Exercise help

[Alex]

Does any one know if you can have a good exercise plan just using small dumbells and your own body weight. I dont have much money or access to a gym. I also walk for like 30-45 min almost everyday with my mom (trying to get her to do atleast some exercise).

[chesty leroux]

Here's a link to some bodyweight exercises by vegan Mike Mahler.

 

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler57.htm

 

and here a link to a bunch of bodyweight exercise workouts.

 

http://www.trainforstrength.com/workouts.shtml

 

Heres some dumbell exercises

http://www.keepinline.com/DumbellExercises.htm

[robert]

Hey Alex,

 

I posted this somewhere else on the forum and it's on the main site but it may help you out so I put it here:

 

As you can see, I wrote it a couple of years ago but I think there are still some good suggestions:

 

-Robert

 

6/5/03

What can I do if I want to get in shape and gain muscle but I don’t have a gym membership?

 

Sarah N.

Boston, Mass.

 

This is a common situation for a lot of people. Gym memberships can

expensive and you usually need some means of transportation to get there.

So if you are in a situation where at the present time you can’t afford a

gym membership, you don’t have a way of getting there, you live too far away

from a gym, or don’t “make” the time to get to the gym, here are some

suggestions for you.

 

Keep these questions in mind. Do you need a treadmill to run? Do you need

a stair-stepper to climb stairs? Do you need a stationary bike with a TV in

front of you to cycle? Do you need a stretching room to stretch your

muscles? Do you need a special machine to do pull-ups or sit-ups? Do you

need dumbbells to curl weight? Do you need barbells or machines to move

weight?

 

I grew up on a farm, where I had access to countless muscle-producing tools,

although I didn’t realize until I became a bodybuilder. Now when I go back

to the farm, I take the opportunity to shrug buckets full of dirt or water,

jog outside in the fresh air, and do pull-ups from a tree limbs.

 

Here are some exercises you can do for different muscle groups outside of a

gym. They can be done at home, at a park, or anywhere that you have access

to some of these “tools.”

 

Cardio is something you can ALWAYS do for free and do anywhere. Running,

jumping, walking, are things you can do in nearly every situation. Biking,

swimming, and climbing stairs, are great cardio exercises that are also

pretty easy to come by.

 

First of all if you want to warm-up, just go for a jog, climb some stairs,

or even a bike ride. Stretch out your muscles and decide what you want to

do in your workout.

 

Back—Pull-ups are a great exercise for the back. All you need is something

to grab onto to pull yourself up, a sturdy pipe, a tree limb, or even a

structure at the park. Variations can be included as well, close-grip,

wide-grip, partial reps, etc. You can perform bent-over rows with buckets

full of sand, dirt, gravel, or water. Use them like dumbbells. You can do

deadlifts the same way. Find heavy objects that are not too awkward to pick

up and perform your exercise. One-arm dumbbell rows can be done kneeling on

a park bench using a heavy bucket, or other device with a handle on it.

 

Chest—Push-up variations are something that can be done easily, close, wide,

one-arm, super-sets and drop-sets included as well. Dips aren’t too hard to

come by outside of the gym either. Find a structure at home, at the park,

on the farm, downtown, that you can grip and lower yourself, and push

yourself back up. You can do flys with gallon jugs filled with water. Lie

on a bench and perform the fly movement you would if you had dumbbells.

Other objects can be substituted for the gallon jugs, whatever you can find

that is heavy enough to get the job done.

 

Shoulders—Shrugs are one of the easiest things to do. Find heavy objects,

my favorites are large buckets filled with something dense, and use them for

shoulder shrugs. Lateral and front raises can be done with the gallon jug

filled with water, or even buckets, just vary the weight. Shoulder presses

can be done with a heavy piece of wood, heavy box, an old car tire, or

anything of the sort, be creative.

 

Arms—Bicep curls with heavy buckets, wood, gallon jugs, pipes, or even

random items like a vacuum, bicycle, wooden chair work just fine. You could

even find a rope and tie a heavy object at the end and use it for biceps and

many other muscle groups. Find objects to curl with one arm and two arms.

Select a grip to perform concentration curls, hammer curls, and supinated

bicep curls. Triceps kickbacks can be performed with the filled gallon jug,

or even a heavy tool or wood or metal object. Overhead extensions can be

done with the same items. Dips for triceps can be done as well. Just

change your grip and position to take the stress off the chest and direct it

to the back of the arms.

 

Abs—Hanging leg raises are probably the best exercise you can do for abs.

Hang from a tree, steel bar, pipe, or wooden ledge and perform this

exercise. Sit-ups on the floor, in the grass, or any other soft surface can

easily be done anywhere. I have even done them on the side of the freeway

on long road trips. There are countless variations of sit-ups so this is a

muscle group that can really be targeted anywhere.

 

Legs—Free squats without weights can be done as well as with weight. Lift

up an object and place it over your shoulders. Perform squats just like you

would in the gym. In this case you won’t be able to go as heavy as you

could in the gym, unless you build a devise to rack the weight on to allow

you to walk under it to get started. Lunges can be done with the heavy

object over your shoulders as well, or with weight in your hands. Buckets

would probably be too tall and hit the ground when you lunge, but filled

gallon or 2-gallon jugs would be fine. Supersets, and rest-pauses can be

implemented to get a burn since the weight won’t be as heavy. Calf raises

can be done on stairs, one or two legs at a time. You can add weight to

this exercise by using your weighted bucket, gallon jug, or other object you

find at home that has significant weight to it.

 

Keep in mind that these are just a few exercises that I came up with. You

can also take these exercises and apply them with different strategies using

drop-sets, supersets, rest-pauses, partial-reps, isolated movements, High

Intensity Training, and other training principles. Use your creativity to

find objects around the house, at your workplace, or in the park to build

your physique and achieve your fitness goals. Remember that nutrition is

more than half the battle, so refer to some of our nutrition pages for

guidance for the most important part of the equation.

 

Good luck, invent some new exercises, and build your body, no matter where

you live or what your situation is.

 

Big Rob

[willpeavy]

Does any one know if you can have a good exercise plan just using ... your own body weight.

 

Hey Alex, you can do:

 

pushups - here's a page with some variations of pushups you can do as you advance http://www.gettingfit.com/pushups.html

 

pullups/chinups (just go to your local sporting goods store and you can usually find a chinup bar that you can install in a doorway for $10-$20) - here is one of my favorite chinup articles http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/charles4.htm

 

situps - http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.php?Name=Sit-Up - hold one of your dumbbells behind your head if you want ot make this exercise more challenging

 

one leg squats - here's an article that can help you work on doing one leg squats http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler2.htm . If you don't have stairs at your house, just use a chair or boxes/crates instead

 

Here's a sample plan you could use:

 

Day 1 - pushups

Day 2 - situps

Day 3 - pullups / chinups

Day 4 - one leg squats

Day 5 - rest

 

After Day 5 go back to Day 1 and repeat the cycle. Do as many reps as you can each day and you'll be strong in no time!

[robert]

Hey Will,

 

Were my suggestions too complicated for you?

 

I think we said about the same thing, yours was just more concise

 

-Rob

[willpeavy]

Hey Will,

 

Were my suggestions too complicated for you?

 

I think we said about the same thing, yours was just more concise

 

-Rob

 

I didn't read your whole post, since it was long I was just lazy about reading it I'll read it now though

[Alex]

Hey everyone, thanks alot.

[robert]

No problem at all Alex. That is what we're here for. I'm glad you decided to come over and join our forum. I hope some of the advice helps out.

 

All the best,

 

-Rob

[skee-lo]

I know you all suggested to do as many reps as possible for each exercise but does it matter how many sets? If so, how many sets would you suggest and how long to rest in between sets?

[Kathryn]

I didn't read through the longer post, so I may be being redundant, but here are some good body weight exercises:

 

push-ups (works chest, front shoulder and triceps, and you can increase the load by going from one version to another (on the knees, on one knee, on one knee on a balance disc, on toes, on one toe with other foot held up, decline with feet on a chair, etc.) and target different areas by changing hand position (ie: elbows in and hands closer together hits the triceps more).

 

Tricep dips (sit on a chair holding on to the edges then slip off the front of the chair and raise and lower your body with your arms. You can increase the load on these as well: start with knees bent and feet in, then extend feet, then lift one foot, then put feet on another chair, then put a weight in your lap.

 

chin-ups/pull-ups work back and biceps. You can buy an chin-up bar for the doorway, or buy a resistance tube with handles (Lifeline makes some heavy duty ones) and a door attachment ( www.sissel-online.com has a good one that won't slip out of the door) and attach the band at the top of a door and do pulldowns. You can also use the band for lat rows and chest presses, bicep curls, a lot of different moves. Takes up hardly any space , doesn't weight much, and is very versatile.

 

For lower body,, squats and lunges can be very effective. 1-legged squats are quite challenging even with body weight. Add some instability (stand on a folded towel, for example) and the challenge increases, to make it more intense without adding heavy weights.

 

I know there is a book on weight training using just body weight that I've seen at www.amazon.com . Can't remember the title off-hand, but I think it's by Men's Health mag (?) which publishes some good weight training info.

 

For cardio, how about jumproping? All you need is a safe ceiling height (!) and a jumprope. Or even doing the moves without the rope, maybe in circuit fashion, in between weight sets.