The answer is YES. I know many of you are probably sceptical about using body weight exercises to build a strong and lean physique. The truth is the body cannot distinguish between your own body weight and a weight being lifted up. Both forms of exercises provide plenty of resistance the only difference being the type of exercises.

Gymnasts are a good example of the type of people who only use body weight exercises. They build their physiques for function first then ornamental second.

By using intense resistance exercises that can only be sustained for less than five repetitions the body focuses on using the nervous system to recruit as many muscle fibres as possible. This is known as "neural adaptation". You build the greatest amount of strength using this form of training.

To train for muscular hypertrophy you adjust the intensity of the body weight exercises so that you have a rep range between eight to twelve reps. You can adjust the intensity by using easier variations of the body weight exercises.

To train for endurance you adjust the intensity of the body weight exercises so that you have a rep range between fifteen and fifty.

Some good old fashioned exercises include:

*Pushups, pullups, chinups, squats and janda situps.

Although these exercises may not seem like much they are in fact the most effective in building muscle simply because they involve multiple joints and allow your body to move in space rather than your arms and hands. It is also recommended that one trains with these basic exercises before moving onto weights if one chooses to.

For more information on building a strong and lean physique visit below:

http://buildmusclenoweights.blogspot.com/