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Posts Tagged ‘strength training routines’

Workout without Weights – How Effective Is It?

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

Any hard-core and intense bodybuilder is going to tell you that if you want to gain size and strength, you need to be pushing a lot of weight around at the gym.  There is a growing movement of individuals, however, that workout without weights and only use their own body weight in order to get stronger.  How effective is this type of work out and is it something that you can do in order to build your own strength?

The fact of the matter is, people have been doing a variety of different workouts that do not use weights for years.  Some of them have been able to not only to get strong but they have been able to build up quite an impressive amount of muscle along the way.  The real key is making sure that you workout without weights properly and that you continue to change things up from time to time in order to keep things interesting.

Workout without Weights – the Basics

Some of the most basic workouts that you can possibly do without weights involved would include such things as push-ups, situps and pullups.  Each of these is going to use your natural body weight in order to make you stronger and larger.  There are a few of these workouts, however, that can do much more for you than others.

A good example of this is the basic pull up.  Anybody can do pull ups, even if you are not able to get your chin up to the bar.  If you do not have a pull a bar in your home at this time, it is a minimum investment and it is absolutely something that is crucial for you to have for your overall health.  Many people that workout without weights will do a couple of pullups, every time they pass the bar.  If you have one available for you, you might find that you are doing the same.

Additional types of exercises that are very basic also can help you to grow in your strength very quickly.  Push-ups are something that not only can be done at home, they can be done in a variety of different ways.  If you are varying the distance between your hands, or perhaps even having your legs elevated whenever you are doing your push-ups, you hit different muscles and you help your overall body physique to be balanced.

More Advanced Workout without Weights

If you have been working out for quite some time without weights, there are some advanced things that you can do which will help you to get stronger much faster.  Some of these are different types of exercises that are set as goals for individuals who are just starting out with their body weight workouts.

A good example of this is the handstand push-up.  Very few people were able to do this particular exercise whenever they first start out using their body weight as resistance.  Eventually, however, you can strengthen yourself through just using the power of your body to the extent where you are able to do multiple handstand push-ups.  Not only do they look cool, they also help you to get much stronger and they hit different muscles that are difficult to hit by just doing regular push-ups.

Sculpting Your Body without Weights

People that go to the gym regularly and work out with weights might not believe it, but the fact of the matter is that it is possible for you to workout without weights and to sculpt your body amazingly well.  This can easily be seen by individuals who are into the martial arts and may work out with their body weight regularly in order to achieve additional speed and strength.  Nobody ever accused somebody, such as Bruce Lee, of lacking in any way.

By varying the different workouts that you are doing regularly, you can hit specific muscle groups and strengthen them quickly.  Once your body is in tune to its own weight and is accustomed to using it in order to get stronger, it takes almost no time for you to notice differences once you switch up your routine.

Isometrics – An Important Part of Body Weight Workouts

Although it has been hotly debated by many individuals, isometrics are a very important part of any workout without weights program.  Not only can they help you to get stronger themselves, they can also help you to break through any kind of plateau that you may be experiencing.  Let me illustrate.

If you were to hang a chin up bar in your home and are unable to do chin-ups more than half way, you can do isometric exercises that will strengthen you at that specific sticking point.  Perhaps you could lower the chin up bar so that you are standing with your arms at that specific angle whenever they are on the chin up bar.  By pulling resistance at that angle that is immovable, you will get stronger and be able to pass by that sticking point easily.

Supplementing Your Gym Workout

One final way that you might find using a workout without weights routine beneficial is if you are already working out at the gym regularly and would like to boost your efforts there.  Working out with your body weight at home in between your gym workouts can help you to get stronger and can work many of the stabilizer muscles which will allow you to lift more at any given time.

It may take some effort on your part and you should not expect to see the results immediately whenever you are working out to this extent, but the results will come.  Best of all, you will be adding variety into your overall workout routine that will make it much easier for you to stick with for the long term and allow you to do a little bit of the workout at home, on your own time schedule.

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Strength Training Routines That Help You to Grow

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

If you are interested in getting fit and healthy, one of the things that you must be incorporating into your regular lifestyle are some strength training routines.  There are many of these routines which can be done which will help you realize your overall fitness goals but the type of routine that you do really depends on what those goals happen to be.

Here are some of the more popular strength training routines that are available, one of which I’m sure can be modified in order to fit exactly what you want it to do.  Regardless of which of these routines you happen to do, however, make sure that you are persistent in your efforts and stick with it long enough to see results.  If you do, the results will come.

Slow and Steady

One of the more popular strength training routines can be classified as being slow and steady.  These are the type of routines that you do in which you probably end up in the gym three or four days a week, working your muscles.  You’re not necessarily doing anything intensive as far as this is concerned and you’re probably happy with seeing some minimal growth, along with being tone.

One of the benefits of this type of exercise is the fact that it is done regularly enough that it becomes a habit.  People who go to the gym regularly tend to be a little bit more physically fit, not only as a result of going to the gym but also because it is incorporated into their lifestyle.  Not only do they lift weights and exercise while they are at the gym but they probably also eat a healthier diet in order to see the results.

Intense Strength Training Routines

There are a number of different routines which can be done which are rather intense but they certainly are not for the faint of heart.  Quite a few different benefits that come from doing these types of routines which make them one of the most often sought after is the fact that you can gain massive amounts of muscle in a short period of time.

The best time for you to take on one of these weight training routines is whenever you are not quite a beginner but you’re not so advanced that you have hit a plateau.  During this time, whenever you are already fairly healthy, you can do intense strength training routines for a few weeks and see some real growth as a result.

The difficult part about doing this is the fact that it can throw you off to a certain extent and unless you are persistent, you’re not really going to see any results at all.  You need to be determined to stick with this routine for the entire length and then to go back to your regular routine in order to stick with your weight training goals for the long term.

Changing Your Routine

It doesn’t matter which of the strength training routines that you are doing, there is going to come a point whenever you’re going to need to change things up a little bit.  The easiest way for you to do this is to target the same muscle groups but to do so using different exercises.  For example, if you are doing a chest workout with a barbell bench press, you can begin doing flies for a few weeks or perhaps switch from a barbell over to dumbbells.  This will help you hit the same muscle group from a different angle.

It also helps to change the amount of rest that you are getting in between exercises from time to time.  This is especially important whenever you have hit a plateau and have not seen any significant growth for quite some time.  Believe it or not, one of the most common occurrences which causes these plateaus is the fact that an individual is not getting enough rest.  Far too often, they simply try to push harder and they only make the situation worse.

High Intensity Training

Of all of the different strength training routines that are available, this is absolutely my favorite.  The way that it works is easy to understand but it also helps if you read up a lot on the subject.  You would work out each week, one time a week in order to give yourself plenty of rest in between workouts.  The exercises that you are going to be doing are multi-joint exercises so you will be able to work your entire body while only doing six to eight sets per week.

The beauty of doing this type of routine is twofold.  First of all, you are going to be able to get in and out of the gym in about a half hour and you will only be spending two hours per week doing your weight training.  The rest of the time, while you are resting outside of the gym, your body will be growing and healing itself in order to get ready for your next exercise routine.  If you work yourself to failure every time, and give yourself plenty of rest, you are going to notice differences each time you go to the gym.

Eating and Strength Training Routines

A very important part of any strength training routine is making sure that you are eating properly.  If you want to lose body fat, you must do this separate from gaining muscle.  If you are simply trying to lose fat and are not worried about gaining muscle, cut calories out of your diet while working out to burn additional calories.

Something else that must be kept in mind is that you must eat as clean as possible.  Try to give up as much processed food and meat as you can in favor of eating more raw and living foods.  Although it doesn’t hurt for you to have variety in the foods that you eat, the cleaner your diet is going to be, the more you’re going to see whenever you go into the gym.

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