what to do after Body Beast & at home equipment recommendations

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Jambalady
Jambalady Posts: 155 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all - because of Covid, I have not been able to get to the gym since last March. I'm 5 ft, 46 yr old woman, 119 lbs, looking to lose body fat and gain muscle.

I've been able to slowly accumulate dumbbells at home up to 30lbs and started doing Body Beast. I'm about 2 weeks away from finishing and am generally happy with the program but not sure what to do next.

Can someone recommend a dumbbell only program to do after Body Beast since I won't be able to get to a gym until at least mid 2021? Many of the ones I looked at in the pinned page required a bench, which I don't have. I don't have a ton of space (living in NYC with 2 kids, both learning remote). Are there other great-to-have small space pieces of equipment that you can recommend that can be easily stored away? I have a pull-up bar that attaches to the door frame as well.

I also found Body Beast to be very upper body focused. Would be good to have something more glute/leg heavy.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

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  • briscogun
    briscogun Posts: 1,135 Member
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    A bench is good because it increases your range of motion when using dumbbells, but you can do pretty much every exercise either standing or laying/kneeling on the floor. It's really the upper body/chest exercises that will be your issue, and you can do dumbbell presses on the floor, dumbbell flies on the floor, etc. Leg exercises are no problem: squats, goblet squats, deadlifts (Romanian or otherwise), calf raises, etc. You can do overhead presses (I do these kneeling on one knee, one arm at a time). Using your pull-up bar for your back, you can even add push-ups to supplement your chest exercises. You can alternate between chin-ups and pull-ups to hit your arms, back, chest, etc, from different angles too.

    Lot's of dumbbell programs available out there. Or put one together yourself!

    Good luck!
  • RashadLavelle
    RashadLavelle Posts: 46 Member
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    There's quite a few dumbbell exercises on Beach Body on demand. Lift 4, Hammer and Chisel, A week of Hard labor, also a program called The Work. If you're limited on dumbbells and if they are hard to find at stores, you can increase your reps to work on muscle endurance. Print off the workout sheets from Body Beast and increase 15 reps to 20-25 and lower the weight amount.
  • Jambalady
    Jambalady Posts: 155 Member
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    RashadLavelle wrote: »
    There's quite a few dumbbell exercises on Beach Body on demand. Lift 4, Hammer and Chisel, A week of Hard labor, also a program called The Work. If you're limited on dumbbells and if they are hard to find at stores, you can increase your reps to work on muscle endurance. Print off the workout sheets from Body Beast and increase 15 reps to 20-25 and lower the weight amount.

    Thanks. I tried Lift4 and didn't like it. Joel Freeman's a bit on the dry and boring side. I was looking at Hammer and Chisel, and the schedule looked overwhelming in terms of the number of different workouts. I found Body Beast to be easy bc it was predictable and I can easily see my progress in weights and know exactly what body part I was working on. Is there enough consistency in Hammer and Chisel to do the same?
  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 630 Member
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    I also use BeachBody on demand. I’ve done Plyo (no equipment at all), Brazil butt lift, 21 day fix, 21 day fix real time and 21 day fix extreme real time. I have dumbbells from 2lbs to 30 lbs.
    Some of the BeachBody programs use resistance loops or resistance bands. I take those with me when I travel.
  • RashadLavelle
    RashadLavelle Posts: 46 Member
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    hollyhom wrote: »
    RashadLavelle wrote: »
    There's quite a few dumbbell exercises on Beach Body on demand. Lift 4, Hammer and Chisel, A week of Hard labor, also a program called The Work. If you're limited on dumbbells and if they are hard to find at stores, you can increase your reps to work on muscle endurance. Print off the workout sheets from Body Beast and increase 15 reps to 20-25 and lower the weight amount.

    Thanks. I tried Lift4 and didn't like it. Joel Freeman's a bit on the dry and boring side. I was looking at Hammer and Chisel, and the schedule looked overwhelming in terms of the number of different workouts. I found Body Beast to be easy bc it was predictable and I can easily see my progress in weights and know exactly what body part I was working on. Is there enough consistency in Hammer and Chisel to do the same?

    I think Hammer and Chisel is great. Remember these works are tools to use. So what I do now, I mix them up and create my own calendar but still follow some principals for split days or working different body parts. If I'm limited on weights and I don't feel a burn, I just increase my reps, or increase the amount of sets on it. It takes the boredom out of doing the same thing over again, and it taps into the creative side of the brain.

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