Bodyweight Exercises Vs. Lifting

If you want to develop your muscles, you need to put them to work. One approach is to use weights such as dumbbells and barbells. Another tactic is to make your muscles move the weight of your own body, in exercises such as pushups, pullups and chinups. Both types of exercises have a place in a strength-training exercise regimen.

Convenience of Body-Weight Training

Lifting weights assumes that you have weights to lift. Some of us have the needed gear. Some of us need to go to the gymnasium to access the appropriate equipment. Getting to the gym can be inconvenient, but we all have a built-in back-up plan: we can lift our own bodies. Pushups don't require any equipment. Pullups and chinups require no more than a horizontal bar. A low hanging tree branch can serve in a pinch. Specific details regarding free weights versus body-weight training are irrelevant if the former is not an option. Lifting your own body weight is superior to not exercising at all, and this option is available to everyone at all times.

Free Weights

If you do have access to the proper equipment, free weights can offer some advantages over body-weight lifting. One obvious benefit is that you can choose the amount of weight to lift, whereas with body weight lifting, the amount of weight you are moving is set. One method of determining the amount of weigh to lift is based on the maximum amount you can lift a single time. This is called your one repetition maximum, or 1-RM. The National Strength and Conditioning Association recommends lifting weight between 60 percent and 85 percent of your 1-RM weight. Using free weights rather than your body weight allows you to carefully calibrate the amount of resistance your muscles must work against.

Dangers of Free Weights

Using free weights can be dangerous if you aren't careful. If you just did 20 pushups and are struggling to make 21, you aren't in any real danger if you can't make that last one. The same is not true if you are doing bench presses and lacked the wisdom to engage the services of a spotter. Now the weight is resting on your rib cage and you are too exhausted to push it up one more time. Body weight exercises can almost always be safely performed by yourself. When lifting free weights, it's a good idea to have someone available to finish that last rep, especially when your muscles have given all they can give and a massive weight is positioned somewhere above your head or chest.

Lessons from the Armed Forces

Members of the military must be in tip-top physical condition to perform their duties. Evaluation of the fitness of soldiers is based primarily on body-weight exercises such as pushups and situps. While lifting weights allows you to isolate specific muscle groups and carefully calibrate resistance, soldiers rarely encounter combat situations where they must curl a barbell. The ability to hoist and move their own bodies, on the other hand, is a genuine challenge on the battlefield, and can make the difference between life and death. Male and female soldiers come in all shapes and sizes. Drill sergeants don't evaluate the fitness of their recruits by asking them to lift weights. A large but out-of-shape recruit might be able to lift a weight that a smaller, fitter recruit couldn't move. The real test of fitness comes when the sergeant demands: "Drop and give me 20!"