Building muscle without weights

Building muscle without weights

You can build muscle without weights, equipment, or a gym membership. Have you ever heard the statement, “Where there is a will, there is a way?” There is a way to build your body using your own body weight and using things around your house, garage or garden.

First, let me tell you a little about myself when I was 15 years old. Without going into boring details, let me just say that my family was pretty poor. But I was very interested in getting in shape. I was a scrawny little boy growing up and got picked on quite a bit. I remember seeing advertisements about Charles Atlas in magazines. He was one of the first men to become known as the Muscle Man. I was inspired by this man because he too was chosen before he built his body. I asked my parents for weight lifting, but they told me they couldn't afford it. Frustrated, I began looking around the house for ways to build up my scrawny muscles. I saw an ad in a magazine advertising a bull worker. This was a device in which high-voltage cables passed through the ends of a pole-like device about three feet long. You can use the cables or the ends of the device to perform various exercises. Since I didn't have the money to order one, I took an old bike tire pump and bike tube to make my own homemade bullworker. I doubled the hose and stretched it around the tire pump. I did all the exercises I could have done with a real bull worker.

Another thing I would do is use some old swing poles that were in my back yard. Some of you are old enough to remember the old style swings with the thick, round bars. I would do presses, curls and bench presses with it. I found a few old hardcover books around the house. I would take a heavy book in each hand and fly with it. We never read them anyway. I would also take a full box of these books and squeeze them a few times. My point is; I would imagine building my muscles. I used my imagination.

Let's not forget that there are several non-weight exercises you can do for training. How about some good old-fashioned push-ups? You can do wide-grip push-ups for your outer chest, close-grip push-ups for your inner chest and triceps. One of my favorites is close grip pushups with feet elevated. You can put your feet on a chair, bench, bed, etc. Talk about a hardcore triceps workout! I still do that sometimes. A push-up is essentially a bench press upside down. However, make sure you perform push-ups to failure until you can no longer complete another repetition.

How about pull-ups? If you have a door that allows you to hang on the door, you can do pull-ups (chin-ups) or place two chairs about a meter apart. Place a pole, broom, mop, or thick stick and place each end on a chair. Lie on the floor, keep your hands on the bar or whatever you're using slightly wider than shoulder-width, and lift yourself up as often as possible. This will build your back and biceps. Let's not forget crunches, lunges, chair jumps, etc.

Another way to train is to use paint buckets or other buckets, preferably full for more weight. Gripping handles allow you to perform presses, curls, side raises (for broad shoulders), wrist curls, tricep presses, bent rows, etc. Use your imagination; Just be careful about safety.

Yes, you can work any body part without weights. I did it and you can too. I still do non-weight workouts from time to time in motels, when I'm on the road, visiting people out of town, and even when my car breaks down. Where there is a will, there's a way.

Inspired by Doug King