Reasons You Should Do Bodyweight Exercises Versus Exercise Equipment

It’s a truth. No one likes to be injured. We have all suffered some kind of injury, usually by the time we can walk.

As babies, we bang our heads on the crib by accident or fall down the first flight of stairs we try to walk up.

By the time we are in our teens and actively engaged in sports, we start with the pulled muscles or if truly unlucky…a back that “goes out,” on us.

Some of those injuries can be obtained by using various forms of exercise equipment.

Even with proper supervision and training, it is quite easy for a person to suffer a muscle tear or a disc injury. Some of the reasons for this are quite clear.

With regular exercise equipment, there is the tendency to compete with friends or even the unknown male on the bench press…who just slammed 450 lbs up and down on his chest.

Most people believe that with a bench press machine or free weights, you are building ultimate strength and eventually muscle.

The problem is this… you are only using isolated muscles in order to lift that weight up.

With proper bodyweight exercise, you are engaging most of your muscles.

Compare doing a push-up to a chest press with weight chosen for your current strength level.

In doing a push-up, you are working…the muscles in your arms, shoulders, back.

They are doing most of the work but you are also using your glutes and leg muscles at the same time.

Can you say the same thing for your chest press?

Of course not, because you are not using your back muscles, nor any muscles below the waist.

With a chest press, if you do it incorrectly, like too wide a grip and lowering the bar until it touches your chest…you can rip a muscle in the shoulder area.

You really don’t hear of anyone hurting their shoulders doing a push-up, so it is probably not a common injury exercise.

Use too much weight and no spotter; you may drop the weight on your chest, breaking the breast bone.

There have been reported cases of people who lost control of the weight, even with a spotter, (not the best one in the gym) and suffered a broken front tooth when the bar hit the males face.

At least if you lose control of a push-up, you could turn your head before smashing your nose into the carpet.

In the gym, there is a code of sorts. It’s called “train your muscles to failure.”

This is actually a very bad idea. The next morning your muscles are so sore and you cannot get full rotation out of your arms. Think about this for a moment.

What would you do, if after training to failure, you need to take action?

Run away from someone who intends to do you harm or get cornered and need to fight your way out of a situation?


With muscle failure, your arms, chest and legs will not be able to respond properly, leaving you at a big disadvantage.

In bodyweight exercises, you never train to failure. There is no need to.

Body weight exercises, use more muscle groups and you get a much better work-out and recover totally by the next day.

If you have never set-up a bodyweight exercise program, why not try it for a few days and see the difference!

Lifetime fitness is a goal for everyone, and you can learn more here about the ways that bodyweight workouts can help you to achieve this, in our section dedicated to how to do BodyWeight Exercises.

Are you a fitness fanatic or a couch potato trying to improve your body?

Tell us more about yourself, and what you think about the concept of using your own bodyweight as a fitness tool!

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