Bodyweight training can effectively build muscle, increase strength, and boost your cardiovascular fitness. As a physiotherapist, I regularly explain to my clients that using only your body as resistance is convenient and easy, with the ability to increase the challenge using progressions or a fit ball, resistance bands or a suspension trainer.
Training using your body weight is very effective, regardless of your fitness level. While many people, from beginners to advanced lifters, may skip bodyweight exercises in favour of using weights, bands, or machines, several bodyweight movements help you target muscles and use your body in ways that can be superior.
Yogalates is a great way of incorporating body weight resistance training into your training regime for the best results, no matter your fitness level.
The exercises and sequences in yogalates involve weight bearing through all limbs and moving whilst stabilising through them. Yogalates is a method of resistance training using your body weight as the resistance. You can use your body weight to build strength and muscle, increase functional fitness, and cardiovascular training.
What types of muscle contractions occur with bodyweight exercise?
As with free weight and machine training, bodyweight training with yoga and Pilates requires you to work against gravity to perform eccentric and concentric contractions, flexing and extending the muscles to challenge them and force them to adapt in ways that change your body, building strength and muscle in the process.
The actual process of “pushing” or “lifting” in these exercises involves an action known as a concentric muscle contraction. By definition, a concentric contraction is one in which the tension on a muscle increase as it shortens. Most yogalates exercise require a contraction to stabilise and to move the body. Body wright resistance exercise that involve a shortening contraction include birddog, standing leg kicks, roll ups and reverse rollups, bridges.
Concentric contractions are a central aspect of the growth and development of muscles. As muscle contracts, they begin the process of hypertrophy (“hyper” meaning increased and “trophy” meaning growth). With muscle hypertrophy, each muscle cell will grow under the influence of consistent stress. The muscle fibres themselves, known as myofibrils, will also split and increase muscle mass
An eccentric muscle contraction is one in which the muscle lengthens as it contracts. These Eccentric contractions occur when a muscle opposes a stronger force and, lengthening rather than shortening.
Eccentric contractions are sometimes referred to as braking contractions, negative work, or simply “negatives.”
Eccentric contractions are essentially the yin to concentric contractions’ yang. The two work in tandem to build muscle mass and strength. Although concentric contractions are effective in triggering muscle growth, the controlled use of both concentric and eccentric contractions can ensure greater, all-around strength by stabilising the muscles in and around a joint.
Movements that employ eccentric contractions include lunges, warrior poses, squats, pushups, salutes to the sun, half moon pose, and many more.
What are other benefits that occur during bodyweight exercise?
During body weight training the muscles and tendons apply tension to the bones, which stimulates the bones to produce more bone tissue. As a result, bones become stronger and more dense and the risk of osteopenia, osteoporosis, and fractures decreases.
Bodyweight training through yogalates is an effective form of resistance exercise, which has many benefits, including increased strength and muscle mass and reducing visceral fat, which improves body composition, metabolism, and daily functioning.
Some sequences that are a great body weight resistance include salutes to the sun, Turkish getups, side plank with rotation, three-legged dog, birddog, tiger curl, running man, side lying butt lifts, curtesy’s, lunges, tree pose and many more.
Using your own body in the yogalates exercises and poses helps you focus on how you are moving as a whole rather than concentrating on how you are using a particular piece of equipment. It involves precise muscle contraction, weight bearing, stabilisation, and focus. Even the transitions from one yogalates exercise to the next utilises body weight training.
Bodyweight training also increases your awareness of proper form, making sure you are moving correctly and building strength in effective ways.
Using body weight exercises such as yogalates for training also means less time setting up or moving between exercises. All you need is some floor space or even a garden or beach! This makes bodyweight training ideal for interval-based cardio workouts, including high intensity sequences followed by a short rest. Ideal when the short rest times can make switching between pieces of equipment tricky..
You can do this training style anywhere you have the space and at anytime. No need for an expensive gym membership. An online subscription such as Be Yogalates will allow you to use body weight training regularly and anywhere at your convenience so you can build muscle and bone strength and stability. Body weight training such as yogalates will have you looking and feeling great!
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See you on the mat,
Lisa x
