If you want to build muscle, barbell exercises are the easiest way. The problem: you need weights. Not everyone can afford expensive gym memberships or buy a home gym. Maybe you don’t feel the need to get huge, but would still like to gain a little muscle and tone what you already have. Fortunately, there are some simple yet effective exercises you can use to sculpt your body.Here’s a muscle building workout you can do without weights:
Body-weight Exercises
Your body needs a reason to build muscle. That reason is stress. Exercising will stress your body & force it to build muscle. You don’t have access to weights, so you’ll use body-weight exercises:
- Pull-ups. Build back & arms muscles. Doorway pull-up bars or any surface where you can hang from work. If you can’t do one rep with correct pull-up technique: use momentum, ask someone to help you or use a resistance band to assist you on the way up.
- Push-ups. Build chest, shoulders & arm muscles. Use a full range of motion: arms locked on the way up, nose against the floor on the way down. Put your knees on the floor if you can’t do one push-up. Switch to regular push-ups when this gets easy.
- Squats. Build leg muscles. Put your hands behind your head & bend through your knees. Keep your heels on the floor, push your knees out, look forward & squeeze your glutes on the way up. Stretch your hamstrings 3 times a week if you can’t squat lower than parallel.
Training Program
SimpleFit.org has a 3 day a week routine based on the above exercises. It takes less than 90mins a week. Easy to mix with your work, business, relationship & hobbies. Click here for the program & the FAQ.
Progression
You must get stronger to build muscle. Doing 100 reps of an exercise builds endurance, not strength. Switch to more challenging exercises once you can do more than 20 pull-ups, push-ups or squats.
- Rings. Push-ups & pull-ups using rings are harder: you need to stabilize the rings while doing the exercises.
- One Arm Push-ups. Start with Incline One Arm Push-ups: one hand on a high box. Decrease the height as you get stronger until you can do them on the floor. Then switch to feet elevated One Arm Push-ups: feet on a box, gradually increasing the height.
- One Arm Pull-ups. Pull-ups with one arm. Tricky to master. Check the article on Beast Skills for their technique.
- One Leg Squats. Start with One Leg Box Squats: lower yourself on a box. Start with a high box & gradually decrease the height. Switch to One Leg Squats once you can do them from a very low box.
- External Resistance.You could consider this as weights but I’m adding it anyway. Wear a rucksack filled with water bottles or books while doing the exercises. Wear a weighted vest. Wrap some chains around your upper-body while doing the exercises. Use adjustable ankle/wrist weights. Use a belt, chain, carabiner & weights.
Nutrition
You need solid nutrition to build strength & muscle. Eat at least your body-weight in lbs x 18 kcal. Go for these foods:
- Protein. 1g/lbs daily. Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, whey, etc.
- Fat. Balance your omega 3, 6 & 9 intake.
- Veggies. All kinds, especially green fibrous veggies.
- Fruit. Also all kinds. Eat veggies and/or fruits with every meal.
- Water. 1 liter per 1000 calories you expend.
- Whole Grain Carbs. Oats, rice, pasta, breads, Ö.
Mehdi is author of StrongLifts.com, a blog helping you build muscle & lose fat through strength training. Popular articles include the Beginner Strength Training Program and the Anabolic Diet.Image Credit: Sgt. Gooch
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Your program appears to be very similar to the one advocated by Pavel Tsatsouline (of kettlebell fame) in his book, “The Naked Warrior.” The book focuses strictly on bodyweight-only exercises, centered around one-armed pushups and pistol squats (with progressions). More info available from:
http://www.dragondoor.com/b28.html?kbid=4468
The other factor that really catalyzes body-weight workouts is to perform the actions with intensity. Namely, performing circuits for time.
Also, check your health benefits. People often seem to pay little attention to what’s actually covered other than the basic medical things (at least, this seems to be true in Canada). Most of the places I’ve worked in the past years have included a $500 per year nutritionists allowance, one included $200 reimbursement on gym membership fees, and another had a corporate membership deal with a nearby gym.
I find pausing helps–for instance, in a push up, push slowly to raise your body, pause when your body is raised, hold, then slowly lower back down. Doing exercises slowly makes you really feel it.
What’s that girl in the pic’s name?
Hmm, I really wish I could do a pull-up… but I can’t. So do you know of any floor or swiss ball exercises I can do to strengthen the back?
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Nice, concise post for anyone to apply…TODAY! Not tomorrow; not next week, or next month…TODAY!
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What’s the use of droping weights, if you still have to have a lot of other stuff. I want to have somwhere to do pullups, but I live in a rented place that I cannot alter.
NOTE!!: if you have NO PLACE TO DO PULLUPS you can :go to the local monkeybars at the local playground, you can also do them on a door (put a little piece of cloth on top, some doors really hurt your hands) and you can also put some books etc if your worried about breaking that flimsy door.
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[…] Muscle Building WorkoutNot everyone can afford expensive gym memberships or buy a home gym. Maybe you don’t feel the need to get huge, but would still like to gain a little muscle and tone what you […]
Instead of having how to work out on your website you should have things saying how much that exercse helps you, what it works with and also how much you should do it. Well thank you and keep on keepin on!!
Hey Medhi,
I find that using a rep sequence of 1-3-1 works really well for muscle gain. For those of you that don’t know what a 1-3-1 rep sequence is, it’s when you use the negative part of the movement to increase muscle tension and therefore increase muscle gain.
The first part of the lift is done by lifting for 1 second and then lowering for 3 seconds, you then pause for 1 second and repeat.
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Calf raises are another good exercise you can do without weights (although I prefer to do them holding a dumbbell in my hand). Stand on a surface that is about 2-3 inches off the floor, with your toes and about 3 inches of your foot on the surface, and the rest of your foot off. Lift onto your toes as high as you can go and feel the stretch, then let yourself come back down slowly and feel the stretch again as your heel reaches the floor. You need to work your calves hard to stimulate growth, so go for high reps or add some weight by holding a dumbbell.
This has been a great program and has worked wonders for me and my busy lifestyle.
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