Is it possible to put on muscle mass through body weight exercises such as pushups and squats? I always thought it just makes you stronger but doesn't really do much in terms of gaining any mass. Can I get some help on this?
It gives you better endurance and will add some muscle on to an untrained individual but for putting on any significant amount of muscle or developing peak strength, start with free weights and stronman events.
you can add mass using bodyweight exercises...but you wont accomplish it doing endless reps of pushups and squats as you suggested. use the harder ones...one arm pushups, one leg squats, L-sit pullups etc
it is possible to gain muscle mass through bodyweight exercises only, but using weights will obviously be a lot more efficient. if you havent trained before and start training with bodyweight only you are likely to get some gains, but these will only be noob gains. as wenispinkle said, the best way to get results from bodyweight exercise is to use a variation of movements rather htan just hte obvious ones
Use the weights man!!! also read the stickies, there is some good info in there. for BW exercises try the Tabata method.
Some bodyweight exercises are underrated, though. Like pistols, (one-arm) pullups, handstand pushups...
