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101 Body Resistance Exercises for Strength Training
By Cindy | March 28, 2008
With body resistance exercises, there is no excuse to avoid strength training! Gravity and our own weight provide excellent tools to challenge the body. From the beginner to the advanced athlete, body exercises performed in proper form will enhance your posture, muscular endurance, strength, flexibility and balance. Many muscles are used to perform various bodyweight exercises. Even when one muscle targeted, mental stimulation and the need to stabilize and support movement improves. Push ups, squats and pull ups are admired for their easy example of full bodyweight exercises.
Performance Tips
- Start with a warm up and light stretches
- 10-12 repetitions completed with proper form to point of fatigue. When an exercise becomes easy, then it is time to progress to more weight in the form of ankle weights, bands, medicine balls or stability ball.
- Breathing should be controlled to exhale in the direction of exertion
- Mental focus on the movement and muscles involved
- Build up to 2 or 3 sets a session
- Give a 48 hour rest for the exercised muscles
- Keep posture in alignment standing, lying on floor, or when in a side lying position
- Always envision the abdominals drawn to the spine
- Prevent knees from extending over toes in squats and lunges
- Rest muscles between sets (performing stretches is an excellent use of time to enhance flexibility and muscle response)
- End with a cool down and focused stretching
The exercises are broken down by larger body regions. However, almost all body resistance exercises require the effort of the whole body. Pick and choose a few exercises for the different muscle groups to create a routine. Change up and redesign to prevent boredom!
Arms
1. Push ups
2 Knee push ups
3. Wall push ups
4. One-armed push ups
5. Diamond push ups
6. Dive bomber push ups
7. Explosive push ups
8. Incline push ups (use a step or foot stool for arms)
9. Decline push ups (place feet on step or stool)
10. Handstand push ups
11. Tricep dips (couch or chair for support)
12. Suspended tricep dips with legs up on chairs
13. Pull ups
14. Chin ups
15. Bar Hang (hold position as attempt a pullup)
Abdominals & Obliques
16. Situps
17. V-situps
18. Full boat pose (Yoga)
19. Rope climbing sit ups
20. Incline sit ups
21. Crunches
22. Reverse crunches
23. Rope climbing crunches
24. Oblique twists
25. Double crunches (both upper and lower body compressed)
26. Single leg crunches (legs up 90 degrees, bring leg across body)
27. Extended arms overhead abdominal curls
28. Butterfly leg abdominal curl
29. Extended leg pendulum drop
30. 90 degree leg scissors
31. Low legged scissors
32. Flutter kicks
33. Bent knee side-to-side twists
34. Side plank upper body twists
35. Cross legged abdominal lifter
36. Bridge
37. Standing side curls
38. Plank
39. Side plank
40. The one hundred (Pilates)
Back
41. Trunk lifts
42. Tummy lying Leg lifts
43. Alternating Super Man arm/leg lifts
44. Combined trunk/leg extensions
45. Rotating trunk extensions
46. Bow pose (Yoga)
47. Cobra pose (Yoga)
48. The saw (Pilates)
Lower Body
49. Squats
50. Half squats
51. Wall squats
52. Sumo squats
53. Pile squats
54. One legged squats
55. Squat kicks
56. Chair pose 1 (Yoga)
57. Lunges
58. Side lunges
59. Reverse lunges
60. Walking lunges
61. Jumping lunges
62. Step up lunges
63. Lunging kicks
64. Star jumps
65. Wall jumps
66. Forward jumps
67. One-legged hop
68. Forward kicks
69. Back kicks
70. Side kicks
71. Roundhouse kicks
72. Calf raises
73. One-legged calf raises
74. One-legged dead lifts
75. Reverse hip lifts
76. Dirty dogs (side knee lifts/on all fours)
77. Downward facing dogs (form body into an A frame position)
78. Kneeling rear straight leg lifts
79. Kneeling rear bent leg lifts
80. Kneeling bent leg inward press (knee pressed toward body’s opposite calf)
81. Lying side leg raises
82. Standing side leg raises
83. Standing rear leg lifts
84. Side lying bottom leg raises
85. Side lying dual leg lifts
86. Side plank
87. Lying leg circles
88. Lying single leg circles
Full Body/Aerobic:
89. Jumping jacks
90. Explosive skip
91. Burpees (squat, pushup, jump)
92. 8 count body builders (standing, squat, kick feet back, up-down pushup, return squat, stand)
93. Mountain climbers
94. Slow bicycle leg cycles
95. Warrior pose (Yoga)
96. Triangle pose (Yoga)
97. Crow pose (Yoga)
98. The eagle pose (Yoga)
99. Crescent moon pose (Yoga)
100. The wheel pose (Yoga)
101. Tree pose (Yoga)
*In order to branch out from the regular body resistance exercises, I visited the following sites to complete this list with Pilates and Yoga postures that I wasn’t as familiar in performing.
For a beginner, your options are wide open. For the more advanced mom, more weight, increased intensity or more difficult poses will be necessary. Your kids make great resistances, too!
Other ways to increase difficulty is to add multiple moves to an exercise, slow down the pacing of the exercise (think of a slow motion performance) or intersperse the workout with high intensity cardiovascular moves (speed walking, sprint, jump roping).
As I develop Go Workout Mom, I will include illustrations and demonstrations of the individual exercises. Are you uncertain about a particular move? Which exercises would you like to see first?
Did I miss one of your favorite body resistance exercises? Do you have one to add to the list?
Picture acquired at Cybersalt
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Topics: Fitness Knowledge, Strength Training Activities |
March 29th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
on word: COMPREHENSIVE.
ok second word as I fear that didnt make sense :): list.
I cant wait to see your demos/illustrations!!
M.
March 30th, 2008 at 8:04 am
While your list is fab, is it wrong that I just can’t get passed the squirrel pic?
Too funny!
March 30th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Hi MizFit, I’m debating on video or pictures. With a broken camera, it’s a good opportunity to plug the need for a digital video camera. Hum, I don’t know that I’ll be so lucky!
MomWeightLoss, Don’t feel bad. Is it wrong to be envious of a squirrel? I sure am!
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:29 am
I’m like MomWeightLoss. That squirrel pic had me cracking up. LOVE it! And yes, great list.