Bodyweight Exercises and Building Muscle

[AznMusicFan88]

I have been trying to find an answer to a question that's been on my mind but haven't had much luck.

 

I have limited mobility in my lower body (mainly both legs) and the bodyweight exercises that I'm able to do are modified variations. I'm not able to make them more challenging because if I did, I would injure myself as my balance is very poor.

 

Would I still be able to build muscle from low intensity bodyweight exercises or no?

[Defining]

There are lots of ways to program progressive overload! Weight (or leverage, as is typically used for calisthenics) is only one of them. 

 

Other ways you can make exercises more difficult: do more reps, do reps slower, try to increase ROM, take a pause at the beginning/end of each rep, shorter rests, doing the exercises more often, etc.

 

Depending on your long-term goals it may be worth having a chat with  trainer or physio though, to ensure that you're doing everything safely in a way that will benefit your health.

[Waldo]

Single leg squats are about the best exercise you can do for mobility and balance.

 

But gaining any appreciable muscle mass in the legs via unchallenging exercises is going to be a problem.

 

One underappreciated leg strength exercise that takes little equipment - good ol hill sprints, the bane of every HS football player in august.  Careful, that'll give the doms like nothing else if you hit it hard.

[Priyanka Jain]

There are many ways to build muscle, and even if you don't have any weightlifting experience or gym membership, you can still achieve outstanding results by using bodyweight exercises. Bodyweight exercises use your own body weight as resistance, so they are a great option for people who want to lose weight or tone up their muscles without going to the gym.