Bodyweight training: lift yourself up

Just 50 years ago, strength training of any type was barely practiced. That’s because not only was strength training not recognized as a training tool, it also wasn’t an accepted activity in the general population. These days, times have changed; strength training is both considered a required component of sports preparation, and necessary for healthy aging.

The culture of strength

Strength training now an accepted part of culture and there are many different forms of strength training that are widely practiced. These include free weights, machines, resistance bands, kettlebells, and even bodyweight resistance. This can create a conundrum for some athletes because it can lead to confusion as to which approach is going to be most effective. Athletes may find some types of strength training more appealing than others, but equally, they don’t want to waste their time or effort on a strategy that’s less effective.

Further, just because strength training is considered mainstream, it doesn’t mean that it’s easily accessible to those who haven’t yet begun to do so. This is particularly true of free weights. Some people simply find free weights intimidating and are hesitant to strength train as a result. If they believe that free weights are the only way to get strong, they may choose to do nothing instead of finding an equally effective alternative. Others simply don’t have access to free weights and if they are under the impression that free weights are required to get stronger, they may choose not to engage in strength training at all.

Solving the problem

Bodyweight strength training has been proposed as a solution to this conundrum, but because there is no external loading, some people view bodyweight training as inferior. But is it inferior? Is bodyweight training an effective introductory option for those that are intimidated by free weights, or simply don’t have access to them? And can bodyweight strength training be an effective alternative for more advanced athletes that don’t have access to free weights for some reason? By comparing the outcomes of bodyweight strength training and free weight strength training, we can start to provide answers to these questions, and now a new study has investigated exactly this question?

In this study, a group of researchers from Japan took 37 healthy individuals and had them perform an 8-week strength training program where the subjects exercised twice per week. The subjects were split into two groups. One group performed traditional weight training, exercising at an intensity of 70% of their maximum strength, performing 3 x sets of 8-12 repetitions. They performed the following exercises: squats, bench press, deadlift, dumbbell row and lat pulls. The other training group performed nine different bodyweight training exercises: leg raises, squats, lunge, single-leg Romanian deadlift, rear raise, rowing, overhead shoulder mobility exercise (shoulder press), dips, and push-ups. They performed 1-2 sets of 10-15 repetitions per exercise depending on the exercise and the week of the program. All training sessions were supervised by the researchers.

Before and after the intervention, all the participants performed two primary tests. The first was a knee extension maximal voluntary contraction torque assessment. This is a very simple way to measure the strength of the quadriceps muscle, which does not involve much skill. By removing the skill component, it’s easier to assess the strength of the muscle without any interference from other factors. The second test involved a magnetic resonance scan of the thigh. This scan allowed the researchers to determine the size of the thigh and what type of tissues were responsible for how much of any thigh size increase. Both tests were performed prior to the beginning of the training intervention, as well as after.

What they found

The most important finding from the study was that both training groups significantly improved the muscle mass of the rectus femoris, one of the most important quadriceps muscles. Regardless of whether weight training or bodyweight training was performed, significant muscle growth occurred, and the degree of muscle growth was similar regardless of the type of training used. For those looking to improve muscle mass therefore, it appears that both free weights and bodyweight training are effective in doing so, and either can be an option for those looking to develop the size of their legs.

Muscle strength also improved in both groups, with a slightly larger change in the weight training group, although this extra gain in strength was small (see figure 2). As with muscle mass, both protocols proved effective in improving strength. While it’s understood that weight training will improve muscle strength, it’s less accepted that bodyweight strength training can do so. However, this study seems to affirm that bodyweight strength training can improve strength, and nearly as well as weight training. 

Figure 1: Change in quadriceps torque (strength)