15 Bodyweight Exercises to Burn Calories and Lose Weight

If you’re looking to lose weight, bodyweight exercises are an excellent option. You don’t need equipment—just your body! These workouts help you burn calories, build muscle, and target fat loss.

Weight loss happens when you create a “net energy deficit” by burning more calories than you consume.

Your body requires a set number of calories—your basal metabolic rate—to fuel its physiological processes and maintain its current mass. When you fail to meet this threshold, your body will tap into its fat stores, causing you to lose weight. You can achieve this deficit by reducing calorie intake or increasing physical activity.

Any movement will burn calories, but some exercises are more efficient.

Weight training exercises are the preferred method for gaining strength and muscle, as they require more energy and help you burn more calories. If you don’t have access to weights, your next best option is to implement bodyweight exercises to get that calorie burn.

Bodyweight squats are an excellent exercise for fat loss because they utilize your leg muscles, which require a high caloric expenditure to contract and perform work.

1. Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart, your gaze forward, and your core engaged.
2. Descend into a squat until your thighs are roughly parallel, then return to standing.
3. Complete subsequent repetitions (reps), keeping your knees aligned with your toes and your stomach braced to create stability.

Tip: Perform this exercise for three sets of 10-20 reps.

Push-ups are a classic bodyweight exercise to challenge your upper body and core. They hit multiple muscle groups simultaneously, expending more calories than working a single muscle group alone.

1. Place your hands shoulder-width apart on the floor, directly under your shoulders. 
2. Slowly bend your elbows and lower your body toward the floor to about a 45-degree angle from your torso.
3. Push through your hands and straighten your arms to lift your body back to the starting position, ensuring your core stays engaged the whole time and your back stays flat.

Tip: Perform three sets until you struggle to complete a rep (i.e., to failure), maintaining your form. Stop early if your form begins to break down. You can always modify push-ups by doing them from your knees.

Walking lunges are a highly effective aerobic workout that gets your heart pumping and a strength workout that burns calories for weight loss.

1. Look straight ahead and take a large step forward with one leg, lowering your body slowly. Make sure your back knee hovers just above the floor. 
2. Push off with your back foot, bringing it forward to step into the next lunge in sequence. 
3. Alternate legs as you continue moving forward, maintaining a controlled, steady pace with your torso upright, core engaged, and gaze forward. 

Tip: Do three sets of 10-20 steps.

Core exercises improve stability and spinal health and help you build muscle around your midsection. Planks are one of many exercises that facilitate this process.

1. Place your forearms on the ground, with your elbows under your shoulders and palms clasped together, forming a fist. 
2. Extend your legs behind you and tuck your toes under so your body lifts off the ground, creating a straight line from your head down to your heels. 
3. Keep your core muscles tight, and make sure your hips don’t sag. Hold as long as you can until your form begins to break down. 

Tip: Try to complete three sets to failure for this one, paying attention not to let your lower back cave in. If your back starts to sag, rest and reset to maintain proper form. 

A side plank is another plank variation that works your obliques and contributes to balanced core muscles.

1. Push through the floor, prop yourself on one forearm, and extend your other arm upward.
2. Engage your core and keep your body aligned, avoiding any movement in the hips or back.
3. Hold the side plank for as long as possible before carefully lowering your hips back to the ground and switching sides.

Tip: Ensure your body stays aligned from your feet to your hips, shoulders, and head. 

Jumping jacks are an underrated bodyweight exercise to increase your calorie expenditure. They also challenge your aerobic system, balance, and coordination.

1. Stand upright, looking forward with your feet together and arms down at your sides. 
2. Jump up, spreading your legs more than shoulder-width apart and raising your arms overhead in one fluid motion. Keep your core engaged.
3. Gently and lightly jump back to the starting position with your feet together and arms at your sides. Repeat at a steady pace.

Tip: Practice jumping jacks for a set period instead of reps. Counting reps can be challenging when quickly jumping. 

Lateral lunges are another lunge variation. These lunges target the glutes rather than the quads.

1. Stand hip-width apart and engage your core while keeping your chest upright.
2. Step out to the side with one leg and push your hips back as you lower into a lunge. 
3. Push off with your bent, lunged leg, returning to the starting position. Complete successive reps.

Tip: Perform all reps on one side before switching to the other. Do three sets of 10 on each side.

Mountain climbers are an exercise that is both loved and hated. They’re challenging and target your core and upper body.

1. Start in a plank position from your hands, with your core engaged and back flat.
2. Quickly drive one knee toward your chest and return to the starting position while simultaneously bringing the other knee forward. 
3. Continue alternating legs in rapid motion, staying controlled.

Tip: Prevent your hips from lifting by keeping them level and stable. Make sure to engage your core throughout the entire exercise.

Box jumps challenge your power and explosive movement, especially in your lower body. They’re versatile and can be performed anywhere, like in an outdoor park, with a steady surface that’s safe to jump onto.

1. Stand in front of the box with your feet hip-width apart, engaging your core muscles.
2. Swing your arms back to build momentum and jump explosively onto the box, extending your hips, knees, and ankles at the same time.
3. Land softly with both feet on the box in a stable position.
4. Step down carefully and continue reps. 

Tip: Try doing three sets of 10-15 reps.

Sit-ups are a classic core exercise.

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor beneath you. 
2. Place your hands across your chest and engage your core.
3. Slowly lift your upper body toward your knees, curling up off the floor while you exhale. Lower yourself back to the starting position. 

Tip: Complete reps slowly and with control. Perform several sets, monitoring your fatigue and ensuring you don’t overdo it. It’s important to note that if you have back problems, this might not be the best exercise for you.

Burpees are a great calorie-burning workout that gets you sweating and your heart rate fired up.

1. Stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart and your core engaged.
2. Bend your knees and place your hands on the floor. Jump, bringing your feet into a plank position with your body in a straight line.
3. Jump toward your hands and immediately leap into the air with your arms overhead. Land softly, and repeat the motion.

Tip: Maintain your form during each rep. People commonly lose touch with their form when tired, setting them up for injury. 

Dead bugs target the deep abdominal muscles to build a stronger core. They also challenge your upper and lower body coordination, improving your overall balance and stability.

1. Lie on your back with arms extended straight toward the ceiling and knees bent at 90 degrees.
2. Simultaneously lower your right arm and left leg toward the floor. Keep your core engaged by pressing your lower back into the floor.
3. Return to the starting position and switch sides.

Tip: Keep your back pressed flat into the floor during this exercise, ensuring it doesn’t come off the floor as your hands and arms move. Count each time you extend as one rep, and perform three sets of 10. 

Dips offer a convenient way to target your chest, shoulders, and triceps at once. Targeting multiple muscle groups expends calories more efficiently.

1. Sit on the edge of a surface with your hands beside your hips. Then, slide yourself off the edge and extend your legs, balancing on your heels.
2. Initiate the dip by bending your elbows and lowering your body toward the floor. Keep your back close to the surface behind you and your elbows close to your sides. 
3. Lower yourself until roughly parallel with the ground, and press through your palms to straighten your elbows and lift your body back to the starting position.

Tip: Dips are particularly challenging, so modify the range of motion if you don’t have the upper body strength to go all the way down. Try three sets of 10-15 reps or three sets to failure for a real challenge. 

Glute bridges work the muscles around your hips and help you build lean muscle tissue in an area that tends to hold onto fat.

1. Lie on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat, about hip-width apart. 
2. Press your lower back into the floor, brace your core, and lift your hips towards the ceiling, squeezing your glutes at the top. 
3. Slowly lower yourself back toward the floor, keeping your core tight.

Tip: Once you practice these bilaterally (with both legs), try doing them one leg at a time to isolate each glute individually. It may take several repetitions to feel your glutes burn, so opt for more reps. Complete three sets of 20-30 reps. 

This superman-type exercise challenges contralateral stability, coordination, and core muscles generally. It’s not an energy-demanding exercise on its own, but a strong core is the cornerstone of athleticism, allowing you to perform other exercises that effectively support fat loss.

1. Start from a quadruped position (on all fours) with your hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips.
2. Keep your back flat, engage your core, and extend your right arm forward and your left leg straight back.
3. Come back to neutral and alternate sides until reps are complete. 

Tip: Complete this exercise slowly and with control, keeping your spine in a neutral position. Do three sets of 10 reps.

Losing weight can be challenging, but specific targeted exercises can set you up for success. Explore exercises and lean into the ones that ignite your progress. Couple your workout with some form of calorie monitoring to ensure you are facilitating a true net-energy deficit. When you combine both, it’ll be easier to see progress.