BEST No-Weights Strength Building Workout

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  • IronPlayground
    IronPlayground Posts: 1,594 Member
    At first you may see small gains, but that won't last long. Building muscle is a result of excess calories along with resistance training. While there is nothing wrong with what you are looking at, you will have to figure out a way to increase resistance over time.
  • hsh0927
    hsh0927 Posts: 259 Member
    30 Day Shred. It's a DVD that will help you tone and lose fat at the same time. I loved it but you have to do it everyday for 30 days and I just couldn't fit it in to my schedule. I could see results after 10 days the last time I did it, though.
  • DaBossLady24
    DaBossLady24 Posts: 556 Member
    bumpity bump
  • Crystal0827
    Crystal0827 Posts: 244 Member
    bump
  • KAA1982
    KAA1982 Posts: 90 Member
    bump
  • salzej01
    salzej01 Posts: 125 Member
    Bump for later!
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 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.
  • reddi2roll
    reddi2roll Posts: 356 Member
    I use 3 and 5 lb hand weights with my work out 3x/week and have built very nice muscle. One of the work out videos that I do is Barre 3 that uses weights and combines ballet, yoga and pilates moves. Very effective. The other work up I do on the other 2 days is a compilation of older work outs using hand weights along with squats, push ups (modified) and crunches. Those are copied to a DVD so they are all one work out but you can experiment with different work outs that use weights. Those smaller weights do work. The Barre 3 work out is by Sadie Lincoln ?sp. She is Madonna's personal trainer. You can google it and buy it on line. I can't tell you what the other ones are as they were put together by my sister and they were recorded off TV or VHS tapes onto a CD. I also ride my bike for about 1 hr almost every day so that helps with leg muscle work.
  • skylark94
    skylark94 Posts: 2,036 Member
    I too like the You Are Your Own Gym program. It uses body weight and common household items (chairs, doors, brooms, etc) as props. I have the book and the iPhone app.
  • niknokd
    niknokd Posts: 127 Member
    I'd suggest Jillian Michaels yoga meltdown - it's all body weight training for toning. You'll probably want to continue doing cardio in addition to that, and mix in a few other dvds because you don't want your body to get too used to the moves!
  • rowdylibrarian
    rowdylibrarian Posts: 251 Member
    Bump!
  • bdseagle
    bdseagle Posts: 4
    bump
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    I've done a lot of research on this at one point, to find which book to use, and the best one out there was "Convict Conditioning" by Coach Paul Wade. The most honourable mention is the "Be Your Own Gym."

    The convict conditioning book is purely about building full body strength and is laid out in a way that is perfect for beginners. there's no confusion on where to start, how to go about it, nothing about nutrition (you don't have control over that as a convict), etc etc. BYOG is a lot more confusing and really, all the workouts are just variations on what is covered in Convict Conditioning.

    I would suggest picking up both, do the workouts in CC, and use BYOG for everything else! That's what I'm doing.
  • P90XBowler
    P90XBowler Posts: 152 Member
    INSANITY

    Exactly what I was thinking :)
  • yecatsml
    yecatsml Posts: 180 Member
    There are tons of online bodyweight only workouts out there:

    bodyrock.tv

    bodyripped.net/

    jennfit.ca/

    zuzkalight.com/

    blogilates.com/
  • Grandysl
    Grandysl Posts: 189
    You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises
  • lina20
    lina20 Posts: 130 Member
    bump.
  • VorJoshigan
    VorJoshigan Posts: 1,106 Member
    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/

    This is a good place to start. I also highly recommend kettlebells. Here's a good example of a kettlebell workout video for beginners: http://www.myomytv.com/train-along-with-me-beginners-kettlebell-workout/

    I like that website in general. Or maybe I'm just smitten with the Irish lady. They also have some beginner bodyweight exercise videos: http://www.myomytv.com/category/beginners-corner/beginners-bodyweight-workouts/
  • jesss5885
    jesss5885 Posts: 187 Member
    bump!
  • navydentalchic
    navydentalchic Posts: 234 Member
    YESSSSS!!!!!! INSANITY!!!
  • glittermouse
    glittermouse Posts: 582 Member
    bump
  • LeellenMack
    LeellenMack Posts: 141 Member
    bump
  • Looser5555
    Looser5555 Posts: 33
    bump
  • AuburnGirl2001
    AuburnGirl2001 Posts: 36 Member
    bump
  • D0ry
    D0ry Posts: 59 Member
    bump :)

    I was just wondering the same lately. thanks for posting. and thanks for answering, everybody ;)

    I'm reading a book right now about it (something like Lose weight without dieting) and there it's written the same - Pushups and Squads are the best thing for training and building muscle mass. And it's not only visually, but also real strong muscles. So they say :)
  • Angie80281
    Angie80281 Posts: 444 Member
    Bumping for later. Thanks for all the great suggestions!
  • tappae
    tappae Posts: 568 Member
    I would recommend getting a pull-up bar for your house, too. Pull-ups are a great exercise that work multiple muscle groups. Simple push-ups are great as well and you can do a lot to mix them up (elevate feet, close grip, etc.). When you get good, though, you'll want to add weights to continue adding resistance. I'm going to look through some other folks' suggestions to find good exercises for the lower body.
  • ahmommy
    ahmommy Posts: 316 Member
    Thanks for this! We have some weights at home but I'm intimidated by them, lol. Love the idea of bodyweight conditioning. I'm currently doing the 30 day shred. Once I'm done with it, I was thinking about doing the 100 pushups challenge (hundredpushups.com), perhaps combined with a squats challenge and a crunch challenge. I'm definitely going to look into the suggestions on this thread!
  • NavyKnightAh13
    NavyKnightAh13 Posts: 1,394 Member
    bump
  • CassandraChloeJ
    CassandraChloeJ Posts: 47 Member
    bump
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