Muscle Building Exercises without weights

Anywhere you can put a pull-up bar? i have one in the garage. I also have been know to do walking lunges with buckes of water or cinder blocks.

pull ups are great for working out your back

you can also try handstand push ups lean against a wall for balance.

or changing up your hand positioning while doing push ups can help target different parts like diamond push ups or doing push ups with your elbows tucked in as close to your body as you can this will work out mainly your triceps.

Which app did you use for the push ups

Hey there!

This is almost my EXACT situation! I'm a single dad of three incredible children (13, 5, and 4), I'm 36 years old, and have all of the same problems you have. I found an incredible website that fixed my problems completely! All free, no weights or real equipment, whatsoever. It sounds like you have a pull up bar already, which is the only real piece of extra equipment I'd recommend. If you want, I can send you a PM with the link to the site (it doesn't compete with this site at all, but I'm not sure the mods would allow a link to stay?). I too lost 20lbs very quickly by the way...with very similar exercises =D.

Also, if you add me on facebook (Cris Anderson at crisanderson27 at gmail dot com), I've posted some really good body weight workouts in my notes section. Here's a link to the one I think you'd be most interested in:

https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150168646032182

Any of you that would like to add me here, or there...feel free. Surrounding yourself with like (healthy) minded individuals is the surest way to stick to your goals and succeed =D.

Cris

(Edit~ I see some others have posted links to other sites...so here's the link to that bodyweight forum I mentioned:

http://www.bodyweightculture.com/forum/forum.php

I think you'll enjoy it...the people there are TREMENDOUSLY helpful...much like here!)

yeah i was gonna say use your kids as weights
one in each hand :laugh:

Do bench presses with those kids of yours :laugh: (plus they might think it's a game! hehehe)

LOL!!

I use my toddlers for extra weight when doing squats or walking lunges lol...they love it!

Hi all,

I am a 34 year old father of three little boys 4 and under. I was forced to cancel my gym membership because of my fatherly responsibilities at home. I have taken up leg lifts, using ab straps, and simple pushups. I started these exercises in February, and have since shed 21lbs and leaned myself up.

I started my pushup program using a pushup app on my phone, that claims I can do 125 continuous pushups once completed. When I started this program i was able to accomplish 160 total pushups...Now that the program is complete, I am now able to complete 444 pushups per day, adding 12 more per workout. I have seen better results from this workout routine than I have ever seen spending hours in the gym. I know a lot of it has as much to do with my current nutrition as it does my exercise routine (6 meals a day, minimal cardio, 3000 calorie intake).

My question to all of you is, are there any other effective muscle building exercises that you can do without weights, machines or a gym?? Any input would be appreciated.....

Man, I'm all over the bodyweight stuff. There's a great site called. www.BodyWeightCulture.com I believe that has tons of stuff. Also, there is a universal dip thing... let's see.....

http://www.ultimatebodypress.com/ultimate-body-press-dip-bar.html

That is so great for Back/Bi/Chest/Shoulder work. I'm totally on board with you at 3,000 calories and minimal cardio (once a week max + lots of walking.) I think people waste so so so much time at the gym on silly machines. The only true need for a gym is for people who want to get really huge, the rest of us, going for toned and lean - home workouts are the *kitten*.



plus - bro - that's a ton of push-ups.

mostly replying so I can save this work out schedule. I still need heavy cardio but need to add weight training. I'm 50, have arthritis in my hands and some issues w/ neck so the grip and neck training are likely out. I am not able to do a normal push up but have added planks though currently not consistent due to getting sick with colds and stuff over the past 5 months. I generally have stair running in a HIIT format. i.e. run till i can't breathe (out of breath) then walk till i've caught my breath and do them again. the staris are short and I run up and down. I try to do this daily, there are days when the time I put in is much shorter.
I also am not able to do a pull up or a push up but could had push ups by using the couch and working my way down to the floor. Pull ups.. maybe assisted w/a band? I've not tried that yet.

My core is weak. Psoas cramps sometimes when I engage. Piriformis issues and weak hamstrings, they often cramp when engaged as well. Occasionally what feels like my intercostals or the upper portion of rectus abdominus will cramp when in an inverted yoga pose or stretch. I also bless with a very tight IllioTibialBand ITB.

Any ideas to add some resistance (body or otherwise) to my work out would be helpful.

mostly replying so I can save this work out schedule. I still need heavy cardio but need to add weight training. I'm 50, have arthritis in my hands and some issues w/ neck so the grip and neck training are likely out. I am not able to do a normal push up but have added planks though currently not consistent due to getting sick with colds and stuff over the past 5 months. I generally have stair running in a HIIT format. i.e. run till i can't breathe (out of breath) then walk till i've caught my breath and do them again. the staris are short and I run up and down. I try to do this daily, there are days when the time I put in is much shorter.
I also am not able to do a pull up or a push up but could had push ups by using the couch and working my way down to the floor. Pull ups.. maybe assisted w/a band? I've not tried that yet.

My core is weak. Psoas cramps sometimes when I engage. Piriformis issues and weak hamstrings, they often cramp when engaged as well. Occasionally what feels like my intercostals or the upper portion of rectus abdominus will cramp when in an inverted yoga pose or stretch. I also bless with a very tight IllioTibialBand ITB.

Any ideas to add some resistance (body or otherwise) to my work out would be helpful.

If you have difficulty with any bodyweight exercise (push ups, pull ups, etc), you can always do the negative version. For push ups...hold yourself at the top, and let yourself down as slowly as possible. You can also do partials. Push yourself up only halfway, then let yourself down slowly for one session, the next session, start fully extended, let yourself down halfway, then push yourself back up. Same for pullups etc. You will be building the muscles necessary to do the full version, and eventually they will become easier.

Another option is assitance via bands as you mentioned (for pushups, do them under a pull up bar, and attach the band to the bard and around your chest)...and/or (in the case of pullups), you can use a stool, and use your legs to 'cheat' and help you up. YOU will have to control how much help you need...but your legs become your personal spotter. Also, on pullups...which require substantial wrist/grip strength, you can use wrist straps to take the stress off your grip. This lets the muscles that are intended to fatigue first...do what they need to do, without your wrist/grip failing and lessening the intensity of the workout.

I'm not sure which exercises you want to add resistance to, but the above advice should help with the ones you can't complete.

Hope that helps! And again, feel free to friend me on facebook, and check out the bodyweight culture links I posted above. They have a whole section devoted to training logs...and believe me, there's people of all sorts of health levels posting their logs in there.

Cris