For Your Toughest Muscle Building Workout – No Weights Needed

Say “strength training” and most people think the gym and pumping iron. It is all about barbells and dumbbells. But this is a narrow view of what constitutes strength training. And in taking this view, they do not take advantage of a great way to work out that does not involve going to the gym nor require expensive equipment, other than a pair of shorts and sneakers. I am talking about using just your own bodyweight.

The general belief is that strength training, or muscle building, requires lifting weights. And for big growth, that is getting huge fast, it means pumping some serious weights to put your body in its maximum anabolic state, whatever that means, though it sounded pretty good.

Your body does not know how it is being stressed. It knows that you are putting undue and unnecessary strain on it. And your body probably hates you for it and thinks you are a horse’s behind. But it does not know, in a larger sense, the difference between a pull-up and a pull-down.

Sure, different angles and variations will not impact or work the same muscle groups exactly the same, but a pumped set of Pecs will be a pumped up set of Pecs.

So, here is what I recommend. First, explore your neighborhood and locate a few parks that are within an easy drive away. Your objective is to find a park that has an exercise course on it or has a jungle gym of sorts on it.

Your exercise routine, which should take no more than 45 minutes maximum consists of light jogging and basic bodyweight movements.

Warm-up: Take a light jog around the perimeter of the park for 10 or 15 minutes. Then before exercising, you should stretch lightly to limber up before starting the core work out.

Core Workout:

1. Deep Knee Bends: For the movement, begin with your hands on your hips and your feet about shoulder width apart. Keeping your back vertical, you want to roll up on your toes as you squat down; simultaneously extending your arms in front of you for balance. In the down position, your arms are out in front, parallel to the ground, and you are rolled up on your toes. Do as many repetitions as you can.

2. One Legged Squat: Holding onto a pole for balance, squat down as far as you can on one leg. Initially, you may only be able to do a half squat. That is okay; just go deeper each time out. Do a set for one leg, and then do a set for the other leg; this would be one complete set. Do 2 complete sets of as many as you can. Try this; one leg and switch; with no rest, immediately go back to the other leg. I want you to switch legs with no rest between sets.

3. Dips: Find the parallel bars and do dips. I want you to bow your back and stick your chin on your chest. Also, lift your feet off the ground by bring them behind you, but also move your knees forward, so that your knees are directly below your eyes. This will help you maintain your form. Again do 3 sets of as many repetitions as you can. But if dips are hard at first, or you are not yet strong enough, start with the good old pushups. Do 2 sets of pushups, then you can attempt a set or two of dips. Your objective is to faze out the pushups and do just the dips. Later, you can supplement with elevated pushups.

4. Pull-ups: For your pull-ups, use a grip that is a little more than shoulder width apart. If you are not strong here, your objective is to just get your chin over the bar. Most studs will shoot to touch their chest to bar, but let us just stick to getting our chins over it. Instead of sets and repetitions, I want you to choose a total. I think 20 are good. Your initial objective is to do 20 repetitions with the least number of set as necessary. For the first set, you may do 6, and then 3, and then 2, and then 2, and then 1, until you get to 20. After the second set, rest no more than 10 to 15 seconds between sets. Your final objective is to do 20 in one set. After that, your objective should be to do 30 repetitions. Not easy.

I want you to do this simple, yet effective routine every other day. To add more zest to this, do 6 all out wind sprints to finish the work out. Sprint hard for 20 to 30 seconds, rest about 30 seconds, and then sprint again. Keep doing this until you do 6 or so, this will leave you completely breathless.

Deep knee bends, one legged squats, dips, and pull-ups will work you hard. As you progress and get stronger; you can add handstand push-ups, hanging leg raises, one legged calf raises, elevated push-ups, close grip pull-ups, and so much more.

The truth is; your body can provide more than enough resistance to give you a ridiculously hard workout. Wow, fresh air and warm sun while you are working out. Now that is a combination that is hard to beat.

Jack was never athletically inclined and a skinny geek to boot. But after 35 plus years of exercising and dieting, Jack remains a terrible athlete, but not so much a geek. Plus, he’s learned a lot and shares loads of good information at his www.smartweightgain.com/muscle-building“> SmartWeightGain Blog; so, come check it out.