Home Workout Plan Without Weights
Here is a home workout plan without weights. It requires no workout equipment, yet it will cover your entire body.
No Weights, Just Body Weight
So you are new to fitness, want to work out at home, and don’t want to use or don’t have any weightlifting equipment at your disposal?
And you wonder if you can build muscle without weights?
The answer is yes, you can. Because by just using your body as the resistance you work against you can go surprisingly far. All we have to make sure is that we cover your entire body:
Of course this workout also can be done when you are on vacation or simply away from home and don’t have your weights around.
The Home Workout Plan Without Weights
As said in the video, here is the plan in writing:
| Body Part | Exercise | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Chest / Triceps | 3 sets of push-ups, as many as you can do, with 60 seconds rest between sets | Keep the body straight, do them on your fists and use two seconds each for the way up and down. If you can’t do a full push-up yet, check the video on moving from wall to full push-ups. |
| Back / Biceps | 3 sets of pull-ups, as many as you can do, with 60 seconds rest between sets | Don’t swing or kick and pull yourself up until the chin is above the bar. If you have problems doing pull-ups, here is the video that shows how to go from negative chin-ups to full pull-ups. |
| Legs | 3 sets of step-ups, 6-12 reps per set, with 60 seconds rest between sets. | Don’t use momentum and don’t just drop back to the ground. Your joints won’t be happy. Here is a video that explains the exercise more elaborately. |
| Abs | 3 sets of crunches, 6-12 reps per set, with 60 seconds rest between sets | Fixate a spot on the ceiling and don’t pull on your head! This video explains crunches in mind-boggling detail. |
No Equipment? What About The Pull-Ups?
As mentioned and linked in the video, pull-ups can be done in very many places and it doesn’t have to be a bar. If you do find it more convenient to have a real pull-up bar around, this one strikes me as good bang for the buck
.
When and how often should you do this plan? If you want to lose weight, more cardio than resistance training is better, as the former burns more calories than the latter. If you are happy with your weight and mainly want more muscle mass, make strength training your priority:
| Day | For Weight Loss | For Building Muscle |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Workout | Workout |
| Tuesday | Cardio, 30 – 60 Minutes | Cardio, 30 – 60 Minutes |
| Wednesday | Cardio, 30 – 60 Minutes | Workout |
| Thursday | Workout | Cardio, 30 – 60 Minutes |
| Friday | Cardio, 30 – 60 Minutes | Workout |
| Saturday | Rest | Rest |
| Sunday | Rest | Rest |
Cardio?
Cardio are activities that strengthen your cardiovascular system and can be anything – running, biking, skating etc. – that gets your pulse to 50 – 75 percent of your maximum heart rate, which can roughly be calculated as 220 – your age. If, for example, you are 40 years old, your maximum is about 180 and your pulse during cardio should be around 90 – 135 bpm.
If you already have a weekly activity that can be classified as cardio (tennis, squash, soccer etc.), build the above plan around it, otherwise find one which you’ll enjoy and keep doing. Some tips on how you should start are in this article.
Do not neglect cardio, even if your goal isn’t losing weight. Cardio is as important for a fit body as resistance training.
And Then?
When you find you can do 30 push-ups and 7 pull-ups in good form, it is time to make things a bit more difficult.
If at that point you still want to do only body weight workouts, you can do the push-ups and pull-ups with a wider grip. The crunches can be switched for a more difficult ab exercise like twisted crunches, while the step-ups can be made more difficult with a higher object to step up on (that is, if you didn’t already start with the chair).
However, you will reach a point where you have done all you can with body weight exercises and may want to consider using at least a pair of dumbbells to progress further. A home workout schedule you might then find suitable is this one here.
The Boring Safety Bit
I kept this last, but is has to be said: Know thy body. It really, really is a good idea to visit your doctor and get his ok if you are trying all this out for the first time or haven’t been active in a long while. There could be some problem lurking in your body you aren’t even aware of and it might become worse once it’s put under stress. And making your health worse with something supposed to make it better isn’t really bright, is it?
8 Comments
This is great!!
Love the knuckle push-ups! I try to keep it on the first two knuckles because as a martial artist I am trained to hit with those. Punching like a boxer where you use the whole fist and contact the fifth finger knuckle is a boxer’s fracture waiting to happen!
It takes a bit getting accustomed to do them on the fists, but nowadays I find that is practically the only way to do them 🙂
Nice and simple I like it!
Excellent! 🙂
I don’t think I’ve ever tried knuckle push-ups. Better get on that!!
I could just imagine you’ll like it! 🙂
Hi Evilcyber, I really need a workout plan without weights as I barely have no time to go to the gym. Your plan is a great choice. But I wonder if this plan is suitable for my skinny fat ectomorph body?
Heah Ph, don’t worry about being “skinny fat.” In my opinion it’s just another buzzword making the rounds lately. Basically you are slim and want more muscle and this plan should work great for you!