Gyms want your money in exchange for access to almost any piece of workout equipment you could imagine or want. But if you’re pressed for money, you can still get an effective strength-training workout with only your bodyweight and a few basic pieces of equipment. In fact, if you’re willing to do calisthenics or other bodyweight-resistance exercises for cardio, too, you can fulfill all your fitness needs with almost nothing but your own body.
Basic Workout
Any full-body workout should require two components to satisfy the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations for physical activity: cardiovascular exercise several times a week and strength training for every major muscle group. You can get your cardiovascular workout in by walking, running or doing calisthenics such as jumping jacks and burpees. That leaves selecting strength-training exercises for your chest, back, legs and core.
Chest
Pushups are the classic bodyweight exercise; you can vary the exercise slightly by placing your hands higher or lower, narrower or wider. If you have access to sliders or a suspension training system, you may also do the suspended chest fly -- facing down and sliding your arms in and out -- or you may do archer pushups, which is a chest fly with one arm while the other arm performs a normal pushup. Dips also provide some minimal chest involvement, although they’re primarily a triceps exercise.
Back
Working your back muscles without any extra equipment at all is problematic. However, if you invest in a pullup bar with multiple grip positions, you may work all your major back muscles at once. Stability balls and suspension trainers also make excellent back exercise tools. Use the stability ball for bodyweight pullovers and use the suspension trainer for body rows and assisted pullups.
Legs
Bodyweight-resistance leg exercises abound, although once you build a base level of muscular strength and endurance, you may need to upgrade to more difficult exercises to maintain the challenge of your workout. Examples of bodyweight leg exercises include all lunge and squat variations, calf raises, all jumping exercises and leg dips.
Core
Crunches are the classic go-to abdominal exercises, but your lower back and hips also help stabilize your body, and you should work all of these core muscles together. Examples of full-core workouts using only your bodyweight for resistance include front and side planks, double-leg thrusts, handstand pikes and a combination of bicycle crunches and back extensions.
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