There are many people who believe that body-weight training is no longer the most effective. They will tell you that you need to exclusively use weights or exercise machines, and that body weight is not enough to get in a great workout, especially at the most advanced levels.

Of course, these people seem to forget that historically and even currently, bodyweight training has been a critical component of warriors and soldiers. That alone should tell you that it is incredibly effective. In fact, I would wager to say that body weight training is the MOST important part of your workout if you’re interested in functional fitness.

When you use weights, you’re using them in such a motion that is often not entirely natural. You also have to be more careful in how you use them lest you worry about injuring yourself. That’s why when it comes to normal weights, you can’t possibly go full the full range of motions or the explosive style workout routines as safely as you can with body weight.

Think about it this way. If in real life, you were training to be able to run 3 miles quickly, jump a fence, and then swim to safety in a James Bond style run-out – would weights be the way to do it? No, pull-ups, running, and swimming would be the 3 main components.

Sure, weights wouldn’t hurt as a SUPPLEMENT to your routine as they would help you isolate certain muscles in your workouts – but they’re not the core component. Which is why I want to get to the main point…

Weights should be looked at as a way to supplement your functional strength, not an ends within themselves. Getting bigger and stronger can help you day to day, but it’s not the only thing that matters.

They are a great tool when use to help your daily functional fitness, but when your functional fitness suffers because of your weight lifting (for instance, if you’re sacrificing cardio or working too much on one muscle group) – then it’s no longer effective. Which is why you should always be using body weight as a part of your training.