achieve great results with bodyweight exercises – also known as calisthenics – but they do have some drawbacks. Read on to better understand the pros and cons of calisthenic training.

The benefits of calisthenic exercises

Anytime, anywhere! Calisthenic exercises require no equipment because they use an individual’s bodyweight for resistance. As a result, these types of exercise can be done pretty much anywhere. If you like being outside when you exercise, a calisthenic circuit can be done in a park, by a river or at the top of a mountain if it takes your fancy! Conversely, calisthenic exercises are frequently used by people wanting to keep fit in places where training outside isn’t an option, like very cold or very hot countries. All you need is a small amount of indoor space and a good attitude.
Save money and space. Because calisthenic exercises don’t require equipment, there’s no need to buy weights or a gym membership. You might choose to buy an exercise matt for comfort, or even some smart activewear, but even these things aren’t completely necessary. Not only can you save yourself money, but you can save yourself space. Home-gyms can be very large – no such problem with calisthenics!
Purity. Some people love the idea keeping things pure and simple. Calisthenic exercises are like minimalist décor; some people might find happiness and satisfaction in the simplicity.
Party tricks. If you can bench press twice your bodyweight, or Olympic lift with the perfect technique, it’s difficult to demonstrate these talents at your next social gathering. Calisthenic, however, can be done anywhere and anytime. Just move the coffee table aside, get a friend to hold your drink and start doing single armed push ups and pistol squats!

The disadvantages of calisthenic exercises

Variety. There are lots of fantastic calisthenic exercises, but you can significantly increase the number of exercise choices even with just a pair of dumbbells. If you are someone who enjoys variety, a calisthenic workout might not be for you, however, some people enjoy simplicity and repetition.
Scalability. Bodyweight exercises can be scaled, but not too easily. For example, a bodyweight squat can be progressed into a jump squat, or a single leg squat. However, with a power rack, barbell and weights, you can gradually add additional load as you become stronger.
Movement pattern limitation. Arguably the best bodyweight exercise is a push up (and all its variants). A push up is a horizontal pushing movement, and it would be great to balance this exercise with a pulling movement. However, it is almost impossible to performing pulling movements without equipment. Even pull ups require something to hang on. With calisthenic workouts, you’re going to find yourself doing a lot of pushing, and not much pulling, which is less than ideal.
Compromise. In a commercial gym, with a large range of equipment, you can choose the perfect exercise for you. For example, you might be recovering from a shoulder injury. Usually, you’d be using free weights, but as you redevelop your strength, you can work on exercise machines where there’s more stability and less risk of getting into difficult positions. With bodyweight workouts, you’ll often be missing out on a better exercise.

When training my clients, I aim to balance the quality of training with the convenience of training at home or outside. I have carefully selected equipment that allows me to deliver great results with minimum faff. As you can imagine, it isn’t particularly practical to bring 100kgs of weights, an Olympic bar and a squat rack to a public park. So instead, most of my training uses dumbbells, suspension trainers and medicine balls. These are all easy to transport in the back of my car. If a client has specific strength goals, then I advise them to purchase the relevant equipment for storage in their garage of spare room.

If you’re interested in find out more about how you can train effectively without a gym membership, please feel free to get in touch.