Classic bodyweight exercises for training at home - Hindu pushup

While a bit cheesy, the above video clearly demonstrates one of the best exercises for training at home: the hindu pushup. It is one of the best bodyweight exercises you can do at home and one of my favourites.

It's a basic push up that uses a lot more of the shoulder complex than normal. Because you have your hands under your shoulders, the exercise is very triceps-centric. Due to the moving back and forth, you really engage the shoulder and upper back.

Workout program for exercising at home

A workout program for exercising at home could be 5 sets of 10 reps combined with some hindu squats, which I will be covering soon. The hindu pushups should work your entire upper body and the hindu squats will work the lower body and your balance. Of course, as always it is important to start out slow, to get your body used to the motions of the exercise and not overstressing your joints.

With regards to breathing, you can either do as they do in the video, which is exhaling when going down or you can do it the other way round. I find that if I do it the other way round, then I feel more of a stretch in the rib cage.

You really can do a lot of exercises just by using your own body. As such bodyweight exercises are perfect for training and exercising at home and I have incorporated them in to my home workout routine.

The best bodyweight exercise program?

Bodyweight exercises are really awesome! You don't need to set them up, you don't need equipment and they can be really, really hard...and give you a really nice, lean, non-bulky body.

Coming from a martial arts background, I have done bodyweight exercises for many years and one in particular has really clicked with me: Flowfit by Scott Sonnon.

The primary reason I like it, is because it works on so many levels: it works the upper and lower body, it gives you elastic strength and stretches you, it gives you cardio and it works your body awareness.

The flowfit program

Basically you progress through 6 different exercises, starting at a very basic level 1 and ending at level 4, which is quite taxing. You do these 6 exercises one after another, 1 rep at a time. This is one circle and you do from 5-10 of these. You should aim for around 15-25 minutes of work...and that's it! You can find a lot of examples on Youtube of Flowfit: Flowfit level 3

As a total beginner you will have no problems starting at level 1 and slowly working your way up. Scott Sonnon has a really relaxed attitude towards starting training and training in general and focuses heavily on joint health and body health. So not only will you get stronger, you will also have less pain and feel better!