Author Login | Popular Articles | RSS Feeds | Sitemap

Home | Health


Top 10 Exercises Without Weights

By:

If you hate to go to the gym, you are not alone. The good news is - you can get results in the comfort of your own home with some simple home exercises.

Bodyweight training CAN be effective. It CAN be a substitute for weights, if necessary. Training using your own body weight as a source of resistance is a time tested technique to get results fast.

Here are the ten best bodyweight training exercises that give you great workouts and great results - without the gym.

1. Supine Pull-Ups (works major muscles in back, shoulders, and biceps) Use two chairs and a pole - a heavy broom handle works well. WARNING: make sure the chairs are stable and that the broom handle is strong enough to take your weight. You could be SEVERELY injured if the pole were to break or the chairs to slip. Lie on your back underneath a low bar. Grab the bar with a wide overhand grip. Pull up. Lower and repeat for 6-8 reps.

2. Supine Biceps Pull-Ups (biceps, some back) Use the same chairs-and-pole arrangement from #1. Sit underneath a low bar. Grab the bar with a reverse grip (palms facing you), hands about shoulder-width apart. Keeping your body upright, pull up until your chin just clears the bar. Focus on the tension in your biceps, trying to relax the rest of your body. 6-8 reps.

3. Push-Ups (chest, triceps, shoulders) The key when targeting the chest with Push-Ups is the direction in which your elbows travel. As with bench presses, the elbows must move AWAY FROM THE BODY to target your chest, and be kept CLOSE TO THE BODY to target the triceps. Place each hand just outside your shoulders, slightly behind the line of your shoulders. Hands pointing straight ahead, upper body rigid as a board. 6-15 reps.

4. Tent Push-Ups (primarily upper chest) Assume the position in #3, but walk your feet forward so your body is bent at the waist, and your hips are up high in the air. Bending at the elbows, lower yourself until your nose touches the floor. Push up. Repeat. 6-8 reps.

5. Push-Ups, Triceps Position (you guessed it - triceps, and some chest) Begin with fingers facing forward in position from #3, hands slightly LESS than shoulder width apart. Lower your body to the floor keeping arms in against your body. Push up. 6-8 reps.

6. Triceps Dips With Chairs With your hands behind your back, support yourself on your palms at the edge of a chair. Your hands should be touching; your elbows should angle outward. Dipping in this position relieves a lot of stress on the elbow and shoulder joints. Lower yourself, keeping your back close to the chair. Bend your elbows back and slightly to the sides. Keep your body angled slightly forward throughout the motion. Press yourself up until your arms are straight. 6-15 reps.

7. One-Legged Squats (front thighs, glutes, hamstrings) Stand perpendicular to a wall, about arm's length away from it. Extend your arm out to the side and place your palm against the wall at just under shoulder-height. Angle the foot farthest from the wall at 45 degrees. Bend the other leg back. Keeping your body upright, lower yourself until the non-weight-bearing knee is close to (but not touching) the ground. Support yourself by leaning against the wall. Press yourself back up to starting position. Repeat 6-8 reps.

8. One-Legged Hamstring Bridges Lie on your back with one leg extended, heel on the ground. Hold the other leg up off the floor. Pushing through your heel, flex your hamstrings to lift your body. Lower and repeat for 8-10 reps. Repeat with other leg. You can control the resistance and the degree to which the glutes contribute by changing the distance you place your heel relative to your butt.

9. Lunges Begin the lunge by taking a large step forward, keeping your head up and torso erect. Lower your hips and allow your trailing knee to drop to a point just before it touches the floor - never let the knee touch the floor. To return to the start, push off with your forward leg and then step back when the knee is completely straight. Repeat with other leg, 10-15 reps each leg.

10. Stair Running Stair running isn't usually considered a resistance exercise, and in fact, it makes hefty demands on your cardiovascular system. However, it also does an incredible job of conditioning the lower body. If your knees are in good shape, try doing 10-20 one-story sprints, preferably two stairs at a time. As you get stronger, work up the number slowly, keep one hand on the stair rail to catch yourself if you lose your balance. Give yourself a bigger challenge by wearing a backpack filled with nice and heavy books.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
To read reviews on home exercise equipment and learn how to choose the best exercise gadgets for your needs, visit Nitin Chhoda's new site guide to exercise equipment.

| Print | Ezine Ready | |

Please Rate this Article

Recent Health Articles

  • New operation for arthritis of the shoulder By: Roberto Bell - Osteo-arthritis of the joint implies that the cartilage surfaces of the joint have worn away. This leads to the bone of the ball being in direct contact with the bone of the socket. Arthritis of the joints seems to be increasing in the population as people are becoming older and more active.
    Tags: health, arthritis shoulder, shoulder arthritis
  • Dental Insurance: How Much is Truly Insured? By: Roberto Bell - Insurances are everywhere; you have insurances for automobile, residential, business property, face and body if you are a commercial model paid to have that, and even for your teeth. Insurances for your face, body, legs, butt, or teeth may sound weird, but it is as significant as the other insurances previously mentioned. Dental Insurance is a type of insurance that pays for the costs attached to your dental health care.
    Tags: health, insurance, health, dental, coverage
  • Doctor's Rx: Apicectomy is Safe By: Roberto Bell - It is not surprising how dental technology has changed the lives of many individuals, not only physically but emotionally as well. Whilst people who have different teeth and smile problems feel conscious about their dental appearances, dental procedures ranging from cosmetic orthodontics to minor dental surgeries have made them feel the other way around. Nevertheless, there are cases when patients feel certain discomforts after some dental procedures. This could be a prolonged swelling or infection.
    Tags: health, apicectomy, teeth infection
  • Why You Should Get Durathin Veneers By: Roberto Bell - Teeth are very significant part of every man’s personality. It reflects the personal hygiene of an individual. When a man has good set of teeth, it goes to show the proper discipline and care applied to make it look beautiful and healthy. In every smile, it is nice to see a set of healthy teeth showing. It makes us feel confident of ourselves. People go through a lot of cosmetic dentistry nowadays to put up with beautiful teeth for that wonderful smile.
    Tags: health, durathin veneers
  • Female Libido Enhancement And Natural Herbs By: Randy Hough - For some women, menopause seems to spell doom for their female libido. Others seem to grow into a new time of intimate satisfaction. If you see your female libido shrinking like a spring flower in the sun, you will find the natural herbs mentioned below to be of great interest. How can natural herbs help your female libido? One of the most common reasons for a diminished libido is because of a hormonal imbalance.
    Tags: health, natural herbs, female libido, lack of libido, libido enhancements
  • How Snoring Influence a Relationship? By: Renee A Moller - A spouse’s snoring can affect even the strongest of relationships. This is due to the sleep deprivation that either both spouses or one spouse experiences, which in turn causes that non-snoring spouse to become annoyed, irritated, and even resentful. Research have shown that over half of the couples who participated agree that the majority of arguments can be traced back to one spouse’s snoring problem.
    Tags: health, snore, snoring, snore stop, anti snoring
  • Are You Sleeping With A Snoring Husband? Quick Remedies! By: Renee A Moller - Snoring has been risen statistical wise around much of the world's variously regional populations. In the United States alone, there are now new estimates of an approximation of at least one in five snoring individuals are full-time snorers. But this figure does not include the partners of nightly snoring that directly affects those individuals that must try sleeping through another person's habitual snoring.
    Tags: health, snoring, snore, anti snore, stop snoring
  • Is Snoring Leading To Your Divorce? By: Renee A. Moller - The difficulty of sleeping with someone that nightly snores, may well easily seem to be such as a small deal to those that have never personally experienced the night after night regime of never ever getting fully uninterrupted sleep. But for those with the first hand experience are very willing to tell you how awful it truly is to have a spouse that is of the habitual snoring type.
    Tags: health, asonor, snoring problems, reasons of snoring, cur for snoring
  • Extreme Acai Berry By: Dr. Joe Brazil - Skip the Coffee; Get Extreme Acai Berry Instead If you are anything like the average person then you have too much to get done and you rely on artificial energy to make sure that you are able to do it. For most people, this means drinking a lot of coffee. But an increasing number of people are turning to products like Extreme Acai Berry to get the same benefits that they would get from coffee without the drawbacks.
    Tags: health, acai berry, extreme acai, extreme acai berry
  • Watching For An Autism Symptom In Your Child By: Jona - Are you concerned about an autism symptom you see in your child? Before you start to become agitated regarding a suspected autism symptom, there are several things you should know. First we will discuss what autism is and how to look for the symptoms you may feel you see in your child. Autism was first recognized in the early 1900’s with a label. There were cases before the 1900’s, but they were not studied and definitely not discussed.
    Tags: health, autism symptom, autistic spectrum disorder, autism

Today's Hot Articles

Search Ebay

Still can't find what you are looking for? Search for it!


Submit Your link to the Open Link Directory Project

Copyright 2005-2008 MJE Sales, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Proud member of the ArticleCkr Search Network Search Network!
ArticleSnatch.com is free for both publishers and authors to use and is supported entirely from advertising revenue.
Use of our service is protected by our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.