The Best Bodyweight Exercises to Burn Fat

The beauty of bodyweight exercises is their convenience. You can do them anywhere, at any fitness level or intensity, regardless of the equipment you have access to. And when it comes to the best exercises to burn fat? These bodyweight exercises come in on top.

What are the benefits of bodyweight exercises?

Bodyweight exercises are an excellent fitness tool across the board, all fitness goals included. They provide limitless challenge, variety and intensity. All you need to do is manipulate the variables (more on that later), and you can have a pure strength workout, a stamina/endurance focused workout, an agility or sports performance workout, a fat loss workout…anything goes!

Gives You Freedom

The most obvious benefit of bodyweight exercises is the convenience. You can do these exercises and workouts anywhere – in your hotel room, outside on the lawn, in the park, in your living room – with zero equipment.

But it’s more than convenience and freedom to roam that places this kind of workout at the top of the list…

Full Body Workout

Planks. Squats. Push Ups. Mountain Climbers. All of these exercises can be done with bodyweight only. And they are all considered compound exercises, meaning you work multiple areas/muscle groups at the same time to perform a single rep. Not all muscles are engaged equally across these kinds of exercises, but you can mix it up and easily hit every area multiple times a workout.

For example most people think of a plank as a core exercise, but to perform a great plank you have to fully engage your glutes, hamstring, lats, traps, arms, delts…you know this if you’ve ever done one of my plank challenges!

The full body factor is one of the top reasons you can use bodyweight exercises to burn fat. Compound exercises require greater energy expenditure – aka calorie burn – compared to smaller, more isolated exercises (like a bicep curl).

Great for Building Power and Stamina (and ultimately, fat loss)

Maybe you don’t think of power and stamina when you think “fat loss”. But you should. Because a great fat loss program doesn’t just focus on high reps and calorie burn. The best programs for fat loss cycle through phases, covering strength, power, and stamina.

Here’s why:

Your body changes – read: uses up energy stores, builds muscle, builds new muscle fibers – when forced to. This is where progressive overload comes into play. There are multiple variables that you can play with to trigger this kind of change including weight selection, volume, rest, tempo and exercise selection. The point is: you have to challenge your body and constantly push it to work harder in order to grow.

One way to create progressive overload (and ultimately, progress), is to decrease the reps you do and increase the intensity. Strength.

Another way is to increase reps, decrease load and increase time under tension. Stamina.

Cycling through power/stamina workouts and even full phases makes you stronger in those areas. So when you come back to fat loss focused workouts…you can do more, last longer and essentially get better results! *cha-ching*

Great for All Fitness Levels

If you’re new to fitness, bodyweight is where you start. You learn the form, the technique, the focuses. And because you’re muscles are brand new to this kind of work mode, you’ll burn fat!

Currently a cardio queen? Adding in 1-2 days of bodyweight strength training can level up your progress in ways that might surprise you.

And if you’re already a fitness fanatic, you can manipulate these exercises in so many different ways that it might surprise your muscles (heyyyyyy, DOMs, I see you). Bodyweight is a great way to deload from heavy lifting, or cross-train for other sports and goals.

Which leads me to the final benefit I’m going to leave room for here, which is…

They’re Fun!

The exercise selection and variety of workout styles that bodyweight exercises leave open to you is limitless! No more boredom. No more plateauing. It’s time to switch it up!

Bodyweight exercises are perfect for a variety of workout schemes:

• AMRAP (as many reps/rounds as possible)
• EMOM (every minute on the minute)
• Metabolic Conditioning
• HIIT (high intensity interval training)
• MIC (moderate intensity cardio)
• Tabata

On and on!

What are the 10 best bodyweight exercises for burning fat?

“Best” is obviously a pretty strong claim. But here’s why I’m calling these the “best” for burning fat:

• Super effective for fat loss AND building muscle at the same time.
  
  *IMPORTANT* building lean muscle is the best ways to burn fat because muscle is metabolically active – meaning it burns calories to maintain it. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate, the more energy you expend even at rest.
  
• “Level-Up-Able”, meaning you can start off with the basics and then move on to more complicated versions as you get stronger and more comfortable. I’ll list ways to level up each movement below.
  
• Translate from goal to goal, venue to venue, workout to workout and person to person

Ready for them?

Pushups

Pushups target your chest but work other muscles along the way. Do a set of pushups (correctly) and you’ll feel the burn in your pecs, triceps, shoulders and core, too.

Pushups build muscle and strength, for sure. And because of their total upper body engagement and difficulty, they’re also great for fat burn.

Here’s how to do a pushup correctly:

1. Get into a high plank position with your hands just wider than shoulder width apart. Your body should form a straight line from head to heels.
2. Breath in and engage your core. Lower yourself towards the ground by bending at the elbows – shoot for ~45 degree angle – and allowing your shoulders to shift forward ever so slightly.
3. Before your chest touches the ground, exhale and push back up to your starting position.

Make it a bit easier by placing your knees on the ground, or placing your hands on an elevated surface.

Level it up with:

• Pause Pushups – pause at the bottom of the pushup for a 2-3 count hold.
• Deficit Pushups – feet up on a bench or step, hands on the ground.
• Plyo Pushups – push off the ground explosively as you come back to the top of the pushup.

Squat Jumps

Say hello to the fat burning exercises you love to hate. Squat Jumps take a classic exercise and rev its engine so that not only are you building strength and muscle, your torching calories with explosive power and intensity. They’re also good for improving balance, quickness and agility. Squat Jumps target your lower body: glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves.

Squat Jumps done properly:

1. Stand tall with feet shoulder-width apart and “soft knees” (somewhere close to straight but not locked out).
2. Keeping your chest upright, bend at the knees to lower into a squat position. Your elbows should also bend so that your hands come up in front of you towards your shoulders.
3. Engage all of your lower body muscles, push through your heels and extend through your legs to launch a couple of inches (or more) off the floor. Swing your arms down towards the ground for momentum.
4. Land softly, immediately bending your knees to sink into your next rep.

Make it easier by practicing bodyweight squats (no jump) first. Once you feel comfortable with a regular squat, you can move on to this power push.

Level it up by doing:

• Box Jumps – jump squat up onto a higher surface.
• Tornado Jump Squats – add a 180 degree twist to your air time.

Pull Ups

Pull Ups have a reputation for being tough. Because they are! They’re tougher than rows, even if you feel like you’ve got a strong row. That’s because pull ups require you to lift your entire bodyweight up using just your upper body muscles. That’s a major challenge.

Pull Ups recruit multiple muscles: lats, shoulders, arms, core. That’s why they rank on my list of bodyweight exercises to burn fat. Here’s how to practice doing them correctly:

1. Grip the bar with an overhand grip, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. To get ready, pull your shoulders down and back and engage your core by pulling your belly button in towards your spine (don’t suck in – that’s different).
2. Grip the bar tightly and begin to pull up, bringing your elbows down towards your hips. When your chin reaches the bar, exhale and slowly lower back down to a hanging position.

Make it easier by using long resistance band looped around the bar and under your feet. The thicker the band, the more help you’ll get with the movement. You can also practice isometric holds, dead hangs and hanging shrugs to get better at pull ups.

Level it up by adding weight!

Planks

The plank is a difficult exercise. It requires major core strength, shoulder, lat and arm strength, as well as support from your glutes and hamstrings. It’s super complex. And while it doesn’t burn belly fat, per se, it’s a great exercise to include in a fat loss workout.

A couple things to keep in mind when doing planks:

Form comes first. Take a video of yourself and compare it to an expert plank, or ask a trainer at your gym to assess your hold. There are lots of ways to cheat yourself out of the full value of a plank, and that’s not how you want to waste your time!

If you can hold a traditional plank for minutes, start adding in some variables that increase the difficulty. Any type of controlled movement, such as lifting an arm or a leg, or rotating your hips, will increase the challenge.

How to do a proper Plank:

1. Place your hands on the floor directly under your shoulders. Lift your body up so that you are balancing on your hands and toes, and your body is in a straight line from head to heels.
2. Squeeze your glutes. Engage your core muscles by pulling your belly button towards your spine (don’t suck in). Keep your spine straight – all the way up your neck!
3. Hold.

Make it easier by placing your hands on an elevated surface or decreasing your hold time. Start with 10 second chunks and work your way towards longer holds.

Level it up:

• Plank Up Downs – think straight arm plank down to an elbow plank, and back up.
• Side Planks
• Plank Shoulder Taps
• Spiderman Planks – plank hold but alternate pulling one knee out and up to meet your elbow.
• Plank Jacks – hop your feet in and out.

Lunges

Lunges target all of the largest muscles in your lower body: glutes, quads and hamstrings. This helps you to build more of those muscles, ultimately boosting your metabolism and burning more fat over time. They’re also a fantastic way to improve balance, correct muscle imbalances and improve athletic performance.

Perfect your (reverse) lunges:

1. Stand tall with feet together, chin up and shoulders down and back. Step your right foot back roughly 2-3 feet. Bend both knees, slowly lowering your back knee towards the floor. At the bottom of the movement your front thigh should be parallel to the ground, and your back knee just inches from the floor.
2. Pushing evenly, extend your legs to raise yourself up. As your approach standing, pull your right foot forward to meet your left foot under your shoulders.
3. Repeat or alternate sides.

Make it easier by doing split stance lunges (no step – your feet start and finish stagger stance, 2-3 feet apart).

Level it up with:

• Pulse Lunges – mini pulses at the bottom of the lunge hold.
• Jump Lunges – switching which foot is forward mid jump.

Mountain Climbers

Mountain Climbers have the benefit of not only being a compound movement, but plyometric movement to boot. Which means that they require more power and more energy. Assuring their spot on the top 10 list.

Nail your Mountain Climbers:

1. Start in a straight arm plank position with shoulders stacked over your wrists, spine neutral and core engaged.
2. Drive your right knee forward and up towards your sternum. As you place your right foot back on the ground, immediately lift the left leg and drive that knee forward. Alternate sides.

Make it easier by placing your hands on an elevated surface and/or slowing down your repetitions.

Level it up by quickening your pace as fast as you can go!

Dips

Like pull ups, dips challenge you to lower and lift your own body weight with just your upper body strength – they have a way of sneaking up on you. Dip primarily target triceps, but you can’t get away with a round of reps without hitting shoulders, chest and core. The angle of your lean determines the amount of work placed where (the further the forward lean, the more you’ll engage your chest).

How to do Dips:

1. Grab the parallel bars with palms facing inward and arms straight, legs dangling straight or bent.
2. Bend at the elbows, lowering your body until your bows reach as close to 90 degrees as you can get. *Keep your elbows tucked in at your sides, not flaring out.
3. Press through your palms to push back up to a straight arm position.

Make it easier by doing bench dips or using an assisted dip machine.

Level it up by adding weight!

Step Ups

Step ups look simple but their reality has a lot more going on than meets the eye. Step ups are essentially really focused step climbing, albeit the step is typically higher and you’re going, well, nowhere.

They’re great for improving balance and fixing muscle imbalances (as most unilateral movements are). Step ups are also great at improving other lifts such as squats, lunges and hip thrusts.

Step Up how to:

1. Stand in front of a bench, box or step (the height of which is dependent on your strength and hip mobility). Place your right foot firmly on the elevated surface. Push evenly through your foot to stand all the way up.
2. Once you’ve stood all the way up you can either balance on that leg, place your left foot down or drive your left knee forward.
3. Step down slowly.

Make it easier by lowering the height of your step up.

Level it up by adding a reverse lunge to the step down, or driving that knee forward for a little pop up at the top.

Hanging Leg Raises

Leg Raises strengthen your core from top to bottom, front to back. When done properly they’ll work your abs, your lower back and your hip flexors (never mind that shoulder burn!). Here’s what else happens when you incorporate hanging leg raises: better posture, grip strength, shoulder mobility and body composition!

How to do a great Hanging Leg Raise:

1. Begin by gripping the bar with a forward facing grip, hands just wider than shoulder-width apart, arms straight.
2. Engage your core, exhale, tilt your pelvis and raise your legs in front of you with legs bent or straight (the latter is harder). Raise your legs so that your thighs are parallel to the floor.
3. Slowly lower your heels back towards the ground, inhaling and maintaining core engagement.

Make it easier:

• Do Lying Leg Raises instead.
• Bend your knees.
• Use straps to support your elbows during the hang.

Level it up by bringing your toes all the way up to the bar!

Burpees

You knew it was coming, right?

Burpees are the ultimate, bodyweight exercise to burn fat. It’s a total body burner. You’ll get your heart rate up, torch calories and feel powerful head to toe.

Here’s how to do them:

1. Stand straight with your arms at your sides.
2. Squat down, placing your hands on the floor in front of you and jumping your legs backwards so that you land in a plank position.
3. Jump your feet back to your hands and stand up tall.

Make it easier by stepping back into a plank position and then stepping forward (no jump).

Level it up:

• Add a push up to your plank.
• Add a jump – reaching for the ceiling – at the end.

3 Ways to Build Your Fat Burning Workout

As mentioned, the variety and style of workout you can do with these exercises is limitless. But here are 3 fantastic options.

*REMEMBER* to use the “make it easier” and “level it up” versions according to your fitness level and comfort zone.

AMRAP Bodyweight Fat Burner

AMRAP = as many rounds or reps as possible in a given time frame. For this workout, you’ll do 3 different AMRAP circuits. Complete as many rounds of the designated reps as possible while maintaining excellent form. This also includes a “finisher” round, designed to push your muscles to fatigue.

AMRAP Round 1: 6 minutes

Pushups x 8 reps
Squat Jumps x 8 reps
Leg Raises x 12 reps

AMRAP Round 2: 8 minutes

Pull Ups x 6 reps
Mountain Climbers x 16 reps (L+R=1)
Lunges x 16 reps (L+R=1)

AMRAP Round 3: 8 minutes

Plank Jacks x 16 reps (L+R=1)
Step Ups x 8 reps (L+R=1)
Dips x 8 reps

Finisher: 1 Round for 1 minute AMRAP

EMOM Sweat Sess

EMOM = every minute on the minute. Set a timer to beep every 1 minute for 30 minutes. When it goes off, you do the designated number of reps for exercise. I.e. minute 0:00 will be 10 Pushups then you will rest for whatever time is left in that minute; minute 1:00 will be 15 Squat Jumps then you will rest for whatever time is left in that minute. You’ll complete the circuit 3 times total.

Pushups x 10
Squat Jumps x 15
Pull Ups x 6
Mountain Climbers x 30 (L+R=1)
Plank Up Downs x 10
Lunge Jumps x 10 (L+R=1)
Dips x 10
Step Ups x 10 (L+R=1)
Lying Leg Raises x 15
Burpees x 10

Total Body Tabata

Tabata is a specific training scheme that relies on short, 20 second bursts of very high intensity work (9.5/10 on a perceived rate of exertion scale) followed by an even shorter rest period of 10 seconds. Repeated for 8 rounds, tabata is a great way to improve stamina, athletic performance and burn fat!

For this workout, you’ll do 4 tabata rounds, alternating between the two exercises listed for the whole round. That’s right, only 16 minutes of exercise! That said, if you’re really going as hard as you should be going, that’s all you’ll have in the tank.

Tabata Round 1:

Pushups
Squat Jumps

Tabata Round 2:

Mountain Climbers
Step Up Pops

Tabata Round 3:

Jump Lunges
Hanging Leg Raise

Tabata Round 4:

Dips
Burpees