I am a big fan of bodyweight exercises because of the following three factors: convenience, cost, and effectiveness. Convenience is a huge factor, especially if you are a busy working professional or have little ones at home. Driving to the gym, changing, getting a workout in, and coming back home can take two hours of your time each day or more. However, a bodyweight at-home workout may take only thirty minutes. This can save you a massive amount of time, which you can spend with family or friends or use on other hobbies or pursuits. Additionally, bodyweight exercises are convenient while traveling. You can do many of them from your hotel room or outdoors in a park.
The second factor is cost. Doing bodyweight exercises at home can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year. Remember, gym memberships are not the only cost. You may also need to pay for transportation, parking, etc. However, you may still need to purchase a few items for your home gym. I would recommend purchasing a yoga mat and a doorway pullup bar. A pair of gymnastic rings wouldn't hurt as well. These usually cost around $30, and you can do several exercises with them, including dips and inverted rows.
The third factor is effectiveness. Research published in the journal Physiology and Behavior found that bodyweight exercise helps tone and build muscle. Additionally, polish researchers looking at the effectiveness of bodyweight exercises have found significant improvements in aerobic capacity, muscular endurance, and lower body power after a 10-week period. I have also seen the effectiveness of bodyweight exercises firsthand. When the gyms closed during the pandemic, my workouts included a lot of bodyweight exercises. During this time, I was able to maintain and even improve my fitness.
In closing, doing bodyweight exercises are convenient, cheap, and effective. Even if you go to the gym, I would still recommend including bodyweight exercises in your routine. I personally love doing pushups after a set on the bench press and jumping squats after a heavy set of barbell squats.
Here are my five favorite bodyweight exercises below: