Has anyone "transformed" their body WITHOUT lifting heavy?

I lift heavy and haven't joined a gym. When I lived in Saudi, I had no choice, all the gyms in my area were men only, and the nearest women only gym was hundreds of miles away in another city (there are no mixed gyms in Saudi Arabia). So I bought myself heavy dumbbells and trained at home. I now live in Bahrain and there's a mixed gym really close by and loads of gyms in my city (mixed and women only), and my decision right now is whether I join a gym, or buy myself a barbell set because my dumbbells are now too light for some exercises. I'm probably going to do both ultimately, but right now I think I'll buy myself the barbells.

Like the person above says though you can do a lot of strength training exercises without actual weights, but personally I prefer to combine the two, so I do a mix of bodyweight and dumbbell exercises. I need the barbell for the ones where my dumbbells are too light like squats, deadlifts and bench press.

I run and do the jillian videos at well and am quite content with this! I think since you are a woman - are you? - your own bodyweight is enough for lifting, so just try all these exercises

Definitely - woman or not, you can adjust bodyweight exercises to keep up the intensity enough to see MODERATE strength gains and still get the metabolic effect that lifting heavy provides. It's just more of a challenge keeping up the intensity of the exercises, but I like the challenge.

You might look at "You Are Your Own Gym" -- basically showing you how bodyweight exercises can be as 'lifting heavy' as you like.

Yes! I have been lifting more lately because 1) my goals have changed and 2) I have the resources, but I've been shredded using nothing more than consistent body weight exercises (and the use of a sandbag -- priceless!) You don't need weights if you don't have them. There are so many body weight exercises that can shred you if done correctly.

Also, please keep in mind that not everyone has the same fitness goals, so people who lift heavy (while it is certainly good for your physique) may not be trying to accomplish the same things you are. They are going to try to sell you their fitness plan like its the only way -- runners, cyclists, P90x-ers, Crossfit-ers, and anyone else who has found success in their program -- will too, but every body is different, and we are all trying to accomplish different things.

Jillian Micheals DVD's usually have a lot of body weight exercises, but do a little research on your own and supplement if you are really trying to increase strength.

Good luck!

great advice!


Yep ! You can. You should check out body resistance videos and ghetto workouts if you want something really hard. These guys on Youtube who I think call themselves "Bastardz" are incredible ripped and use their own resistance. You should check out the Inansity program as well. This is one of the reasons why I am doing it.

There is loads of body weight routines if you google them.

This is the sort of thing ...

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/

The object of a weight lifting exercise is to get to failure, basically the last repetition of each set needs to be the last one you can do.
It doesnt matter if it takes 50 squats to do this with body weight or 6 squats with 300lb barbell, the same change will take place in your muscles.
The only cavet is doing higher reps takes longer to do the whole routine.

The object of a weight lifting exercise is to get to failure, basically the last repetition of each set needs to be the last one you can do.
It doesnt matter if it takes 50 squats to do this with body weight or 6 squats with 300lb barbell, the same change will take place in your muscles.
The only cavet is doing higher reps takes longer to do the whole routine.

I tend to agree with you, especially with squats, on this one and I know this will set the fur flying among the lift-heavy-low-reps fraternity on here and that's fine because each to their own path I say.

All I would add is with bodyweight it is possible to increase the intensity of the exercise by increasing the difficulty - so for squats for instance once you can push out 3 sets of 20 in good form, maybe go to a single leg squat with your up leg resting on a chair behind you or just held off the ground.

What bodyweight excels at is improving balance and co-ordination as well as seeing good strength gains compared to the average active person.

I do not lift heavy, I do not have weights i have 3 lb dumbbells. I've lost 123 lbs. I do plan on investing in some weights cus I wanna have some ripped arms and a nice v lol wouldn't mind some abs. I don't wanna bulk but I wanna have a sexy fit body.

Went from this


To this

The object of a weight lifting exercise is to get to failure, basically the last repetition of each set needs to be the last one you can do.
It doesnt matter if it takes 50 squats to do this with body weight or 6 squats with 300lb barbell, the same change will take place in your muscles.
The only cavet is doing higher reps takes longer to do the whole routine.

I tend to agree with you, especially with squats, on this one and I know this will set the fur flying among the lift-heavy-low-reps fraternity on here and that's fine because each to their own path I say.

All I would add is with bodyweight it is possible to increase the intensity of the exercise by increasing the difficulty - so for squats for instance once you can push out 3 sets of 20 in good form, maybe go to a single leg squat with your up leg resting on a chair behind you or just held off the ground.

What bodyweight excels at is improving balance and co-ordination as well as seeing good strength gains compared to the average active person.

Hi

I actually agree that you can get a great workout doing body weight exercises. It really depends on your goals. The challenge with doing body weight exercises is that you are generally not doing compound lifts that are more efficient as they work more than one muscle group at a time. Also, at some point you will be having to do more and more reps to get fatigued which puts you in the endurance range and out of the hypertrophy range and definitely out of the strength range.

That being said, you can totally make good progress doing body weight exercises and the benefits from it may well meet your goals. If they are not, then you can always change to weights.

There is loads of body weight routines if you google them.

This is the sort of thing ...

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/

The object of a weight lifting exercise is to get to failure, basically the last repetition of each set needs to be the last one you can do.
It doesnt matter if it takes 50 squats to do this with body weight or 6 squats with 300lb barbell, the same change will take place in your muscles.
The only cavet is doing higher reps takes longer to do the whole routine.

That is not true re the same change,

The rep range (determined by the weights/resistance) will have a different impact on your muscles.


1-5 reps: Strength with a small amount of hypertrophy
6-8 reps: Strength and hypertrophy
9-12 reps: Hypertrophy with some strength
13-20+ : Endurance with some hypertrophy but little strength

I actually agree that you can get a great workout doing body weight exercises. It really depends on your goals. The challenge with doing body weight exercises is that you are generally not doing compound lifts that are more efficient as they work more than one muscle group at a time. Also, at some point you will be having to do more and more reps to get fatigued which puts you in the endurance range and out of the hypertrophy range and definitely out of the strength range.

That being said, you can totally make good progress doing body weight exercises and the benefits from it may well meet your goals. If they are not, then you can always change to weights.

Hi

I kind've agree with you - it is true that as you find more intensive ways of exercising a muscle group you tend to isolate one muscle over it being a complex movement, for example squats progressing to sissy squats or one legged squats isolate the quads more and take the glutes out of the movement to a large extent. One legged variations present some risk to joints as they don't have the other limb to balance the movement; squats are far more stable than pistol squats for example.

Having said that, there are other bodyweight exercises that remain compund movements - like chins - pullups - wide pullups etc. Loads of scope for bodyweight development there.

The easiest approach would be a combination of both weights for some movements and bodyweight for others - all depending on what your aiming for.

For myself, I actually like the challenge of working solely with my bodyweight (plenty of it at the moment!) so that's what I know I will stick with, but I do like the feel of a good hefty weight across my shoulders in a squat - that's a feeling I will never forget and difficult to replicate with anything other than a bar! There's something really metabolic :devil: about it!

Just want to comment on the studies posted:

The modes of strength training were classified as dynamic external resistance (including free weights and weight machines), accommodating resistance (e.g. isokinetic and semi-isokinetic devices) and isometric resistance.

I don't believe (I couldn't read the full study, though, so I could be wrong) that this study was focused on rep range, but rather on style of the workout.

How did the 10×8 program do? It produced a 7.6% increase in muscle size (hypertrophy) and a 35% increase in 1RM (one rep maximum).
...
The 10×36 program produced a 19% increase in 1RM and a 2.6% increase in muscle size.
...
There is no getting around the fact that a program of only heavy weights and low reps builds significantly more strength and size than a program of only lighter weight and higher reps.

I don't think that's insignificant at all.

I don't like using specific numbers for rep ranges because they can vary wildly (for example for many folks doing leg workouts at much higher rep ranges than upper body work can produce the best hypertrophy response).

The fewer number of reps you do in a set, the greater the gains of raw strength. There's a middle level above that 'power range' where you'll see maximal hypertrophy gains. Beyond that you start focusing more on musclar endurance.

Whether you're targeting power, hypertrophy, or endurance, you'll see gains in all three areas. The question is what you want to focus on primarily.

People have certainly transformed their bodies without heavy lifting. There's plenty of ways to skin that cat.

I was satisfied with my results just doing cardio, body weight and 5 pound dumbbell stuff. If I never progressed beyond that, I'd have been perfectly content.

But I'm THRILLED with my results from lifting. I never thought I could look like I do now, especially at 40.

I lift at home, starting with a cheap bench and barbell set from Sears, and adding more as I needed it, buying stuff on sale. Would have been a lot cheaper if I had more patience and shopped Craigslist, but it's still less than I'd have spent on a gym membership.

Just want to comment on the studies posted:

The modes of strength training were classified as dynamic external resistance (including free weights and weight machines), accommodating resistance (e.g. isokinetic and semi-isokinetic devices) and isometric resistance.

I don't believe (I couldn't read the full study, though, so I could be wrong) that this study was focused on rep range, but rather on style of the workout.

How did the 10×8 program do? It produced a 7.6% increase in muscle size (hypertrophy) and a 35% increase in 1RM (one rep maximum).
...
The 10×36 program produced a 19% increase in 1RM and a 2.6% increase in muscle size.
...
There is no getting around the fact that a program of only heavy weights and low reps builds significantly more strength and size than a program of only lighter weight and higher reps.

I don't think that's insignificant at all.

I don't like using specific numbers for rep ranges because they can vary wildly (for example for many folks doing leg workouts at much higher rep ranges than upper body work can produce the best hypertrophy response).

The fewer number of reps you do in a set, the greater the gains of raw strength. There's a middle level above that 'power range' where you'll see maximal hypertrophy gains. Beyond that you start focusing more on musclar endurance.

Whether you're targeting power, hypertrophy, or endurance, you'll see gains in all three areas. The question is what you want to focus on primarily.

People have certainly transformed their bodies without heavy lifting. There's plenty of ways to skin that cat.

from experience guys that see a greater myofribullar hypertrophy response during leg workouts are seeing such results GIVEN that they still maintain using heavy weight. It's where guys that sacrifice the amount of weight in order to perform the rep range, that see the loss in mass. Yes you can transform your body without lifting heavy, but can you be the strongest version of yourself without lifting heavy (physically?), i believe that it's impossible.