Beginner Bodyweight Workout For Less Joint Pain And Arthritis
If you’re new to strength training, bodyweight exercises are a great way to build strength and confidence in each movement before adding resistance. This beginner bodyweight workout will help you limit impact on your joints for less pain and arthritis. With no equipment needed, you can perform this routine at home or while traveling or on vacation.
How To Perform This Beginner Bodyweight Workout
When training for less joint pain it’s important that we focus on the form and control of each exercise. Which is why I recommend my clients perform each exercise for time, rather than counting reps and sets. This allows you to put your focus on performing quality movements. Grab a timer and perform each movement for 1 minute (each side if applicable). Perform two totals rounds of each exercise.
Glute Bridge
The glute bridge is one of the safest and most effective ways to strengthen your glute max muscle group. Weakness in your glutes is one of the primary contributors to lower back and knee pain. This beginner bodyweight exercise is a great choice for your strength routine.
Learn How To Perform The Glute Bridge Correctly
The Plank
Building a strong core is a cornerstone to strength training. The plank is a safe and effective way to strengthen your core. Because no movement is required to perform this bodyweight exercise there is not very much impact that goes through your joints. There are many variations of this movement allowing you to pick the starting point that matches your ability level.
Find Your Starting Point With These 10 Plank Variations
Side Plank
The side plank is another core strengthening exercises that targets your obliques and other spinal stabilizers. This exercise is very important in providing stability to your spine for less lower back pain as you get older. Like the plank, there are many variations you can use to match your ability level.
Side Plank Variations
Toe Taps
Toe Taps are a great exercise to improve balance, single leg strength, and strengthen your glute med. This makes it a great exercise to help limit impact on your knee for less pain and arthritis as you get older.
Bodyweight Squat
The squat is a full body movement that improves movement coordination, mobility, and strength. All these help to limit impact on your joints for less pain and arthritis. Because it is a full body movement, there is a lot to learn to perform correctly. Master the bodyweight variations before moving to weighted options.
Learn How To Squat Without Pain
Reverse Lunge
The reverse lunge is a functional exercise that strengthens your legs. I prefer the reverse lunge to the forward lunge because there’s less impact at the knee when performing. If you’re not feeling comfortable with the reverse lunge because of knee pain or weakness, switch to a step up exercise for a lower impact variation.
Learn How To Perform The Reverse Lunge
This beginner bodyweight workout is a great place to start your strength training routine at home. Once you build strength and confidence with each movemnt you can add some resistance using resistance bands.
For the last 10 years I’ve been helping adults build the strength and confidence to live active, healthy, and happy lives. My free program ‘Solving Pain With Strength’ gives you a step-by-step, approachable way to build strength without stressing your joints. Download it below and get started feeling better today.
