Home Bodyweight workout? Advice
- Thread starter vejichan
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CrazyDean
Well-Known Member
For bodyweight exclusive, I'd probably just recommend a program like P90x. Have you looked into doing that? Otherwise, look into interval training if you want overall fitness.
How old are you? Do you have any joint issues? Are you extremely overweight? These are important things to know before anyone should recommend a specific program.
How old are you? Do you have any joint issues? Are you extremely overweight? These are important things to know before anyone should recommend a specific program.
Drew
Forum MVP
He's not going to listen anyway.
Another question to consider though, is what do you mean by "in shape"? Are you looking to put on muscle mass and, say, build bigger arms? Are you looking at cutting fat and losing weight? Are you looking at getting better at a particular sport or activity - i.e., speed up your 5k time, get faster on a bike, etc? These are all different goals, and achieving them will be very different in the ways you're going to want to approach them.
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CrazyDean
Well-Known Member
He's not going to listen anyway.
Another question to consider though, is what do you mean by "in shape"? Are you looking to put on muscle mass and, say, build bigger arms? Are you looking at cutting fat and losing weight? Are you looking at getting better at a particular sport or activity - i.e., speed up your 5k time, get faster on a bike, etc? These are all different goals, and achieving them will be very different in the ways you're going to want to approach them.
Oh, I didn't realize this was the chicken salad and water guy. I'll just put him on ignore. Thanks for the heads up!
Drew
Forum MVP
Eh, maybe someone else will find it useful.
Marked Man
Well-Known Member
At least get two dumbbells for home use. With some creativity, you can have plenty of workouts with those. Also consider wearing ankle weights often. There is nothing truly equivalent to true weight resistance for ultimate conditioning.
TedEH
Cromulent
I realize this is an old thread that just got bumped, but I'd be interested in hearing some suggestions anyway, if people are willing to give them. I started caring about health a couple of years ago but my focus then was weight loss -> I was over 300lbs and needed to fix that, so I did, via diet and walking + biking + jogging + drumming + some light at home exercise. But it's left me with a pretty weak upper body, since most of my activity has been leg-focused.
I recently changed up the routine to add some upper body exercise in, but I'm mostly winging it and don't know what I'm doing. Doing some pushups every day, some basic curls. I've got some dumbbells, and one of those pull up bars you can stick in door frames, but I don't have the strength to lift myself despite being pretty light now, so I've been trying to work my way up to that (though I realize that's potentially a far away goal). I've got a couple of stretches that I do pretty regularly to try to target the gut/core area. But realistically, I'm winging it and anyone who's very fitness minded would probably laugh at how I'm going about it.
I don't have an interest in going to a gym right now, although I recognize that this would be the ideal way to take things very seriously. That's why the idea of body weight exercises appeal to me -> something I can do in the privacy of my own home without the need for expensive equipment. I don't need to get ripped, so much as it would be nice to shift some of the exercises I do towards being more upper-body focused, and about gaining strength, rather than just jogging and things like that to keep the weight off.
Any advice is welcomed.
I recently changed up the routine to add some upper body exercise in, but I'm mostly winging it and don't know what I'm doing. Doing some pushups every day, some basic curls. I've got some dumbbells, and one of those pull up bars you can stick in door frames, but I don't have the strength to lift myself despite being pretty light now, so I've been trying to work my way up to that (though I realize that's potentially a far away goal). I've got a couple of stretches that I do pretty regularly to try to target the gut/core area. But realistically, I'm winging it and anyone who's very fitness minded would probably laugh at how I'm going about it.
I don't have an interest in going to a gym right now, although I recognize that this would be the ideal way to take things very seriously. That's why the idea of body weight exercises appeal to me -> something I can do in the privacy of my own home without the need for expensive equipment. I don't need to get ripped, so much as it would be nice to shift some of the exercises I do towards being more upper-body focused, and about gaining strength, rather than just jogging and things like that to keep the weight off.
Any advice is welcomed.
Hey Ted, been lurking around so I thought I'd reply.
I've been swimming competitively most of my life, stopped for more or less 10 years with some on-off comebacks but now my metabolism has changed and I want to get fit again. If you don't like the gym as an environment, I'd strongly advise swimming (less boring, more intense and balanced in less time, more aerobic overall and good for your joints and posture as well) done at least 3 times a week (I'd suggest a minimal schedule of 3 times/week for any training), maybe alternated with bodyweight if you wish. Walking / jogging then is always good and you can always squeeze 30 minutes a day, even finding an excuse to do your short commutes on foot (at least 3 km per day would be nice).
Talking about bodyweight (AKA calisthenics), I've been investigating as well. This is my advice as of today.
Of course exercising on your own will be more boring and require more discipline than getting out to do it, so I'd advise listening to music or whatever in the meatime. You can get a pretty easy and "ready made" routine via the app "Freeletics Bodyweight", you'll get some 30-ish minutes (for me at least, if done properly) workouts to juggle amongst, mostly without needing other tools than just your body. Or, just build your own workout combining specific exercises, you'll find plenty of material on the web. The critical part in bodyweight is not how many reps you can do, but how many *perfect form* ones you can pull off. Otherwise, it basically amounts to useless straining.
Another nice app is "7 minutes", which is a mini minute-based workout (which actually lasts about 10 minutes). Completely useless on its own (about 200 calories burnt, basically as much as eating a slice of bread) but it's nice if you want to have a light alternative to Bodyweight to train just after waking up in the morning, or if you want to use it as a warm-up to something else, or whenever you're in a hurry but you don't want to sacrifice training overall, or even for just a "light" day in your schedule (I usually reserve this to Sundays, as my "3+1" day).
I also advise to setup Google Fit on your phone to monitor walking activity and others if you wish. Even if you don't let it access to your GPS position, it would still process walking data through your accelerometer by default.
That being said, remember to warm up and stretch for at least 10 minutes before any physical activity, you'll find plenty of stretching material around (plus, the above mentioned app "7 minutes" recently added a stretching section).
I've been swimming competitively most of my life, stopped for more or less 10 years with some on-off comebacks but now my metabolism has changed and I want to get fit again. If you don't like the gym as an environment, I'd strongly advise swimming (less boring, more intense and balanced in less time, more aerobic overall and good for your joints and posture as well) done at least 3 times a week (I'd suggest a minimal schedule of 3 times/week for any training), maybe alternated with bodyweight if you wish. Walking / jogging then is always good and you can always squeeze 30 minutes a day, even finding an excuse to do your short commutes on foot (at least 3 km per day would be nice).
Talking about bodyweight (AKA calisthenics), I've been investigating as well. This is my advice as of today.
Of course exercising on your own will be more boring and require more discipline than getting out to do it, so I'd advise listening to music or whatever in the meatime. You can get a pretty easy and "ready made" routine via the app "Freeletics Bodyweight", you'll get some 30-ish minutes (for me at least, if done properly) workouts to juggle amongst, mostly without needing other tools than just your body. Or, just build your own workout combining specific exercises, you'll find plenty of material on the web. The critical part in bodyweight is not how many reps you can do, but how many *perfect form* ones you can pull off. Otherwise, it basically amounts to useless straining.
Another nice app is "7 minutes", which is a mini minute-based workout (which actually lasts about 10 minutes). Completely useless on its own (about 200 calories burnt, basically as much as eating a slice of bread) but it's nice if you want to have a light alternative to Bodyweight to train just after waking up in the morning, or if you want to use it as a warm-up to something else, or whenever you're in a hurry but you don't want to sacrifice training overall, or even for just a "light" day in your schedule (I usually reserve this to Sundays, as my "3+1" day).
I also advise to setup Google Fit on your phone to monitor walking activity and others if you wish. Even if you don't let it access to your GPS position, it would still process walking data through your accelerometer by default.
That being said, remember to warm up and stretch for at least 10 minutes before any physical activity, you'll find plenty of stretching material around (plus, the above mentioned app "7 minutes" recently added a stretching section).
Personally I don't do stretching, as I think for me atleast it's a waste of time. But to each their own. Imo you should have a clear idea of how whatever you're doing is benefiting you, "why" you're doing it. If you have that, then great. For me, I can't see how stretching benefits me so I don't do it. I warm up mainly when I'm doing heavy lifts and then by doing those same lifts, but with lighter weight, since what I want to do is warm up those specific muscles and joints, and get the body ready to perform the movement under a heavy load.
Calisthenics is cool, but it can be tricky to find exercises to efficiently target the whole of the body. Pull-ups is imo one of the best exercises, targeting mainly your back (lats mainly) and arms (biceps). If you have trouble doing pull-ups you can get resistance bands that you set up around the bar so that you put your foot in the band and the band helps to pull some of your weight. Alternatively you can do negative repititions where you stand on a chair or something, grab the bar with bent arms and lower yourself as slowly as you can. You can also practise dead hangs for as long as you can.
Push-ups are also a good exercise. Find ways to make them harder if they get too easy. (Weight on back, move hands towards your hips, etc.)
To avoid muscle imbalances I really think it's a good idea to make an effort to train all of your body the same amount. I started out training at home and I actually regret not dragging my ass to the gym sooner because my training at home had been more subpar than I realized. For example I had ZERO lower back strength since all my back training had been pull-ups which target the upper back. I also felt that my chest/shoulder/tricep training could have been better than it had been and I had no leg muscles at all.
...However... Pull-ups combined with push-ups are not a bad start, since they kind of train each others antagonistic muscles (back and biceps vs chest and triceps).
Exercises with light dumbbells are generally isolation exercises, such as bicep curls, which pretty much only target the biceps. These are imo not the best exercises to do, at least for beginners, since you can save time by doing exercises which are more to the compound end of the spectrum. For example pull-ups ALSO train biceps BUT they also train big parts of your back at the same time.
Imo you should go to the gym. It's fun! And if you want to gain strength and muscle, it rules supreme, at least if you don't really know what you're doing, since you gain easy access to exercises that are very efficient in giving you just that. At home it's more of a struggle to get a proper workout done.
Anyway any training is much better than no training.
All above just my opinion.
Calisthenics is cool, but it can be tricky to find exercises to efficiently target the whole of the body. Pull-ups is imo one of the best exercises, targeting mainly your back (lats mainly) and arms (biceps). If you have trouble doing pull-ups you can get resistance bands that you set up around the bar so that you put your foot in the band and the band helps to pull some of your weight. Alternatively you can do negative repititions where you stand on a chair or something, grab the bar with bent arms and lower yourself as slowly as you can. You can also practise dead hangs for as long as you can.
Push-ups are also a good exercise. Find ways to make them harder if they get too easy. (Weight on back, move hands towards your hips, etc.)
To avoid muscle imbalances I really think it's a good idea to make an effort to train all of your body the same amount. I started out training at home and I actually regret not dragging my ass to the gym sooner because my training at home had been more subpar than I realized. For example I had ZERO lower back strength since all my back training had been pull-ups which target the upper back. I also felt that my chest/shoulder/tricep training could have been better than it had been and I had no leg muscles at all.
...However... Pull-ups combined with push-ups are not a bad start, since they kind of train each others antagonistic muscles (back and biceps vs chest and triceps).
Exercises with light dumbbells are generally isolation exercises, such as bicep curls, which pretty much only target the biceps. These are imo not the best exercises to do, at least for beginners, since you can save time by doing exercises which are more to the compound end of the spectrum. For example pull-ups ALSO train biceps BUT they also train big parts of your back at the same time.
Imo you should go to the gym. It's fun! And if you want to gain strength and muscle, it rules supreme, at least if you don't really know what you're doing, since you gain easy access to exercises that are very efficient in giving you just that. At home it's more of a struggle to get a proper workout done.
Anyway any training is much better than no training.
All above just my opinion.
TedEH
Cromulent
I'm definitely walking a whole ton. During lunch to break up the day, and again when I get home before doing much else. I otherwise sit all day at work, so I try to be moving when I can be. It amounts to maybe an average of an hour and a half of continuous walking every day.
Definitely been doing that to track walking, biking, weight, etc. I've got health data going back about 2 years. Some people say it's nuts - I think it keeps me honest.
I've definitely been doing both of those things - using a chair to take some of the weight off, and also the hangs. I avoid the hangs too often though, cause I feel like it's still a bit much at this stage and don't want to hurt myself.
I use to - and I hated it. It's very possible that I'd be able to enjoy a different gym, but the environment just isn't my cup of tea.
Great! Walking after meals is best. Totally agree about Fit, you're doing it for yourself so don't listen to others.
giantchris
Well-Known Member
You can do kettlebells at home with one small piece of cheap equipment and get pretty ripped and workout your whole body. Great for injury prevention too. Supplement swings/punch swings/goblet squats/figure 8s/round the world with the bells into just a few bodyweight exercises pull/push/situps with burpees and you pretty much cover almost every muscle group in some way as long as you rotate in variations on each exercises every 10-14 days.
