If you are looking to gain strength and put on muscle, there are two real ways to do so; through weightlifting and bodyweight training. Both of them are viable methods, and both bring different things to the table in terms of benefits and detriments, but they are not exactly the same thing and you certainly won’t see the same benefits if you do one solely over the other.

For the sake of this article, we are going to pretend that bodyweight training is done solely with the weight of a person’s body. There are no weight vests, no backpacks full of books, just you and your body. The first real benefit of bodyweight training is that it is incredibly cheap and easy to do. Minimal equipment is necessary (a pullup bar is essentially the only piece of equipment you need) and the movements are fairly straightforward and easy to learn. The downside is that it is more challenging to truly make strength gains without dipping into weightlifting at some point. Yes, you can add difficulty to something like a pushup by changing the position of your feet and hands or by dong them one handed, but the reality is that you will never get as strong with bodyweight training as you will with weight training.

On the flip side, weight training has essentially the opposite benefits and detriments. Because of the variety of equipment, weights, exercises and options available to weightlifters, they have more ability to sculpt their bodies and improve their strength. However, the motions that weightlifters go through are more technical than those that bodyweight training require. There is also inherently more danger in having a weight over your head or on your back, such as during a bench press or a squat, and for novices or people without a spotter or coach weightlifting can be dangerous.

There are other benefits to each of them, of course, but the ones highlighted above should be the two main considerations for most people. Bodyweight training is cheaper and relatively safer than weight training, but won’t improve strength or physique to the same degree.

About the Author
Kisar Dhillon – A Personal Fitness Trainer in Portland, Oregon. Need to get toned, lose weight, lose body fat, and increase lean muscle. If you need fitness trainer in Portland, then Kisar is the one. He is a personal trainer Portland OR with 25 years of experience and has expertise in health & fitness industry.For more information visit us today : http://kisardhillon.com