I'm basically in the same situation, except I have adjustable dumbbells that go up to 20 lbs and sadly no resistance band. I've been doing ChaLEAN Extreme as my beginner's program, and it's worked fairly well so far. They do also show you how to use resistance bands in place of heavier weights, so maybe that would be a good fit for what you're looking for? But I'm mainly writing to bump and hear more responses, haha!

http://greatist.com/fitness/50-bodyweight-exercises-you-can-do-anywhere

Here are 50 strength training exercises you can do anywhere. Using our own body weight can be challenging and is a great place to start while you build up Your at home training equipment. There are also Les Mills home videos for strength training that are just like the classes.

And you can do a lot with the equipment have. Go to BODYBUILDING.COM and separately search each piece of equipment and it would list exercises associated with it, plus they will guide you on which body part each workout targets.

Bump

Here's a book with an excellent program that I'm working on for bodyweight strength training for women.

http://www.amazon.com/Body-You-Guide-Womens-Fitness/dp/0345528972

You Are Your Own Gym by Mark Lauren is a really great book - he has a version for women (Body By You) but I can't vouch for that as I've only tried his initial book.

:bigsmile: bumping appreciate all the resources from everyone!

Bump

If you are advanced, try You Are Your Own Gym. You don't need a ton of equipment that you'll outgrow to gain strength and change body composition. I'm using Body by You, and I've been really happy with it. See:

http://www.amazon.com/Body-You-Womens-Fitness-ebook/dp/B008GO21KE/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379900946&sr=1-2&keywords=You+are+your+own+gym

or

http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Your-Own-ebook/dp/B004GTLFNW/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379900924&sr=1-1&keywords=You+are+your+own+gym

Saving all the sites and info shared - Much appreciated!!!

I'm lifting without a gym, using dumbells. There is plenty to do with them and I've seen results.

I'm very curious, for those bench pressing heavy, if you switched to dumbells, how heavy can you go? It's different and harder, isn't it? I can't imagine using 50lbs in each hand, ever.

Personally, I'm not trying to meet a record of how heavy I can bench press, I'm trying to build muscle/inches, however I can. I would think dumbells would be just as efficient as a barbell for building muscle.

Bump

Nerd fitness body weight workouts, Daily hiit and zuzka light are workouts I do. Love them and pretty addictive. I need something that I can fit into my day.

http://www.nerdfitness.com/resources/#resources-free

https://www.youtube.com/user/charliejames1975

https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL8395384AFAC979A9

It's very easy to workout at home, it depends on what kind of style exercises you're looking for. For example;

If you want to build all round muscle and do old school style bodybuilding, you can a training split for your body parts and use various body weight and dumbbell exercises. For example chest day could be lying down dumbbell press, dumbbell flyes bent over sat on a chair, press ups/off the knees if necessary. You can check out bodybuilding.com which can give you rated exercises for every targeted muscle and group, with or without certain equipment and you can make your own routine.

If you want to do full body routines, but also geared towards old school weight lifting - you can do the same as above but incorporate more compound exercises such as deadlifts and squats, also using dumbbells three times a week. It's also possible to utilise the kettle bells for the same effect, and any other equipment you get, including your own body weight.

If you want to do workout circuit training, then yes, as above, there are various workout DVDs. Finding which one that works best for you depends on the style of training you enjoy and of course, research of whether what they do in the DVDs actually work and aren't hyped up rubbish. There's a wide range of dvd's from intense ones like P90X and Insanity to Jillian Micheal and other training DVDs. You can also visit various trainers/fitness inspired websites that offer free or monthly paid subs to see daily or weekly updated training exercises such as BodyRock, Zuzana/Zuzalight which can be found on YouTube, their own websites and facebook. YouTube also offers various users that update daily workouts. On another hand, there are various fitness models, male and female, that in return for a monthly subscription or one off payment can supply a workout and exercise plan according to your needs.

It's key to remember that you can utilise anything and everything for exercise.

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Is there a YM/WCA around? Usually they will have some sort of scholarship program. My local Y even has a section for expenses and extenuating circumstances if your income seems to high at a glance.