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Bodyweight and at-home workouts

Learn about different ways to elevate your bodyweight workouts and the reasons behind them.

Emma Gronholz

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Although it's no surprise that we at Rise love strength training in a gym setting, we recognize that sometimes, getting to the gym just isn't feasible. Luckily, the benefits of exercise aren't just contained to the gym, and there are tons of great at-home workout options that you can do to get your body moving, many of them made super accessible by requiring no equipment. Bodyweight workouts aren't only convenient, but they can actually be progressed quite easily - AKA changing the intensity of the exercise - by adding tempos, isometric holds, EQI positions, and changing elevations. 

How to elevate your at-home workouts

Tempos and holds

Increasing time under tension is one of the simplest ways to build strength and dial up the difficulty while doing bodyweight movements. The simplest way to do this is to change the tempo of your movements.

For example, an eccentric tempo would challenge you to move slowly through the eccentric part of the movement, when the muscle is extending. This can look like doing a push-up by going slow on the way down, when the pectoral muscles are being stretched and extended, then quickly pushing back up to the top, while the muscles are contracting or shortening on the way up.

A concentric tempo is the when the muscle spends time under tension while it's being shortened. This could look like slowly standing up out of a squat position.

Isometric holds require holding the muscle in a specific position with no movement of a joint, such as holding a lunge position at the bottom for a specific amount of time.

The last tempo type we'll highlight is EQI, which stands for eccentric-quasi-isometric. An easy way to remember this tempo is that its name has three letters, and it includes three different movement positions, all held for three seconds each. Using a pull-up as an example, this would mean holding for three seconds at the top with a 30 degree bend in the elbow joint, holding for three more seconds at 90 degrees, and then holding for three more seconds at 120 degrees. This is a great way to work through the full range of motion for a pull-up, while spending time under tension in each of the most challenging points. 

Elevation

Changing elevation is another easy way to change the intensity of a movement. By changing the elevation you can either progress or regress a movement. If push-ups are difficult, elevating your hands changes the lever angles used for the movement to make it easier. On the other hand, if push-ups are an easy movement for you, placing feet above the head such as on a step or a box will increase the difficulty of the movement. You can play around with different parts of the body being elevated to see where the right amount of intensity is for you.

How to set up a workout

Generally when I am doing a workout, I will pick one lower body movement, one upper body movement, and one core or cardio movement. Then I will do 3-4 sets, which means I go through each exercise 3-4 times. A good rep scheme is 8-12 reps for traditional bodyweight movements and 3-6 reps for movements where you are spending a lot of time under tension. 

An example program

Set 1: 3 times through

  1. Bodyweight squat - 10

  2. Push-up - 8

  3. Hollow hold - 30 seconds

Set 2: 3 times through 

  1. Reverse lunge - 8 each

  2. Tricep dip on stairs - 10

  3. Dead bug - 12 each

Set 3: 3 times through

  1. Standing RDL - 10

  2. Pogo hops - 15

  3. Push-up to down dog to opposite toe tap - 5 each

Main movements with variations 

Here is a list of some of my personal favorites for bodyweight and at-home exercises. 

  1. Squat

    1. Body weight

    2. One foot elevated 

    3. Lateral squat

    4. Single leg squat

  2. Lunge

    1. Forward

    2. Reverse

    3. Lateral

    4. Curtsy

    5. Walking 

  3. Plank 

    1. Elbows

    2. Push-up position

    3. Side plank

    4. Crawling 

    5. Bear plank 

  4. Hollow hold

    1. Hands by side

    2. Hands above head

    3. Side 

  5. Push-ups

    1. Incline

    2. One hand elevated

    3. Narrow hand position (tricep focused)

    4. Push-up to opposite toe tap

  6. RDL (Romanian deadlift)

    1. Feet together

    2. Staggered stance

    3. Single leg

  7. Calf raises

    1. Standing

    2. Seated

    3. In, out, center for toe positions

    4. On an incline 

  8. Dead bug

    1. Traditional 

    2. With triceps extension

    3. Iso holds

  9. Jumps

    1. Squat jump

    2. Pogos

    3. Single leg hops

    4. Lateral hops

    5. Broad jumps 

  10. Triceps dip

    1. On floor

    2. On step

    3. Feet elevated