Unpacking the Benefits and Drawbacks of Bodyweight and Free Weights Training, and Which is Best for Women

Speaker 1: 0:20

Hey, and welcome back to another episode of Body Holic with Dee. I am thrilled to have you here with me for episode 33, where we are diving into a topic that has been frequently requested the age-old debate of training with weights versus training with body weight. And guess what? We're not just going to stop there, we're also going to delve into the world of women and strength training. Before we jump into the fitness talk, I want to express my gratitude for your continued support, especially during these challenging times. As many of you know, my family, friends and I have been navigating through the complexities of a war situation, adding an extra layer of intensity to an already demanding period, and on top of that I'm nearing my due date, making every day really an unpredictable adventure. So creating content during such times has kind of been a balancing act, but your messages and questions have not gone unnoticed. This episode is a long-awaited response to the queries and questions coming in from our social media community on the BodyHolic Instagram. For me, today's episode is an attempt to return to a sense of normalcy and share valuable insights that I work with, that I am quite knowledgeable in, that can positively impact your fitness journey. I'm particularly excited about this episode as it is currently recorded in front of a live Zoom audience. Your presence, whether you're on Zoom or listening to the podcast, wherever you podcast or on YouTube your presence means a lot to me, signaling your active commitment to researching and advocating for your health, something I absolutely love about our BodyHolic community. So, before we dive into the discussion, a special shout out to the sponsor, bodyholic. You can find BodyHolic on BodyHolicfit. It is your go-to global health and fitness community with over 1,000 workouts. You can also follow my exact day-to-day training schedule, even during these final weeks of my pregnancy, and also we do have the most comfortable fitness attire. You won't regret purchasing and really, like I already mentioned, a supportive community that really has your back. So grab your favorite beverage, which, of course, is water no, I'm just kidding, sort of not really and settle in and let's explore the world of weights, bodyweight training and the empowerment of women through strength. Thank you so much for tuning in and if you find this podcast valuable, please don't forget to subscribe and share, because that way, together, we're making the world a healthier place.

Speaker 1: 3:43

So let's get started. In the world of fitness, there are two main types of strength training. We've got the bodyweight training and we have the free weights training. Both have their own unique benefits and drawbacks, so it can pretty much. It can be pretty tough to decide which one is the right one for you, and today we're all about delving into the pros and cons of each method in order to help you make a more informed decision. So we're going to just focus on bodyweight training for right now. People exercising in a park, for example okay, and using various bodyweight exercises like lunges and pushups and planks that's what we're talking about.

Speaker 1: 4:40

Bodyweight training is a type of strength training that utilizes your own body weight as resistance, meaning you don't need any external weights. So it's super convenient and also, let's not forget, it's a super convenient and affordable option. So bodyweight exercises are also super great for beginners because they're generally less demanding on your joints than free weights free weight exercises and so I want us to just really take a look at the benefits of bodyweight training each one separately. So the first I think is the most obvious, and for me it's definitely the number one is convenience. Bodyweight exercises are incredibly convenient because you can do them anywhere and anytime. You don't need to worry about gym membership, expensive equipment or even finding a dedicated workout space. You can do bodyweight exercises at home, in the park, while traveling or even during your lunch break, and those of you who train on the body-holy community you know that that's exactly how I roll. That's what body-holy is totally based on. You've seen me even work out in tiny, tiny hotel rooms when I was traveling for work and I had nothing except for a tiny space. So it makes it easy basically to fit your exercise into a really busy schedule Even if you have really limited time or resources. I have a body-holy client, someone who trains online, who is a super busy doctor and even through COVID, when the hospitals were like on overload mode, she was able to get a five-minute, 15-minute workout in because it was totally based on pushing through a short period of time with no equipment needed. So I actually think I want to give you a few examples, like let me just give you some things that you can really do anywhere Push-ups so you can work your chest and shoulders and triceps Just a regular push-up.

Speaker 1: 7:15

Squats, lunges you get to work your legs, your glutes, your core. You've got to remember that when we're going heavy on the legs and we're pushing through leg workouts, you've got your core going. Same thing with push-ups A major core exercise. Plank, that's another one. You get to work your core, your abdominal muscles, deep core crunches you get to work your abdominal crunches, your abdominal muscles. But those of you who know me and have trained with me also know that I will always hands down. I will always prefer the plank over the crunch. The reason is that the plank actually uses the core and abdominal muscles in a way that we're actually meant to use these muscles Stabilizing the spine and holding us upright. So that was a little bit of a side note. I'm also going to just mention that the studies I've used for today's discussion are in the show notes on the podcast home page. I think it's also wherever you get the podcast, so feel free to check it out. And so back to the list of the benefits Affordability Bodyweight exercises are free.

Speaker 1: 8:42

You don't need to pay a ton of money to work out. All you need is your own body weight, so there are no equipment costs to worry about. This makes bodyweight training an accessible form of exercise for all income levels. Low impact Body weight exercises are relatively and I'm gonna emphasize that, relatively gentle on your joints, making them a good option for people of all ages and fitness levels. This is because body weight exercises typically involve using your own body weight as resistance rather than external weights or machines which can put less stress on your joints, which can help prevent injuries. Of course, I'm not referring to high impact exercises where you're jumping like burpees and squat jumps and switch lunges. You know we're gonna put that in a whole other category, but here are.

Speaker 1: 9:49

I do wanna give you a list of some low impact body weight workouts. So walking is a great way to get your heart rate up and improve your cardiovascular health. Really don't diminish the benefits of walking. That's a huge, huge workout, right there for you. Speeding up your walk, getting your heart rate up, getting your sweat on. It is low impact and you will greatly benefit from it.

Speaker 1: 10:22

Swimming another low impact workout that works your entire body. Yoga it can be a gentle workout that improves flexibility, improves your strength, your balance, your core. I say it can be because there are slightly more intense versions of yoga. I think I'm not an expert in yoga, but I think like there are different versions of vinyasa, specifically yashdanga, which actually is my favorite kind, but it can be a little bit more intense. Pilates is a low impact workout that focuses on strengthening your core muscles. And another option which I actually don't have that much knowledge about I've never really experienced it but I'm gonna list it here because I keep hearing from people about how much they love it is Tai Chi. So a gentle workout that combines slow movements with deep breathing, and actually it sounds amazing and hopefully, when things calm down around here where I am, I'll try that out.

Speaker 1: 11:34

So another thing, another benefit about the body weight exercises and workouts is the functionality of it. Body weight exercises typically mimic everyday movements, which actually is the definition of functional training. So over the years, lines have kind of been blurred between high intensity training and functional training. But if we look at the actual definition on a very, very basic level, it is strength training that preps the body for daily activities such as bending and twisting and lifting, and improving your overall fitness to make it easier to perform everyday tasks. For example, squats help you strengthen the muscles you use to sit up sit down, stand up while lunges will help you strengthen the muscles to use your gait and climb stairs. Another huge benefit is improving your balance and coordination.

Speaker 1: 12:42

So body weight exercises often require you to control your own body weight, which can help you improve your balance and coordination. I have to say that for me, now that I'm in towards the end of my pregnancy, this has been really important, an important factor in my workouts, considering that my controlling my own body weight has been very different as my body weight shifts and my point of gravity is very different. So the workouts right now, as opposed to the workouts eight months ago, are completely different in terms of just how I handle myself through balance and coordination exercises. So if you are going through your pregnancy, definitely you want to put an emphasis on those kind of exercises where you do have to control your own body weight and how you hold yourself up. And the reason is because typically, body weight exercises involve using multiple muscle groups at the same time, which requires your body to work together and maintain balance and control. So I'm kind of saying this as opposed to like a bicep curl, where you're holding an external weight and you're just working a single joint, whereas when you're working with your body weight, you're really moving through your entire musculature.

Speaker 1: 14:25

So a few examples of body weight exercises that could really help you improve balance and coordination and I am just listing basic and favorites. Okay, basics and favorites. So single leg squats to work your legs, glutes and core while also improving balance. This is an amazing exercise. I want you to see if you could sit and stand from a chair using one leg. Now I do want to say, like you can absolutely modify, so if you're doing this on your right leg, you can put your left tippy toes down on the floor and really push the entire right foot into the ground to lift yourself up and stand up. That's, of course, if you also have maybe a sensitivity around the knee or the hip joint, or maybe you just have never done this and you want to take it one step at a time, which I highly recommend. So, and then, of course, if possible, you would do it with the left leg off the floor and just sit and stand on your right leg. So that's, that's one of my absolute favorites.

Speaker 1: 15:41

You can also use balance board balance board for exercises, so, or anything. Basically, like there's also the Eric's cushion that I remember I don't use it anymore but basically anything that gives you a surface that is not balanced okay, not a hard surface that is going to make you work really hard in terms of balance and coordination, work your core, so you can just stand on a balance board and just perform your squats. You can just stand on a balance board, actually, and that's going to challenge your balance and coordination. And, again, you can use workouts, you can go to classes that are like Tai Chi and yoga and Pilates and all that is going to cover, basically, the balance and coordination and flexibility components. So, overall, body weight training offers a wide range of benefits, making it a super, super great option for people of all ages and fitness levels. Whether you're looking for a convenient, affordable, low impact, functional or balanced improving exercise routine, body weight training is really a great place to start.

Speaker 1: 17:07

I'm going to take a sip, if you'll excuse me for a moment, and then we're going to get into the drawbacks. So there are drawbacks. The two drawbacks that I'm going to mention is the first is the limited progression and as you get stronger, basically it can be difficult to increase the intensity of the body weight exercises. So, for example, if you are just starting to get into your workout routine and now you decide to like bang out your pushups and over time over the next month, two months, six months, whatever you are realizing that you can drop down for might be exaggerating maybe not 50 pushups, and you can still keep going and you can progress by placing your feet up higher on a chair, use a TRX, and so then you have to work your weight a little bit. You're basically creating a situation where your body weight feels heavier, but if you want to really really feel the growth and the hypertrophy, you might have to at one point turn to free weights. And that brings me to the second drawback.

Speaker 1: 18:39

It might not be ideal for muscle building, for bodybuilding. So body weight exercises are not necessarily ultimately effective for building muscle mass as much as free weight exercises. So if you're competitive, if you attend competitions and like bikini competitions for women, bodybuilding training, bodybuilding competitions in general, bodyweight training might not cut it for you. You might have to actually load up the iron a little bit more.

Speaker 1: 19:20

And so let's look into the free weights. So free weight training is a type of strength training that uses external weights, such as dumbbells and barbells and kettlebells, for example. Free weights exercises provide a more progressive overload, which is necessary. Okay, so like this is this is my disclaimer, this is the caveat. It is necessary for building muscle mass. The benefits of free weight training We've got progressive overload, like we were talking about.

Speaker 1: 20:00

Free weights. Exercises really allow you to gradually increase the weight you lift and stimulate the muscle growth. Effective muscle building. Free weights are are very, very effective for building muscle mass, and they do have versatility, so there's a wide variety of free weight exercises that you can target all major muscle groups with, and I say this as opposed to the machines, right, when I, when I place myself into, like a seated machine, for example, or a lying machine, and I'm working against that particular movement with the weights Like, the thing that comes to mind first of all is the hamstrings, just because it really places you exactly in a single position, so that's not so versatile compared to free weights. Right, we can move much more freely, work our core, work our balance much more freely when we're using free weights.

Speaker 1: 21:12

There are drawbacks, though, and so let's take a look at them. The first is this totally corresponds with what we've already talked about with body weight. It requires equipment. You'll need to purchase or have access to free weights, and that costs money, okay, so, and the other thing is that there is a higher risk of injury. Free weight exercises require proper form. Your form is what. Your form is so important, really, no matter what, whether it's body weight or free weights. But there is a little bit of an increased risk when you're using free weights because you actually might be lifting something that is too much for your body to take to handle. So proper form, maybe get a spotter, a personal trainer, etc. At least to begin with, in order to avoid injury. And that again leads me to to another drawback. So it may require guidance and I do highly recommend it. Beginners might need guidance from a trainer or a coach to learn proper technique. I highly recommend turning to a professional and, of course, that that does cost more money. So there is that.

Speaker 1: 22:45

There's some research that I do want to kind of put a spotlight on regarding scientific research on body weight training versus free weight training, specifically women and strength training. So studies have looked into the effectiveness of both weight training and body weight training for women. There was a meta-analysis in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning that found that both methods were equally effective in improving strength and muscle mass in untrained women. For experienced women, people who have been training for over six months, the weight training showed to be more effective in increasing muscle size. So this corresponds with what we've already said For beginners, and we call this kind of beginner's luck the difference was really insignificant between body weight and weight training. Once you start becoming stronger, increasing muscle size, then you might want to turn to free weights. Another study that was published in the European Journal of Applied Psychology not psychology compared body weight training to free weights and experienced female lifters, and the results indicated that free weight training was significantly more effective in increasing muscle size compared to body weight training.

Speaker 1: 24:27

So which type of training is right for you? It depends. It depends on your individual goals, your preferences, your fitness level. If building significant muscle mass is the primary goal, weight training, lifting weights, is the more effective choice. So let me just repeat that Again. If you are aiming to build significant muscle mass, that is your goal Again, maybe you are a competitor that you might want to go for weight training and convenience, affordability, low-impact exercises if those are the priority, like we talked about, then body weight training is an excellent option. Women can also combine both methods to create a super well-rounded, effective workout routine. Regardless of the method that is chosen, consistency is key, and I say that all the time. It is key to achieving your fitness goals. Just stay consistent, keep coming back to your workouts.

Speaker 1: 25:52

Women in general, also people in general, but I also want to really emphasize this for women, especially if you are going in and out of pregnancies, in and out of your regular cycle. Everybody has their own stuff around that, going into menopause, etc. There are so many different factors into training as a woman, so I highly highly recommend that you consult with a healthcare professional, and, of course, this is true for everybody. But I do kind of want to emphasize the more delicate situation that women do face regularly and I do tend to say you know, turn to a certified personal trainer to develop a personalized strength training program that suits your needs and also that takes into account your limitations. And again, this really goes.

Speaker 1: 27:01

It's what I would say to absolutely everyone and anyone, but of course, I do have that like little emphasis, that little extra push that I give women regarding consulting and making sure that you are getting what you need in order to build strength, stay fit, stay healthy throughout all these different phases in your life. And finally, of course, you can turn to me. You can hit me up on the YouTube or on Instagram or on biholicfit, and I'm absolutely there for you and that's what I'm here, for it's my calling, so you just feel absolutely free to reach out and I hope this lecture has helped you and helped you learn more and navigate through bodyweight training versus freeweight training, and please don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more great content and for just keeping in touch. Thank you, guys, for watching.