Bodyweight Alternatives For Common Gym Exercises

The bench press is used to strengthen then middle portion of the chest muscle group.

The traditional push up will target the exact same areas of the chest and shoulder muscles.

When you switch to an incline bench press you target the upper portion of your chest muscle group.

The Decline Push Up is the bodyweight alternative. It will strengthen your upper chest muscle fibers.

When you lower the bench you target the lower portion of your chest muscle fibers. The advantage of the Decline Bench Press variation is that you can continue to add more weight as you get stronger.

The Incline Push Up can be done on any elevated surface. The higher the surface the easier it will be to it. If you are looking to strengthen the lower muscle fibers with a difficult exercise, than try ring dips.

Dumbbell Flies target the Pec Minor portion of your chest muscles. The wider you keep the weights the harder the exercise will be. Just bring the weight close in to make it easier.

Wide Push Ups will target the same area, however, not necessarily in the same way. Another alternative is to grab a pair of circular weights and roll them in while doing a push up.

When you keep your elbows outward they target more of the chest. When you keep them in they target more of the tricep.

I’m a huge fan of dips. When I didn’t have rings I used chairs like the guy above. This is a fantastic exercise.

Dumbell Presses strengthen the middle portion of your chest like the bench press. However, this exercise allows you to get more range of motion.

Deep push ups will help target the same muscles as Dumbbell Presses. Make sure you have your feet on a chair too so you work the middle portion of your chest.

The Lat Pull Down is a great exercise to target the lat muscle in the back. When doing it, lean back to target the lat.

The Pull Up is an equally effective exercise. Make sure to think about using your back muscles as you pull up.

This exercise will target the middle portion of your traps and rhomboids in your back very effectively.

The Front Lever Pull Up is a very difficult exercise but targets the same muscles. In addition it also strengthens your core.

When you are doing a seated cable row make sure you keep your back straight and pull from the back muscles. Keep your biceps as loose as you can.

The Horizontal Bodyweight Row is a comparable exercise to the Seated Row. However, make sure you have your elbows tucked close to your sides.

This exercise is great for strengthening the muscles in your upper traps. You can use a barbell, easy curl bar or dumbbells for this exercise.

The Inverted Pull Up aka Batman Pull Up, will target the same muscle groups. The more elevated your feet are the more emphasis on the upper traps.

T Bar Rows are another fantastic exercise for strengthening the middle portion of the back muscles.

I just found this exercise. Kind of cool although its quite easy. You can drop your body lower to make it harder.

This exercise will strengthen and build muscle on the front part of the shoulder. These are seated overhead presses but you can also do these standing.

The handstand push up is the equivalent exercise. You don’t need to do a freestanding handstand push up. You can place your feet on the wall to maintain balance.

Yes, I realize that the video is in another language. Yet, it shows the form of the Arnold Press very well.

This is one of my favorite channels on Youtube. The guy is sick. This will take some practice for sure. 🙂

The Upright Row is another exercise that will strengthen both your shoulders and upper traps very effectively.

The Elevator is an advanced gymnastic exercise that will target the same muscle groups along with many, many more.

The Lateral Raise targets the middle portion of your shoulder muscle.

The bodyweight alternative is the Iron Cross and is a much more challenging exercise.

The Cable Front Raise is a great exercise strengthen the front part of the deltoid. You can use a cable or dumbbells.

This exercise will work for more muscles than the shoulders. Keep just one foot on the bar to make it harder.

The Rear Delt Row will strengthen the back part of your shoulder muscle.

The One Arm Bodyweight Row is a fantastic alternative to target the back of the shoulder.

The Barbell Squat is a fantastic exercise to develop the quads and the glutes. The benefit is that you get to add weight.

The Bodyweight Squat works the exact muscles however you won’t be able to load the muscles like with weights.

In the Smith Machine you sit further back targeting a different portion of your quads.

Wall Sits are great replacements. You can even lift up one leg to make it harder.

The Split Squat will hit the quads and glutes.

The Stationary Lunge is a non-weight replacement.

The advantage of walking lunges over stationary lunges is that it engages more of the glute.

The Bodyweight Walking Lunge is a fantastic alternative to using weights.

Steps Ups will engage both the glute and quad muscles of the working leg.

When doing this exercise make sure you don’t hop or bounce to perform the movement.