Pump Your Body Instead of Iron

Pump Your Body Instead of Iron

Exercises that use your own body weight are so fundamental to a strength-training program that they often are lumped in with weight training. They fit in well with the weight-training days on your program. Even the most ardent weightlifters often do push-ups, sit-ups, or crunches along with their ironwork.
Some of these exercises, such as push-ups and abdominal crunches, require you to heft your own body weight. Others are traditional calisthenics that you might have done in a long-ago gym class. They get the joints and muscles moving to provide general toning and mobility conditioning rather than specific strength or aerobic training. Several target the lower body, which many people say they most want to tone. For each of the exercises that follow, begin with a set of eight to 10 reps if you can, rest, and then do another set. When sets of eight or 10 become easy, increase the number of reps in increments of five and then up the number of sets to three or four. The key to success is slow, controlled movement through a full range of motion. Mega-reps are not necessary. Ultimately, you can notch yourself up to more advanced versions of these exercises.