You can build muscle without weights, equipment, or a gym membership. Have you ever heard the statement: “Where there is a will, there is a way”? There is a way to build your body with your own body weight and with things around your house, garage or garden.
Let me first tell you a little about myself when I was 15 years old. Without going into boring details, let me just say that my family was pretty poor. But I became very interested in getting in shape. I was a skinny, short boy who was teased a lot. I remember seeing magazine ads for Charles Atlas. He was one of the first men to become known as a muscular man. I was inspired by this man because he too was molested before building his body. I asked my mom and dad for weight lifting equipment, but they said they couldn’t afford it. Frustrated, I began looking around the house for ways I could strengthen my scrawny muscles. I saw an ad in a magazine for a bullfighter. This was a device that had high tension wires running through the ends of a pole-like device, about three feet long. You can use the cables or the ends of the device to perform various exercises. Since I didn’t have the money to order one, I took an old bicycle tire pump and a bicycle inner tube to make my own homemade bullworker. I folded the inner tube and stretched it around the tire pump. I did all the exercises that I could have done with a real bullfighter.
Another thing I would do is use some old swing poles, which were in my backyard. Some of you are old enough to remember the old style swing sets with the thick round posts. I would do presses, curls, and bench presses with these. I found some old hardcover books in the house. I would take a heavy book in each hand and fly with these. We never read them anyway. I would also take a box full of these books and press them a bunch of times. My point is; I would find any way I could think of to build my muscles. I used my imagination.
Let’s not forget that there are several exercises without weights that you can do to train. How about some good old fashioned push ups? You can do wide grip pushups for the outer chest, close grip pushups for the inner chest and triceps. One of my favorites is the close-grip, feet-elevated push-up. You can put your feet on a chair, bench, bed, etc. Talk about an intense triceps workout! I still do this sometimes. A pushup is basically a reverse bench press. However, be sure to do pushups to failure, that is, until you can no longer perform another repetition.
What about pull-ups? If you have a door that allows you to hang from the door, you can do pull-ups (pull-ups), or you can set two chairs about four feet apart. Place a stick, broom, mop, or thick stick and rest each end on a chair. Lie down on the floor, grab your hands on the pole or whatever you’re using a little wider than shoulder width, and get up as many times as you can. This will strengthen your back and biceps. Let’s not forget about the abs, lunges, chair climbs, etc.
Another way to exercise is to use paint buckets or other buckets, preferably filled to hold more weight. Using the grip handles, you can do presses, curls, lateral raises (for broad shoulders), wrist curls, triceps press, bent over row, etc. Use your imagination; just be sure to keep safety in mind.
Yes, you can work all parts of the body without weights. I have done it and you can too. I still exercise without weights from time to time in motels when traveling, visiting people out of town, and even when my car broke down once. Where there is a will, there is a way.
