How to Build Muscle Without Weights? 5 Best Bodyweight Exercises for Women

If you're looking to build muscle, you should definitely be doing exercises with weights. However, it's not always possible to go to the gym, or you may be traveling and need a way to keep your fitness routine going.

Bodyweight exercises are a great alternative if you don't have access to weights. They're also beneficial, as they can help improve your balance and coordination, which is especially important for women who want to stay active as they age.

Best Bodyweight Exercises For Women

Here are the top five bodyweight exercises for women to build muscle:

1) Lunge

Lunges are a great way to target the quads, hamstrings, and glutes. The exercise involves a forward step with one leg, while the other remains stationary, returning to the starting position.

You can also reverse this movement by stepping backward on one leg and returning to the starting position. Lunges can be performed with dumbbells or bodyweight alone for an even more significant challenge.

Here's how it's done:

Stand straight with your feet together, and lunge forward with your right foot at a 90-degree angle (or as close as you can get).
Push off the back left leg till standing upright again before repeating with the left foot instead of the right foot.
Repeat till the desired repetitions are completed before switching sides.

Targeting the lower half of the body can help strengthen abdominal muscles while also improving balance during more advanced movements, like squats or deadlifts. These two xercises can boost muscle growth significantly if done correctly.

2) Glute Bridge

Here's how it's done:

Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
Fully extend your hips and knees to lift your butt off the ground by pushing through your heels.
Make sure not to overextend at the top of the move; keep your abs engaged to avoid any stress or strain in your lower back.
Once you have completed 8-10 repetitions, perform ten side-to-side leg raises for each leg as a variation of this exercise.

If done correctly, this move activates many major muscles in the body, including the core area (abs), lower back, and glutes.

3) Mountain Climber

Mountain climbers are great for building muscle and increasing cardiovascular endurance.

This exercise works the upper body, lower body, and core in one movement. It's a full body exercise that forces you to engage your muscles as you alternate between bringing each knee up to your chest while in plank position, and extending it straight out as far as you can reach.

Here's how it's done:

Start by getting into a push-up position.
Straighten your arms, and tuck your stomach in.
Raise one leg, and bend your knee. Bring it in towards your core.
In rapid succession, alternating between your right and left leg, perform the aforementioned movement.
Perform as many reps or seconds as you can, without slowing down.

The only equipment needed is a floor space, but if you want to add some resistance, try holding onto dumbbells (or even wearing ankle weights).

4) Push-up

Push-ups are a great way to build strength in the chest and arms. This is one of the most basic bodyweight exercises for women, and it's also one of the best for building muscle without weights.

When done correctly and consistently, push-ups can help strengthen te chest and promote better posture by strengthening the muscles surrounding these joints. That can help prevent injury if you're carrying heavy bags or doing anything that puts strain on those areas.

This exercise is done as follows:

Lie face down on the floor with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Draw your stomach in towardd your spine, and lower yourself till your elbows form a 90-degree angle (don't let them go lower than that).
Push back up where you're standing straight again by straightening your arms, keeping them locked at all times.

5) Squat Jump

This exercise is a great way to build muscles in the legs, especially the quadriceps.

Here's how to do it:

Stand with your feet apart and slightly turned out, with toes pointing out to the sides.
Bend your knees till your thighs are parallel to the floor, and jump up as high as you can.
Land lightly, and immediately lower yourself back into a squat position.
Perform 1-10 reps before resting for 30 seconds or longer between sets (one set equals ten reps).

Takeaway

The aforementioned exercises can help you build muscle, strength, and endurance without weights.

The most important thing to remember is that they are all compound movements. That means they involve multiple muscle groups at once so that you can burn more calories in less time while also building up your core.