Build Muscle without Weights Using Bodyweight Workouts, Is It Possible
Body weight workouts are popular among certain groups like the military and martial artists, but not usually with bodybuilders, or those looking to build muscle fast.
When wasCan you rememberthe last time you saw a bodybuilder, a powerlifter, or a fitness model workout consist of only body wight exercises.
That would make you think that bodyweight exercises are not the best option for building muscle fast.
As with most strength and muscle building questions the answer is… “It Depends”.
I Know That answer sucks but stick with me and I will explain.
Before I answer the question, let me quickly explain to you how muscle is built.I am sure you are not a fitness geek like myself, so don’t worry, I’ll keep it brief.
Muscle Building 101
In the most simple of terms, to build muscle you have follow one major rule.Everyone has to follow this one golden rule.
get more work done today than you did in your last workout.
Doing this in a planned, logical manner is known as progressive overload.This places your body under new stress forcing it to respond by growing bigger and stronger.
Without going into all the details of how to structure your workout I will say that a progressive overload is the most important aspect of your training.Muscles need a reason to grow, because of that you have to push and do more each workout. The human body is very efficient and doesn’t like to grow so you need to give it a good reason to do so.
If you don’t give your body a reason to change, it won’t.
Can You Build Muscle With Body Weight Exercises
Now that you have an idea of how to build muscle I’m sure you have a good idea of how to answer the question…
can you build muscle without weights.
Building muscle without weights is just like regular strength training in the gym, it doesn’t matter what you use for resistance.All you have to remember is the principle of progressive overload.
When working with doing a barbell routine , or kettlebells, it is so easy to add a little more each workout, you can always make the weight heavier.
True you can do that with body weight exercises, but it’s a little more difficult.
There aren’t a few different ways to make the exercise increasingly difficult, it doesn’t always have to be an increase in weight. Play around with these options…
it can be more reps, getting the same amount of work done in a shorter time period by applying more force to each rep, or increase the length of time your muscles are working and being strained.
When you first start your bodybuilding or muscle building program, applying these methods will allow you to gain muscle with body weight exercises only.
For the beginner, it’s likely any body weight exercise done will be challenging, probably too difficult and modifications will be needed. This will make a progressive overload that much easier. As your strength improves and your muscles get bigger, each exercise will have to become progressively more difficult in order to challenge you.
Body Weight Exercises To Increase Muscle Mass
I’ll say this again,
Your muscles won’t grow, your body won’t change or improve unless you force it to.This is accomplished by making your workout routine progressively more difficult as time goes on.
3 Ways To Make Your Body Weight Workout More Difficult
Do more work
Increase the load
Do same work in less time
To better understand how to apply these techniques I’ll provide you with a quick example. For this example I’m going to use push-ups to substitute for the bench press. Both these exercises work your chest shoulders and arms.
I’m going to assume that you’re new to working out, or you haven’t worked out the while. So I’ll layout an approach for a complete beginner.
Making The Exercise More Difficult
When you bench press it is easy to add weight from week to week, but this can be awkward and difficult with push-ups.The best way to add more resistance to push up is change the angle. The more vertically or hands are easier exercise gets, the more vertical your legs are the more difficult the exercise gets.
As you improve from week to week first you will get more reps in, then once 10 reps are easy you increase the difficulty by going with a more difficult of variation.
Do Your Exercises Quicker
Doing each exercise at maximum speed is an effective way to get more work done.Applying more force and moving quicker makes increases the work load from workout to workout.
Get More Done
Do an additional set or rep from week to week. Limit your sets and reps. Different reports have shown that for the best combination of sets and reps to get big and strong is 3 to 4 sets of six to ten reps. Each set works best if you can do it in less than 70 seconds.
Best Exercises to Build Muscle without Weights
Push-Ups – Good choice for building chest, shoulders and triceps. There are a lot of different push up variations available to push you as you get stronger, thenultimately you can do a one arm push-up.
Pull-Ups – May be the most effective back exercises a person can do. Once more their various variants that in the end lead to a one arm pull-up. They are extremely difficult, I’ve only seen two individuals achieve them. One was a world-class rower, the other a bodyweight enthusiasts.
Squats – As you can guess, these develop toward a single legged version also.
Hand Walkouts – Good for working the core..
Russian Leans – The best bodyweight exercise for hamstringing and glute strength.
These exercises create the foundation of any body weight workouts.
In summary
You can develop lean muscle not having weights. So long as you provide your muscles a reason to grow by increasingly making more challenging demands on them from workout to workout you can expect to answer by growing stronger and bigger.
Ensure that your body weight workout routines are challenging enough for you to find 6 to 10 repetitions , and get in 3 or 4 sets. And make sure that there’s a progressive overload all the way through your work out program.
Remember I had said every exercise but 2 or 3 exercises might get too easy. Be sure to let me know if the one arm pull up or the one arm handstand push up are ever too elementary for you. I haven’t arrived yet.
Be sure to have plenty of sleep, feed on plenty of wholesome meals and you’re on the right path to becoming stronger and building more muscle mass.
So long as you boost the needs on the muscle tissue you can …
This has been a quick overview, there is a workout and more detail on the original article Can You build Muscle Without Weights. Be sure to check it out to get more information and some free workouts.