Body weight exercises are more than enough to get you in great shape. It takes time to go to a gym, I can’t argue that. Time to drive there, change, warm up, workout, cool down and drive home. A 30-minute workout can easily take 1-2 hours of your time. With body weight exercise routines, you can eliminate the excess time it takes to go to a gym, as well as the cost of a membership.

Now that I have eliminated the two biggest excuses people come up with, let’s get down to how you can use your body as a tool for exercise. Pushups, planks, pull ups, chin ups, squats, lunges just to name a few are fantastic. Not to mention, walking, jogging, running or sprinting. Combining these together can give you everything you need for a total body workout. You can do most of this at home or close to it. This maximizes the time you dedicate to exercise by eliminating the trip to the gym.

I don’t want to diminish the value of a quality gym. Gyms represent a sacred place where we can go to give the body and mind what it needs. What I am saying is that not being able to go to one shouldn’t be the reason that you aren’t working out.

For some people, the gym can be an intimidating place. In that case, working out with body weight exercises at home is a great way to get you to a place where you feel comfortable going to one.

One of the best body weight centered disciplines is yoga. Entire routines require nothing but a mat. It can work just about every muscle in the body and videos are easy to come by.