I live pretty far from the gym so I found that when I come home late tired as hell from work, I tend to procrastinate going to the gym with a "I'll just lay down and rest for a bit before going to gym", but then I almost always fall asleep and the gym closes. This sounds trivial but its a huge problem. Even when I force myself to the gym, I'm so beat I can barely achieve hypertrophy.

So I did an experiment. I bought some bodyweight equipment (pullup bar, pushup base, resistance bands) and started the /r/bodyweightfitness recommended routine.

As a result of switching from lifting to bodyweight training:

  • I'm really much more consistent in my fitness training now,
  • I notice improvements in how I look in just 2 months of BW training vs relatively few results from 3 months of lifting 5x5 stronglifts routine (though I failed to gain any mass on BW training)
  • I can take a nap after coming home and do all the exercises because I don't need to go anywhere. The activation energy to get the reaction going is much lower so it happens more often.

So given these findings, I'm really curious about the advantages and disadvantages of bodyweight trianing and lifting in relative terms.

What goals do the two address specifically? Is BW training just for convenience? Why am I seeing so much better results from BW training? SHouldn't it be other way around?

Also, when my work situation is less hectic, should I switch back to gym even given that I'm seeing more visible results from BW training

EDIT: 176 lb, 6'1", 23 years old.