In today’s hectic lifestyle, the majority of us have tremendous demands taking up our time such as family and job responsibilities. These time demands can often make getting to the gym each day an impossibility. However, that does not mean that we have to give up on our dream of building our muscles just because we cannot go to the gym each day.
There are plenty of ways to build muscle by exercising at home or other places that can be accomplished through resistance only training. Let’s take a look at some of the most common types of exercises that can still build your muscles but do not require all the expensive equipment that is found in a well equipped gym. The following exercises still have the capacity to make you grow stronger and bigger.
The Standard Pushup
This is one of the simplest yet effective exercises that has been in existence for ages. It is a basic conditioning exercise that is still as relevant today as it has been for many years. The pushup works your chest muscles, shoulders and triceps. You can effectively achieve gym results of the incline bench and the decline bench by putting something under your arms or feet, respectively and have the standard pushup working different groups of muscles.
One Arm Biceps Curls
To accomplish this exercise use an object such as a towel and loop it around a hand while grasping it with the free hand. Then pull down on the towel as you attempt to curl your bicep muscle. Once you start to get the “muscle burn” from the resistance begin the exercise using your other arm. You could also do this exercise by simply grasping one hand on top of the other and push down to provide the needed resistance.
The Basic Chin-up Group
To perform both underhand and overhand pull-ups and chin-ups look for simple household object like an overhead door jam, a basement pipe or even an outdoor swingset. These items can provide the parallel grip needed to hoist yourself up and when you become so strong that your body weight is insufficient to give you a good workout, add heavy objects inside your pockets!
The Triceps Dips
This exercise can literally be done just about anywhere in the home or elsewhere. Any type of ledge or edge will enable you to do as many sets as you wish. A shelf, chair or even a bed can provide the necessary stable platform for you to crank out sets of dips building rock hard triceps. If you find that it is easy for you to crank out 20 reps without stopping, you might want to add some additional intensity to your work out by adding weight onto your lap.
The Sissy Squats Squat
This is one of the most striking exercises of them all for muscle building at home. Even without adding any more weight to the exercise, this move is usually painful and quite awkward. Simply hold onto a wall, then squat down as far as you can on the very tips of your toes and return to a standing position. Remember to remain standing on your tiptoes the whole time. During the routine you will work out your hamstrings, glutes, calves and quads. This exercise will likely cause you to be sore for days afterwards.
Presses – The Overhead Press
You can use a variety of household objects to complete these exercises such as filled gallon bottles of water, milk or even paint cans. Simply press these items over your head to get the shoulder workout. You could also use these same objects to lift to the side to exercise the deltoid muscles.
Deadlifting
Without expensive weight equipment that is part of most gyms, this exercise is not easy to perform at home. However, there is nothing stopping you from finding a safe item to place on your shoulders and do some forward bends. This can be done safely and is a good way to work your lower back muscles.