diff --git a/src/proto/body.rs b/src/proto/body.rs
index fedd9b09..f9211187 100644
--- a/src/proto/body.rs
+++ b/src/proto/body.rs
@@ -49,6 +49,22 @@ impl Body {
         let (tx, rx) = channel();
         (tx.tx, rx)
     }
+
+    /// Returns if this body was constructed via `Body::empty()`.
+    ///
+    /// # Note
+    ///
+    /// This does **not** detect if the body stream may be at the end, or
+    /// if the stream will not yield any chunks, in all cases. For instance,
+    /// a streaming body using `chunked` encoding is not able to tell if
+    /// there are more chunks immediately.
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn is_empty(&self) -> bool {
+        match self.0 {
+            Inner::Empty => true,
+            _ => false,
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 impl Default for Body {
diff --git a/src/proto/request.rs b/src/proto/request.rs
index a344138c..c989b9c5 100644
--- a/src/proto/request.rs
+++ b/src/proto/request.rs
@@ -58,6 +58,10 @@ impl<B> Request<B> {
     #[inline]
     pub fn body_ref(&self) -> Option<&B> { self.body.as_ref() }
 
+     /// Get a mutable reference to the Request body.
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn body_mut(&mut self) -> &mut Option<B> { &mut self.body }
+
     #[doc(hidden)]
     #[inline]
     #[deprecated(since="0.11.12", note="This method will be gone in future versions.")]