BEST No-Weights Strength Building Workout

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Replies

  • Spartan_Maker
    Spartan_Maker Posts: 683 Member
    I'm trying to do a full body strength training workout that doesn't involve me going to the gym. I'd like to know if it's possible to build muscle based on your own body strength going against itself (plus I have 3 and 5 pound handweights but I don't know if those will help any).

    Does anyone have any suggestions?

    You can achieve a functional level of strength by doing body weight squats, push-ups, pull-ups, and dips -- the latter two can be performed with household furniture.

    If you search Youtube for "body weight exercises," you can watch people demonstrating proper form for the above exercises and get lots of other ideas as well.
  • d0gma
    d0gma Posts: 3,966 Member
    bump
  • clairyfairy247
    clairyfairy247 Posts: 425 Member
    BUMP! Awesome website!
  • MtnKat
    MtnKat Posts: 714
    Tagging to read later....looks like some great info in here :-)
  • lizziebeth1028
    lizziebeth1028 Posts: 3,602 Member
    bump
  • bbriscoe13
    bbriscoe13 Posts: 175 Member
    Push ups, burpees, mountian climbers, squats, lunges, planks, side planks, sit ups, and sprints, dips on a chair. There are lots of things. Good luck! :)
  • skbkhey
    skbkhey Posts: 12 Member
    bumppp
  • BodyCombatGirl73
    BodyCombatGirl73 Posts: 96 Member
    bump
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
    Typical body weight exercises can be sufficient for some body parts/muscle groups, but it's going to be hard to get a full body workout with no equipment. 5lb dumbbells aren't going to be much benefit, at least not for long.

    You need to really stress your muscles. and I mean REALLY stress them. Probably like you've never done before. It's not like carrying groceries, it's like carrying 1 end of the couch.

    If you're serious about it, I'd look into suspension trainers.

    I _love_ suspension trainers. My primary means of exercise.
  • mjterp
    mjterp Posts: 650 Member
    Bumping to remember to share with the family when I get done with work! This is GREAT stuff!
  • feisma
    feisma Posts: 213 Member
    I like Lauren's Be Your Own Gym...convenient app for my iphone and workouts are about 35 mins long, 4-5 times per week.
  • stephgreene
    stephgreene Posts: 143
    I've tried both Insanity and 30 Day Shred. I don't feel like I can do them until I weigh less because I not only got shin splints for the first time in my life, but my knees have never hurt so bad. I don't think that my joints can take the stress of the jumping movements until I lose a substantial amount of weight, hence my hesitance to do it again
  • balibee146
    balibee146 Posts: 127 Member
    bump thanks
  • sundaywishes
    sundaywishes Posts: 246 Member
    bumpity bump bump! :happy:
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    You can do a lot to burn calories, increase functional strength, and overall fitness doing bodyweight exercises alone. Adding muscle MASS however is a completely different animal that requires hypertropher training, something that can only be done with weights. If you're looking to "get big" then you need weights. Otherwise bodyweight trainign will do just great.

    Wrong.

    Getting big is a byproduct of nutrition and applied resistance.

    Did you happen to catch the rings at the Olympics. Those guys are ripped. And get that way via the rings, weights are totally unnecessary. On top of how big they are, they are in actuality as small as they can possibly be, since extra muscle mass is bad when it comes to Olympic level gymnastics.

    In the upper body resistance is essentially unlimited. If you think that you will run out of resistance, use your google-fu and look harder. There isn't as much info out there for the super hard stuff, primarily because hardly anybody can do them or are even close.

    The lower body is a little harder, as you will run out of resistance and will have to move toward explosive movements or weighting low leverage positions. Shrimp Squats and Glute Ham Raises are about as hard as it gets in the lower body (BW leg extensions are technially possible, but they require a solid apparatus and require very high strength to even try). Pistols are pretty well known and easy to weight; since they are single leg squats you don't need nearly as much weight to get to very high resistances. You can weight a glute ham raise easily with a small weight held overhead. Explosive exercises though have unlimited resistance (pistol jumps onto objects, and hill sprinting for example). A weight vest can be added to increase the load for explosive exercises.
  • rtwinrn06
    rtwinrn06 Posts: 51 Member
    bump
  • robbie285
    robbie285 Posts: 3
    bump
  • kellyhighhopes
    kellyhighhopes Posts: 5 Member
    bump- thanks!

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