What is your favorite bodyweight exercise?

If I’m picking one, it’s the pull-up (or strict chin-up). Across eras, armies have always valued the ability to pull your body over obstacles—walls, trench edges, ship rails—because it maps to real tasks. It’s the modern, standardized way to test that.

Even in older manuals you’ll see endless climbing and rope work. The U.S. Army’s 1914 “Infantry Drill Regulations” era PT culture leaned heavily on climbing and vaulting. Fast-forward to WWII: obstacle courses and rope climbs show up everywhere in training films because commanders understood that “moving the body through space” wins fights.

For variations: dead-hang strict reps, then add pauses at the top like you’re hauling gear over a ledge. If no bar, I’ll admit I revert to push-ups—history is full of soldiers doing floor PT in barracks—but the pull-up remains the most historically consistent ‘combat mobility’ bodyweight staple.

Push-ups are great because zero kit, but my favorite is actually the plank family (front + side) because it’s the most “gear-friendly” when you’re smoked and still have to wear/load stuff.

Real-world: a strong midline makes every piece of kit feel lighter—plate carrier, ruck, belt kit. If your core collapses, your shoulders/hips start compensating and everything rubs and shifts.

My go-to circuit is 60s front plank, 30s each side plank, then shoulder taps slow and controlled. If you want it more tactical, do it in boots or with a light pack—just don’t get reckless with load and keep form clean.

Burpees. I hated them, so I did more of them.

In my unit we used burpees as the “no excuses” conditioning tool: no equipment, no space, you can do them in a hallway, and they expose who can keep moving when breathing gets ugly. They’re not magic, but they build that mental switch—keep working under fatigue.

If you’re trying to keep it military practical, I’d do a steady pace for 5–10 minutes instead of all-out sprints every time. Mix in strict push-up burpees (chest to deck, no worming) and keep your landing quiet. If joints start complaining, back off and get a coach/medical pro to look at movement quality.

Everyone saying “push-ups” is playing it safe. Push-ups are fine, but if you want the best return on effort, it’s the squat pattern—air squats, split squats, lunges. You can’t talk “military fitness” and ignore legs.

Rucking, sprinting, getting up/down, dragging stuff—none of that is powered by your chest. Upper body is visible; legs are decisive.

Favorite: Bulgarian split squat (rear foot elevated). It’s brutally honest: balance, strength, and work capacity. And yes, you’ll feel it. If you’re doing a billion push-ups but your single-leg strength is weak, you’re training for photos, not performance.

I’m boring: I like the humble hinge + core combo—glute bridges and hollow holds. Reason is modern “bodyweight fitness” for military folks is increasingly about resilience while you’re doing tech-heavy tasks: standing at a console, carrying batteries, moving with sensors/antennas, kneeling for long periods.

In drone teams and modern units, fatigue often comes from sustained postures and long days more than heroic 60-second efforts. A strong posterior chain and midline reduces the “my back is smoked” factor.

If I have to pick one single exercise: hollow hold. It’s like building a stable platform for everything else. Keep it strict; if you can’t hold position, regress instead of just suffering.

For armored/mech reality, it’s step-ups or lunges. Climbing on and off vehicles all day, stepping over track blocks, moving in tight spaces—single-leg work saves you.

Inside a hull you’re constantly bracing and shifting under load, often with awkward angles. Traditional air squats are good, but split squats/lunges translate better to stepping and climbing.

Favorite: walking lunges, slow and controlled, keeping torso tall. If you want it “vehicle crew” style, do them after you’ve been sitting a while—hips get tight, and this opens you up. Start conservative; no need to turn it into a knee contest.

Pull-ups, and I’ll argue it from a maritime angle. On ships you’re constantly negotiating ladders, narrow stairwells, hatches, and odd handholds. A strong pull translates to safer movement and less fatigue when you’re hauling yourself around in rough seas.

Historically, seamanship training was full of climbing and rope work; that culture never fully disappeared. Modern navies may not run the rigging like 1805, but the vertical environment remains.

If you don’t have a bar, I’d go with push-ups plus inverted rows under a sturdy table/rail when safe. But the strict pull-up is my favorite because it’s simple, measurable, and brutally honest.

I’m going to say push-ups, but with a pilot/crew twist: slow tempo and scap control. Aviation work wrecks people’s shoulders and upper backs—hours of posture, gear, and awkward lifts.

My favorite variation is a 3-1-3 push-up (down 3 seconds, pause 1, up 3) focusing on keeping shoulder blades stable and elbows not flaring like crazy. It’s less about ego reps and more about durable strength.

If you want a second pick, add “Y-T-W” floor movements for the upper back, but that’s more accessory work than a single king exercise.

For the broadest carryover to common military fitness tests, push-ups are the practical answer. They show up everywhere, they’re easy to standardize, and you can train them without special equipment.

That said, I like recommending a “big three” for applicants: push-ups (upper body endurance), plank (core), and a squat/lunge pattern (legs). If you’re prepping for a specific branch or selection, the best exercise is the one that matches your test standards and your weak points.

If you share what you’re training for (general fitness vs a specific PT test), people can tailor suggestions without guessing.

Strict pull-ups. Across SOF cultures, you see the same theme: if you can’t move your own body efficiently, everything else is harder—rope climbs, obstacles, fast kit changes, getting over walls with a ruck.

Most people do them sloppy. My favorite approach is “quality ladders”: 1-2-3-4-5 strict reps with full hang and chest up, rest as needed, repeat. If you can’t hit strict reps, do negatives or isometric holds at the top.

And yes, push-ups matter, but pull strength is the limiter for a lot of candidates once volume and fatigue stack up.

Bear crawl. It’s simple, functional, and it reminds you that ground movement is a real skill, not just a gym idea.

In the field you’re often moving low, moving around brush, getting under stuff, or working close to the ground with your hands. Bear crawls train coordination, shoulder stability, core, and conditioning without needing a perfect surface.

Start with short distances and good form (hips not sky-high). If wrists or shoulders get irritated, back off and adjust—no shame in swapping to a plank-based progression.

My favorite is the one you can keep doing consistently when your schedule gets disrupted—so, push-ups. Not because they’re “best” physiologically, but because they’re frictionless.

Modern military work (and adjacent jobs) is often tempo-driven: travel, long hours, short sleep, unpredictable days. The exercise that survives that reality tends to win. Push-ups require no access, no permission, no setup.

If you’re optimizing, pair them with something posterior-chain heavy (even just hip hinges/glute bridges) so you’re not building an imbalanced “desk-and-armor” posture.

Farmer’s carries would be my pick if we weren’t strictly bodyweight. Since we are: walking lunges.

Engineer/logistics work means repetitive lifting, carrying, stepping up/down, and working on uneven ground. Lunges teach you to stabilize under load even when your footing isn’t perfect—pretty close to moving with tools, ammo cans, or bridge components.

Variation I like: reverse lunges with a pause at the bottom for control. It builds durability without needing speed. If you’re new, keep reps modest and prioritize knee tracking and balance.

I’m still learning but my favorite is the plank because I can actually feel if I’m doing it right (or wrong) pretty fast. Push-ups are harder for me to keep strict, and I end up cheating without noticing.

Question for the group: is it better to hold a plank longer (like 2 minutes) or do shorter holds but more sets? I’m trying to build a base for general military fitness.

If I had to choose a single “best” bodyweight exercise across scenarios, it’s the burpee—because it’s a full-system readiness check. It’s basically a mini simulation of repeated task switching: down, up, stabilize, move, repeat under rising fatigue.

In force-on-force and training design terms, it’s not that burpees mimic a specific combat task; it’s that they punish inefficiency. Poor breathing, weak midline, sloppy footwork—all get exposed.

That said, I’d still structure training as a blend: hinge/squat + push + pull + carry (if possible). One move can’t cover the whole operational problem set.

Favorite is the wall sit. Sounds basic, but it’s a good “human baseline” for leg endurance—useful when you start thinking about exoskeletons and load-assist systems.

A lot of future soldier tech aims to reduce fatigue in static or semi-static positions: holding security, working behind cover, or sustaining a posture with gear. Wall sits let you measure and train that isometric tolerance without equipment.

I’ll often pair it with controlled nasal breathing to keep it from becoming a pure panic test. If you feel sharp joint pain, stop—no need to grind through bad signals.