National Physical Fitness and Sports Month Body weight training is exercise for anyone Published May 29, 2015 By Tinker Health promotions TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- May has been designated National Physical Fitness and Sports Month to raise awareness of the importance of active living. Regular physical activity is important to one's health, a sense of well-being and maintenance of a healthy weight. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services and Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, adults should get at least two-and-a-half hours of moderate to vigorous activity per week. This can be spread out over 30-minute increments, five days a week or choose from many activities to accumulate activities in bouts of 10 minutes. The HHS also advises doing muscle-strengthening exercises two or more days a week. Body weight exercises are a great and effective way to incorporate strength training into your weekly routine. No gym required! So what exactly is body weight training? Body weight training is exercises performed without any external resistance and loading of the body. No weights, resistance bands or other fitness equipment is used. Think about it -- pushing, pulling squatting and lunging are all functional movements people perform day to day. If you can get out of a car or up out of a chair you can perform a squat. Body weight exercise incorporate many muscle groups instead of just isolating just one muscle group. For example, a push-up incorporates the chest, shoulders, triceps, and core. Body weight training is for everyone. If you are a beginner doing a squat exercise you would want to use a chair to squat down to and stand up from. If you are at a more advanced fitness level then you could intensify the squat by completing squat jumps. Another example is the push-up. A beginner would start by doing a wall push-up or push-ups on the knees. Someone with an advanced fitness level can intensify the push-up by doing diamond push-ups or a push-up with a clap in between. In the American College of Sports Medicine annual fitness trend forecast for 2015 Body Weight training is at the top of the list in the No. 1 spot. The survey states body weight training uses minimal equipment making it more affordable. Not limited to just push-ups and pull-ups, this trend allows people to get "back to the basics" with fitness. So what are you waiting for? Get back to the basics and focus on your training needs through body weight training rather than buying some expensive fitness gadget! Resources: -- https://www.foh.hhs.gov/calendar/may.html -- https://www.acsm.org/about-acsm/media-room/news-releases/2014/10/24/survey-predicts-top-20-fitness-trends-for-2015