Can one put on muscles without a Gym at home?
A fit body is a healthy body. Nowadays everybody realises the importance of staying fit and leading a healthy lifestyle.
When you look good, you feel good. Everybody wants a strong, fit and muscular look. Unfortunately, the common belief is, to achieve this you need the Gym. Well, let us get you in on a secret… you DON’T need the Gym.
Sure going to the Gym can help you put on muscle at a fast rate. And sure with a dedicated Gym life, you can look like the Hulk. But it is definitely not necessary that to stay fit you need to subscribe to the Gym.
Working out at home religiously can give you similar results.
Now you must be wondering, “But even if I work out at home, I need to buy equipments.” This isn’t entirely true. You can do a home workout without any sort of equipment( well besides shoes) and still achieve great results.
Let’s dive right into how to build muscles without a Gym or equipments at home.
How to gain muscles without a gym at home:
You can save a whole lot of money by choosing not to become a member of the Gym; and by working out at home. No need to buy equipment either. But the process of putting on muscles may be a bit slower.
One can use their own body weight to perform exercises. This will eventually lead to muscles building.
But to understand how this works, we need to understand the concept of ‘Progressive Overload’.
What is Progressive Overload?
This concept is when you put increasing amount of demand on the body in a progressive manner. Without this, the muscles in our body don’t really grow.
To simplify, to build muscles one needs to place their muscles under tension by using a significant amount of force. Just increasing the number of repetitions won’t cut it. Furthermore, to make muscle building a success at home, one needs to practice the concept of progressive overload.
One can do this by gradually increasing the difficulty of an exercise, thereby adding more tension on the muscle.
Complete exercise guide to build muscles without a Gym at home:
1a. Squats
Squats is a basic exercise but it is extremely effective. It mainly focuses on strengthening your glutes, quads and hips. Your core too is involved in successfully performing a proper squat.
Once doing squats becomes easy, by this we mean doing 30-35 at a go, move onto other variations of squats.
1b. Jump Squats
Jump squats is a slightly harder variation of squats. It involves one doing continuous squats in the air. Factors like endurance, cardio and balance are tested. The pushing off of the ground really puts your muscles under pressure. How many can you do in a minute?
1c. Sumo squat & hold
Sumo squats are squats with your feet wide apart. Almost the same muscles are targeted, with the exception of the inner thighs. Sumo squats work wonders for your inner thighs. After doing a good amount, challenge yourself further by holding the sumo squat position.
Right after performing these squats, the hold will really start to test your muscles and will put them under great pressure.
2a. Push-ups
As you guessed it, pushups is one such body weight exercise that can really put your muscles to the test. And no, to do a proper full pushup is not easy. There are many variations of the pushup that target different muscle groups. But mainly people to pushups to gain muscles on their chest, shoulders and triceps.
If you can’t do a full pushup, then congratulations. You’re one of us! Jokes aside, start with your knees down. Get your form correct, and then move on to normal pushups.
Pushups is one of the best own bodyweight exercise that show you good results when done frequently.
Both the above are normal pushups with a slight variation. The variation is in the placement of the hands. Both target different sets of muscles.
2b. Diamond pushups
It might take some time to master the normal version of a pushup. But once that starts becoming easy, push your body even further. Attempt to diamond pushups. In case you didn’t know, diamond pushups are where your hands are placed together on the floor to form a diamond shape.
It is an amazing exercise that will leave your arms on fire.
2c. One arm pushup
If you’re religiously doing pushups and even diamond pushups becoming easy, progress to one-arm pushups. Yes, these are exactly what they sound like. They are extremely difficult to do, but super effective. They load your muscles in a very intense way. Doing these regularly are bound to help you put on muscle.
3a. Lunges
Another great exercise for your quads, glutes and hips are lunges. There are many various forms of lunges that one can perform. To start off, we suggest you look into static, dynamic or walking lunges. Each of these lunges are the most basic form of the exercise.
3b. Split lunge jump
As the name suggests, this exercise involves jumping as well as lunging. The combination of these two is what increases the intensity of this exercise. Do be careful on the form while it comes to split lunge jumps.
This is how it should look.
4a. Glute bridges
Glute bridges are a great exercise that strengthens the lower back, hamstrings and glutes. You abdomen muscles play a role here too.
It is quite easy to do, provided you have proper form. Make sure that you squeeze your glutes when you go up.
4b. One leg glute bridge
To increase the intensity, switch to one-leg glute bridges. You will surely feel the load on your lower back and hamstrings. It is a great way to progress from the ordinary glute bridges.
Even your core stability gets tested here.
5a. Tricep dips
Tricep dips will leave your muscles sore! They are a great exercise to perform if you want to tone and gain muscles in the arms ; particularly the triceps.
You can use a bench, chair, or even low desk to perform this exercise.
Remember here form is key. Don’t let your body get too away from the chair/ low desk. Make sure to completely load just your arms and triceps. Your back or legs shouldn’t do any of the work.
Fun fact: even when people go to gym, they tend to perform this exercise. It’s that good.
5b. Tricep dips with legs raised.
If tricep dips weren’t hard enough. We have something that will increase the intensity a lot more. Try tricep dips but with your legs on a chair/ bed or height. The idea is that your legs are raised and extended in front of you. The more you raise, the harder it will get.
Other must do exercises:
- Wall sits– Hold this from 30 – 60 secs. This loads your quadriceps completely.
- Planks- This is a great core exercise. It even tones the rest of your body
- Plank to pushup- Great for the upper body
- Crunches- Try variations like half crunches, leg raise crunches, bicycle crunches
- Russian twists- For your obliques/ side abs
- Leg raises- For your lower abs
- Standing calf raise– Great for building calves
Cardio is a must!
Contrary to what people believe, cardio doesn’t make you lose muscle. Cardio doesn’t make you gain muscles. But what it does it, it helps you maintain and lose body fat. If you have a lower body fat percentage, then putting on weight becomes much easier. It even improves your stamina and ability to last longer.
Hence, your body is able to do an intensive workout without giving up easy, rather feeling fatigue quickly.
Doing cardio at home can be tough? No. I mean sure, you can’t go running, unless you have access to a ground. In the event you don’t, here is a list of cardio based exercises you must try.
Cardio exercises at home:
- Jumping jacks
- Burpees
- High knees
- Mountain climbers
For an intense 10 minute cardio workout, watch this video :
Important points to remember:
- Eat healthy and well balanced meals
- Don’t skip meals
- Drink water throughout the day
- Start your day early
- Get at least 7 hours of sleep daily
- Muscle doesn’t grow magically, it takes time
- Only if you’re dedicated will you see results
- Switch up your workouts, don’t do the same every time.
Conclusion
To summarize, one can gain muscles without a Gym at home. It is not impossible to achieve this. To see any sort of results, one needs to workout regularly, at least 4-5 times a week. With time, the intensity of the workout should be increased to see desirable results.
Another thing to keep in mind is proper nutrition. Good nutrition and exercise go hand in hand. Without a well-balanced diet, you will not see results. Protein in particular should be present in your diet, as it helps in the development of muscles. It is not necessary to cut carbs completely. Having carbs in adequate amounts is required as fuel for the body.
Lastly, with consistency and perseverance, you will see results!
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