Strength Training at Home

cabaray

I realize that this has probably come up several times before, but I'm going to ask anyway.

I recently thought about joining a gym for strength training, but I just don't see it happening right now. I'm working two jobs (although the second job is done almost exclusively from home). My daughter's softball season is coming up soon which will require me spending 2-3 evenings a week at the park for games, not including time spent for practices on the weekends. The girls are required (by their coach) to show up 45 minutes before game time, so it works out great that our park has a nice walking trail that I can use for cardio while they warm up before the game. My problem is, up to this point, I haven't been strength training. At first I was losing weight at a good pace, but now I'm plateauing and I really think it's because I need to start strength training. I know the gym would be the best place with all the equipment that is there; however, until softball season is over I just don't think I will have the time to make it there. Any ideas on what I can do at home to get started (I should say that at this point, I'm a total weakling. I probably have the weakest arms out there)? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

crisanderson27

I realize that this has probably come up several times before, but I'm going to ask anyway.

I recently thought about joining a gym for strength training, but I just don't see it happening right now. I'm working two jobs (although the second job is done almost exclusively from home). My daughter's softball season is coming up soon which will require me spending 2-3 evenings a week at the park for games, not including time spent for practices on the weekends. The girls are required (by their coach) to show up 45 minutes before game time, so it works out great that our park has a nice walking trail that I can use for cardio while they warm up before the game. My problem is, up to this point, I haven't been strength training. At first I was losing weight at a good pace, but now I'm plateauing and I really think it's because I need to start strength training. I know the gym would be the best place with all the equipment that is there; however, until softball season is over I just don't think I will have the time to make it there. Any ideas on what I can do at home to get started (I should say that at this point, I'm a total weakling. I probably have the weakest arms out there)? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

This workout, is very...VERY effective. It took me from this:



To this:



In a little more than 3mos. That's about 40lbs.

Another Bodyweight Culture article, this one courtesy Cheesedog at:

http://www.bodyweightculture.com/forum/showthread.php?11058-Bodyweight-Strength-Training

Bodyweight Strength Training

People are always asking about strength training using only bodyweight. This is nothing new or revolutionary. I am borrowing HEAVILY from Rippatoe, Bill Starr, and lots of other great authors and trainers. This is your basic 5 x 5 template. (To clarify, 5x5 is 5 reps x 5 sets. The idea is to work at a difficulty level where you could only do maybe 7-8 reps on the first set, and are struggling to finish 5 reps on the last set). You would do strength training 3 times a week, say Monday-Wednesday-Friday with the weekends off. These are done "lazy circuits" style, with about 1 minute rest between each set.

Workout A
1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Horizontal push - 5 x 5
1C. Horizontal pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - flexion - 3 x 5
2B. Ab - static 3 x 30 seconds

Workout B
1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Vertical push - 5 x 5
1C. Hip dominant - 5 x 5
1D. Vertical pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - rotation - 3 x 5
2B. Grip and neck training - 3 x varies

Exercise Progressions - with regular weight training you can just add weight to the bar. With bodyweight progression is mostly about changing your leverage. These are just a few examples, I'm sure we could come up with dozens more if needed. You can always add resistance in the form of a weighted vest or backpack or resistance bands.

1. Knee Dominant -- squats, lunges, step-ups, bulgarian split squats, unilateral bent leg deadlift, partial one leg squat, one leg squat, box or stair pistols, full pistols.
2. Horizontal Push -- pushups, decline pushups, resistance pushups, side to side pushups, stair one arm pushups, negative one arm pushups, full one arm pushups.
3. Horizontal Pull -- body row, resistance body row, negative one hand row, incline one hand row, full one hand row.
4. Ab - flexion -- crunches, situps, resistance or incline situps, reverse situp, resistance or incline reverse situps, hanging knee or leg raise, hanging pikes, rollout from knees, rollout from feet, dragon flag. Also included are oblique moves like side lying crunches with or without resistance and side lying two leg raise.
5. Abs- static -- 4 point prone bridge, 3 point prone bridge, 2 point prone bridge, 4 point supine bridge, 3 point supine bridge.
6. Vertical Push -- pike pushup, hindu pushup, divebomber pushup, decline pike pushup, decline hindu pushup, decline divebomber pushup, one arm pike pushup, negative handstand pushup, handstand pushup with head touching floor, full handstand pushup.
7. Hip Dominant -- supine hip extension, good morning, one leg stiff leg deadlift, split one leg good morning, one leg supine hip extension, hyperextension, one leg hyperextension, natural glute-ham raise.
8. Vertical Pull -- jumping or assisted pullups, pullups, resistance pullups, side to side pullups, negative one hand pullups, one hand pullups. All these can refer to chinups or neutral grip pullups as well.
9. Ab - rotation -- twist crunches or situps, resistance or incline twist crunches or situps, russian twists, lying windshield wipers, standing rope rotations, hanging windshield wipers.
10. Grip and Neck Training -- for grip you can use handgrippers, deadhangs from a pullup bar (especially a fatbar or gripping a towel). For neck nothing beats wrestlers bridges. If you are involved in a striking martial art or sport, finger and fist pushups are very important also.

None of these lists have to end here. If you get strong enough you can always add resistance to your full range of motion one limb exercise. Or if you can do more than 5 one hand pushups do decline one hand pushups, or start working on one hand hindu and then eventually one hand dive bombers, and so on.

The nice thing about this routine is it scales dramatically depending on your fitness level. If you can't do even ONE regular pull up, you can scale it down and do assisted pull ups (legs on a chair), or ballistic pullups (where you jump to provide the initial momentum). It's actually easier to do properly when you're very unfit...because once you're healthy and strong...you're going to be searching for challenging enough exercises to only allow you 5 reps max by the finish of the 5 sets.

cabaray

Thanks for the info. I will have to get online and check out how to do many of these things in the proper form, but this sounds like a good place to start!

crisanderson27

Thanks for the info. I will have to get online and check out how to do many of these things in the proper form, but this sounds like a good place to start!

No problem =D. I've had female friends on my MFP list do this exact workout, with great results!