Ideas for body weight exercises

[VenomParticipant 310]

I’ve been a skinny guy all my life.

Height 5’5

Weight: 135 pounds

What I’m wanting to do is gain muscle, but I don’t have access to a gym right now. And the gym at my apartment complex is crap. Half of their s~~~ doesn’t even work.

So, I want to do some body weight exercises.

I’ve actually tried this method before, and I could barely keep up with it:

The One Punch Man Workout

100 Push-ups
100 Sit-ups
100 Squats

10Km Run/6.2 mile run

It’s from an anime, but from I can tell, it’s a pretty hard workout for some one who’s just starting out.

The only thing is, I want to avoiding running. I heard it can be damaging in the long run.

Anything else, I’m willing to do.

I also don’t want to bulk up like a body builder does. I just want lean muscle.

[Faust For ScienceParticipant 22521]

First, don’t base exercises on fiction.

Second, flex your muscles before your exercise and slowly build up. Also, know what you are doing in exercising. You can easily over do it.

Push ups help arms. Sit-ups help chest. Squats and walking works on legs.

But, this is basic exercise. This is not muscle building exercise. All those exercises will do is tone the muscles you already have. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Also, if you build up muscles, you have to constantly maintain the exercise or the muscles go flabby.

Now, exercise professionals would likely be more than happy to work with you for a fee. Not just the money, but you are in your weight range for being health. Whatever you decide to do, you have a good foundation to work from.

[RoyDalParticipant]

Here’s a rather lengthy Wikipedia article on the subject. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodyweight_exercise

Society asks MGTOWs: Why are you not making more tax-slaves?

[TheroniusParticipant 975]

Faust For Science wrote:

Whatever you decide to do, you have a good foundation to work from.

Big advantage. You don’t have to lose a bunch of fat.
Right now you’re a similar height:weight ratio to Manny Pacquiao, so don’t think you’re too skinny. 5’5″ and 135 is a very efficient size. Bruce Lee was @135 and 5’7″. You could just rip up what you’ve got and look like a kickboxer.
If you really want to get heavier though, lifting heavy weights with fewer reps and eating a lot works well. Not so much aerobics or push ups. Running that much will keep you skinny no matter what else you do.

"I am is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that I do is the longest sentence?" - George Carlin

[Tiga KParticipant 1693]

I’m no expert on calisthenics, but here is how I understand it to be:

Like barbell training, when you goal is to get bigger and stronger, you need a weight that is heavy enough to challenge you at a lower number of reps, most guys would advise you to shoot for the 6-12. Me, I like 5 but the bigger range and higher reps probably fits bodyweight better. Obviously, you will eventually be able to do more than 12 pushups in a row, so what do you do? Change the exercise to make it harder. Now you are doing decline push ups with your feet elevated or maybe a variation of a one arm pushup. Eventually you find yourself doing handstand pushups for reps and that would make you stronger than 90%+ of the guys in the gym.

A great way to find articles to help you, is you choose exercises that you want to eventually learn, bit are took difficult now, and try to find reccomendations on how to progress to it. Using your three exercises:

Pistol squats
Human Flag (takes a hell of a lot of core strength supposedly)
Handstand pushups.

If you don’t mind me making the recommendation, I would add pull-ups to your regime in order to achieve a more balanced routine. Your current regime addresses your pressing and leg power, but neglects your pulling strength. I know you wish to avoid needing equipment, but I say this because unbalanced programs can lead to injury. Your pressing strength needs to be accompanied by pulling strength. You can get bars to ha g in your doorway cheap or if that doesn’t suite your situation, you could check the local park. I’ve done it before. Sure, the little kids loom at you like “what the hell?” but it is an option and the kids arnt too annoying about it. In case I wasn’t clear, I’m talking about the playground apparatus. They usually have something you can use to do pull ups on.

_————-+edit——-

Sorry about the typos. My phone keypad isn’t cooperating today. Feel free to ask me questions if you don’t understand parts of my comment. I like talking about this stuff.

[VenomParticipant 310]

@faust For Science

I know not to base my exercises on fiction now haha. I just did that one to actually see if I could keep up with it or not. End result was, everything was aching bad for a week. Never again.

I also wouldn’t mind working out everyday. Hell, I wish I did more exercising. So gaining more muscle and maintaining it would actually be very beneficial for me.

@roydal

Thanks, I’ll check into it.

@theronius

Ah, that’s good news then. I like the more toned look for muscles like Manny Pacquiao and Bruce Lee. I don’t want to bulk up, like say, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

@Tiga K

I’ve looked into going to parks for pullups. I can’t really do them at my place because people go in and out all the time.

The main reason I need to avoid equipment is because right now I don’t have the funds to buy them or the space to store them. Which is why I’m looking at body weight exercises.

What I really want to end up being able to do is s~~~ like this:

[shadowParticipant 156]

Some good one I still do off the top of my head:

-One legged squats
– Shoulder push-up(w/ close grip)
– Bicycles/Leg raises/scissors
– Plank
– weighted backpack bicep curls
– if you really strong and balanced hand stand push up
– decline push up(legs elevated)
– shoulder raise w/ phone book(s)
– hold heavy backpack or other weight doing lunges

I cut my own wood for firewood to heat my house so sometimes Ill just get a large log and do some overhead presses with that.
Also, wood pic-nic tables work good if you grab onto one end and squat.
Tree branch for pull ups.

There are many more just those are the best ones my not-so-great memory can recall atm.

Hope you find this useful.
Cheers

[bobphiloParticipant 1772]

Try to concentrate on a few simple exercises that work the large muscle groups. When I was wrestling, playing soccer and running track and pole vaulting my basic exercises were:
1) Bench press -chest, front shoulders, triceps
2) Bent over rowing- back, rear shoulder, biceps
3) Half Squat – legs
4) Stair climbing – legs, stamina.
5) Crunches – abs
6) Pull-ups – lats, biceps
This should develop both pushing and pulling power plus core. Train progressively. Start with a weight you can do six reps with and when you can build up to 12 add about 5 lbs.
Good luck

[Tiga KParticipant 1693]

@Tiga K

I’ve looked into going to parks for pullups. I can’t really do them at my place because people go in and out all the time.

The main reason I need to avoid equipment is because right now I don’t have the funds to buy them or the space to store them. Which is why I’m looking at body weight exercises.

What I really want to end up being able to do is s~~~ like this:

<iframe width=”500″ height=”281″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/POdzasJklxw?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””></iframe>

Yeah, circumstances are circumstances. You are talking to a guy that lifts in a cold outbuilding with a gravel floor. Once upon a time I ate spoonfuls of lard every night because I was experimenting with diet but needed to be cheap for a few days. We are men, we take what we got and we make it work. Look at Paul Anderson. The man dug holes in his backyard so he could partial squat in his backyard. John Davis is another inspirational man. I’ve heard stories about him lifting slabs of concrete in a construction site as a kid. And Williams Boone. That guy was an oil driller that did demanding physical labor all day and lifted world class heavy ass iron under the moonlight.

[VenomParticipant 310]

@Tiga K

Yeah, I know I’m not complaining or anything. I’m making the best of what I got and that’s body weight exercises.

Thanks for the tips guys, much appreciated.

[bobphiloParticipant 1772]

Venom wrote:

@Tiga K

Yeah, I know I’m not complaining or anything. I’m making the best of what I got and that’s body weight exercises.

Thanks for the tips guys, much appreciated.

Tiga, we’re all glad to help. The only problem with just body weight exercises is that it’s hard to train progressively with them. A possible exception might be push-ups where you progressively raise your foot elevation as you grow stronger. I also started out with limited resources and space but you should be able to afford a simple cheap barbell/dumbbell set and maybe a bench or a doorway chinning bar. That way you can train progressively and chart your progress.
There is a story about an ancient Greek Olympic wrestling champion who began by lifting a calf every day until he was able to lift it as a full grown bull. Of course this is just a legend but it does illustrate an important training principle.
BTW, be careful to give each muscle group enough time to recover and grow between sessions. Usually about 48 hours. Otherwise you will be tearing down muscle tissue faster than your body can rebuild it.

[Tiga KParticipant 1693]

@ bobphilo

I’m a barbell man myself actually so if I was asked which one should be done, I would recommend a combination of the two or barbell alone. However Venom doesn’t have that option, but thankfully that doesn’t mean he can’t achieve strength, it just won’t be as simple as adding weight. He’ll have to progress using reps and/or sets. There are guys out there even among barbell people that prefer to use them rather than increasing weight resistance alone. For example, starting with 2 sets x 5 reps and increasing reps until one is doing 2 x 10. Or doing 2 x 5 until one can do 5x 5 and then moving on to a tougher variation of the exercise.

As for equipment, I was able to buy an Olympic barbell with 265 pounds of weight for about $300. My power rack cost me the same amount and then my other two pairs of 45’s cost me about a $/pound. The rack has a bar for pullups but before that I used rafters in a basement or stuck with rows.

[bobphiloParticipant 1772]

Tiga K wrote:

As for equipment, I was able to buy an Olympic barbell with 265 pounds of weight for about $300. My power rack cost me the same amount and then my other two pairs of 45’s cost me about a $/pound. The rack has a bar for pullups but before that I used rafters in a basement or stuck with rows.

Wow Tiga, prices have really gone up. I was able to buy a simple 110 lb. barbell/dumbbell set for about 20 bucks. Not Olympic quality by any means but adequate. I was also able get a bench with a pull-up attachment for under $100. Of course that was a long time ago. Boy do I fell old. LOL.

[Tiga KParticipant 1693]

bobphilo wrote:

Wow Tiga, prices have really gone up. I was able to buy a simple 110 lb. barbell/dumbbell set for about 20 bucks. Not Olympic quality by any means but adequate. I was also able get a bench with a pull-up attachment for under $100. Of course that was a long time ago. Boy do I fell old. LOL.

The funny thing is, some of those purchases were made during sales. The term Olympic refers to its seven foot length an I guess the rotating sleeves, it wasn’t a high end model or anything like that. There’s also the option of building your own equipment. I’ve seen guys online make squat stands with a couple of buckets full of cement and 2 x 4s. Their benches were similar. Supposedly it can support as much weight as the average store set, but I’d feel more comfortable with one made by a company. As someone who trains alone, I’m very reliant on my power rack being stable.

[VenomParticipant 310]

Once I have the money, I plan on going to a professional gym. I definitely prefer weights to body weight exercises because it’s easier to progress and advance the weight you use to gain muscle. With body weight exercises if you want to gain more muscle, you have to end up doing all kinds of different body weight exercises just to build that muscle up. With weights, all you have to do is add more weights.

[bobphiloParticipant 1772]

Venom wrote:

Once I have the money, I plan on going to a professional gym. I definitely prefer weights to body weight exercises because it’s easier to progress and advance the weight you use to gain muscle. With body weight exercises if you want to gain more muscle, you have to end up doing all kinds of different body weight exercises just to build that muscle up. With weights, all you have to do is add more weights.

Venom, while professional private gyms can be expensive, you might want to look into your local non-profit YMCA. I used to train there and it’s a great value.

[Tiga KParticipant 1693]

bobphilo wrote:

Venom, while professional private gyms can be expensive, you might want to look into your local non-profit YMCA. I used to train there and it’s a great value.

I know a guy who trains at the YMCA. He says compared to other gyms he has been to, the rules are relaxed, so you want get scolded for doing deadlifts or using chalk. Doesn’t sound like a bad deal.

[bobphiloParticipant 1772]

Venom wrote:

Once I have the money, I plan on going to a professional gym. I definitely prefer weights to body weight exercises because it’s easier to progress and advance the weight you use to gain muscle. With body weight exercises if you want to gain more muscle, you have to end up doing all kinds of different body weight exercises just to build that muscle up. With weights, all you have to do is add more weights.

Beware the high priced “professional” gyms. I once worked at one as director of cardio fitness and their sole purpose is to get as much money from you as possible. The main job of most of the staff was sales. They want to get as many people in and out quickly for a fast turnover. They couldn’t care less about your fitness. They actually count on members getting disgusted and stop showing up so they could keep collecting membership fees while making room for more suckers.
My experience at the Y was much better. I got to meet Arthur Ash and Jerry Stiller there who could afford to train anywhere and chose the gym where there staff cared.

[VenomParticipant 310]

@bobphilo

Yeah, a lot of professional gyms are like that. But as far as I’m living in an apartment, I plan on going to those gyms. Once i get a house, I plan on setting up a small gym either outside or a spare bedroom somewhere.

[Author]

Posts