Article by Jefferie Wilkenson
Many people are looking for the answer to how to build muscle without weights. In this article we will take a look at some bodyweight exercises that will help you to build muscle without weights, from home.
No fancy equipment is needed, you just need a gym mat and your own bodyweight and a small bit of floor space. No gym is required. Your body will become the gym.
Bodyweight Exercises to build muscle without weights:
Narrow Grip Push Ups. When you do a push-up with a narrow grip you will place a focus on exercising the inner chest and triceps more. For a narrow grip push-up move your arms closer together so that they are almost touching. You will find that your triceps will be required to work much harder than usual and you should feel a nice burn. Narrow grip push-ups also work well for shaping the inner part of the chest might otherwise have been neglected using basic pushups.
Decline Push-Ups. To do a declined push-up place your feet on an elevated object such as a box or a chair. Your arms should be on the ground as usual. You will then lower your upper body towards the ground at a steeper angle than a normal push-up. This puts more of a focus on the lower part of the chest. It is always a good idea to mix up the widths of the push-up grips so that all areas of the chest muscles get in a decent workout.
Incline Push Ups. Push-ups on an incline involve you raising your arms onto a platform such as a chair or a box. Your feet will be on the floor. Do the press up as usual but at this new angle. You will find that you will feel the exercise working your upper chest area with an incline push up. Upper chest muscles often get neglected so incline push ups are a great addition to your arsenal of bodyweight exercises.
Pull-ups. These are like chin-ups but the main difference is in the grip. With chin-ups your palms are facing towards you, with pull-ups your palms face away from you. Also, with pull-ups you adopt a much wider grip that is shoulder width apart. In addition to working the biceps, pull-ups give the back muscles a great workout as well. Slowly pull yourself up as your exhale, and then inhale as you lower yourself (at an even slower pace). Mix-up the exercise by experimenting with different grips. Close grip, wide grip, medium grip and reverse grip pull-ups all focus on slightly different muscle areas. Also change up the tempo every now and then to shock your body into action.
Bicep curl. A bicep curl typically involved using dumbells and barbells at the gym, but it can also be done without using weight lifting equipment. You just need to get creative and find your own replacements for the resistance. Popular make-shift weights include sandbags, empty milk-jugs full of water or sand, and also backpacks full of books. You do not need to go to the gym to build big biceps, you just need to find any form of heavy weight that you can use to stimulate muscle growth. Aim to do slow and steady reps of this exercise. For maximum muscle growth aim to reach failure after around 6-8 reps. As you get stronger, keep increasing the resistance to make sure you keep reaching faillure within the 6 to 8 rep mark.
So there you have it, a selection of bodyweight exercises to get you on the right track for building muscle without weights form the comfort of your own home.