Can I weight train seriously without the gym?

mumbles2013

Hi everyone,

I currently do not have the time nor money to invest in a gym membership. However I really want to try some weight training at home. Can this be done without buying crazy apparatus that are expensive and take up room in the home?
What kinds of things can I do to start making a difference to me body?

I am not yet at my goal weight but a read a lot of things where people say they wish they had weight trained whilst losing the pounds.

TavistockToad

Google bodyweight exercises

Sumiblue

I did Stronglifts at home and now PHUL. I did invest in a used power cage & Olympic weights, bench, bar. I have a better set up than my Planet Fitness had (go figure). If you want to use Free weights look on Craigslist or the equivalent. I got my whole set up for $300.

mumbles2013

TavistockToad wrote: »

Google bodyweight exercises

Thank you. I thought I'd need sets of weights amongst other things but this looks great. They are the types of exercises you can get on the phone apps for 30 day challenges

groetzinger659

I use tools I have around the house for hand weights. There will be about two months you will need to spend to get your strength up before worrying about weights. Also Yoga/body weight like plank type exercises will be all you need to build your strength.

Running in place while holding a heavy book or tool straight out in front of you will work your abs AND your arms. Its harder than it looks.

You can also get a pretty cheap or free set of weights-I see them for sale/free all the time-you wont need more than 100lbs right now-preferably hand weights from 3-5 lbs up to 20 lbs. I started this journey in jan-and I am STILL at 15 lbs for the straight out in front of me arm exercises-the curling is the easiest thing. its the flies and chest press that is harder.

Getting a bench to sit/lay down is good idea. or incline option. I find that there are way more arm exercises than legs. Legs pretty much squats/lunges and calf raises-there are different ways to put your feet to target different areas of your calves.

For arms you want the lighter weights to do wrist curls and other hand exercises that builds your strength in your wrists in order to hold/move heavier weights. Don't worry about getting huge heavy weights=start at a comfortable load. I have been told it takes a month or two to build power/strength to get to the next level-so you will need patience..something I have a hard time with..because lets face it-we just want to get there NOW!

I also went to used stores and purchased heavy tools to use as weights if I couldn't find anything. Google has tons of images showing you how to do various exercises...I have found it fascinating!

groetzinger659

I used duct tape and taped together big 24" wrenches when I didn't have money to buy new weights-found them at yardsales=trust me-when I have 3 of these taped together-its about 20-25 lbs. perfect for curls and chest press..hey I used what I could find..now that I have built up my strength I have ventured to the gym. I also found that I don't like using their machines=I prefer free weights-you can have more range of motion AND build the muscle all around=you are not limited to just up and down-you can go side to side or other variations-I actually find myself only using the cardio equipment at the gym and free weights. I prefer them to those machines that you only can make one direction move.

jalynwatson21

I recommend doing a full-body workout with an at-home gym routine. Since you aren't using weights, you can recover faster and work body parts more frequently. I recommend dumbbells, ankle weights, kettlebells, and resistance bands. Resistance bands can have varying resistance, so I recommend one
heavy" one and one "lighter" one. Otherwise exercising at home is fine!

ninerbuff

You can get a suspension trainer for under $50 online. Gives you lots of options on exercises just using your body weight for resistance. And they don't take up any space in the house.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

SonyaCele

ninerbuff wrote: »

You can get a suspension trainer for under $50 online. Gives you lots of options on exercises just using your body weight for resistance. And they don't take up any space in the house.

i have one of these at home and love it. I have a TRX. I used it a suspension trainer for years before i started free weights.

mumbles2013

Thanks guys all this advice is really helpful especially the fact that I can improvise when it comes to my weights till I can afford to spend cash on equipment.

tigernikki

Check out fitnessblender.com, they have lots of free workouts, either with dumbbells or bodyweight only.

Ultima_Morpha

If you're in the US, Groupon has a set of kettle bells on right now...a 5, 10, and 15 for $40. They are definitely beginner level but I have had good success using them with Jillian Michaels Shred It with Weights DVD.

mumbles2013

Villae81 wrote: »

Inmates don't have gyms look at them

Haha yeah but they have a lot of time on their hands!!!! What else is there to do in prison???? This just made me chuckle but I get your point.

briscogun

Look up YAYOG (You Are Your Own Gym). I found a good website or two and used their plans, but landed on YAYOG and downloaded an app by Mark Lauren for $4.99 on my iPad. It's been awesome! Highly recommend it. There are like 4 different levels, each level is about 10 weeks I believe. You need zero equipment, you can use household items like tables, chairs, even doors to complete the movements, and they will work you! Good for men or women.

mumbles2013

Villae81 wrote: »

mumbles2013 wrote: »

Villae81 wrote: »

Inmates don't have gyms look at them

Haha yeah but they have a lot of time on their hands!!!! What else is there to do in prison???? This just made me chuckle but I get your point.

Lol I can think of a few but ill prolly get flagged but yeah plyometrics, calisthenics are gonna be your bestfriends and there's a lot of hiit tabata workouts online

I can think of some too Thanks hun

mumbles2013

brian_gunther wrote: »

Look up YAYOG (You Are Your Own Gym). I found a good website or two and used their plans, but landed on YAYOG and downloaded an app by Mark Lauren for $4.99 on my iPad. It's been awesome! Highly recommend it. There are like 4 different levels, each level is about 10 weeks I believe. You need zero equipment, you can use household items like tables, chairs, even doors to complete the movements, and they will work you! Good for men or women.

Thanks Brian I'll definitely check this out xx

ZRx4

I recently started stronglifts too and liked it so much I bought a weight bench, bar and weights. It's a super nice set for $150. Someday I'll invest in a cage and stuff. But had to keep costs down and so I went this route. I'm about 7 weeks in and loving it.

StealthHealth

I'd second @brian_gunther 's shout out for "You are Your Own Gym" and add "C Mass" (by Al Kavadro I think) and "Convict Conditiing" (don't know the author).

But what I'd also say is that is is that after a year of body weight home exercises I found it difficult to progress further and eventually had to buy some equipment. A second hand power cage, a bench, and Olympic bar and plates cost me £600 which was a smaller outlay than a gym - but they took up a lot of space (about half of my garage).

A new job got me free gym membership so I sold the kit and now work out in the gym.

TL:DR there are good body weight programs which can take you a good way along your journey.

sinbos

Check out this guy on youtube https://m.youtube.com/user/HomeMadeMuscles

Oishii

I wanted to get free weights to use at home and was ready to build a gym in my shed, but when I did Stronglifts in the gym I found I needed a spotter to do my best at the bench press, so I gave up on that idea for now.

The problem I now have is I now know I love free weights and find it hard to get inspired by body weight strength exercises.

stevencloser

mumbles2013 wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

Google bodyweight exercises

Thank you. I thought I'd need sets of weights amongst other things but this looks great. They are the types of exercises you can get on the phone apps for 30 day challenges

Most of those Challenge things I've seen are pretty crap If your goal is to put on some muscle. They're almost always just adding more reps to the same exercises, which will only give you more endurance for that exercise.
If you want to get stronger with body weight, you need progressive overload just like with lifting weights, which means once an exercise gets too easy you need to retire it for a Variation that's harder to do.