Building muscle without weights is more than possible. When it comes to building muscle its safe to say that in theory, you need a gym membership. However, a lot of people (especially teens) find it extremely difficult to find the money required for a gym membership. This often leads to questions such as “can you build muscle without weights“. Im here to tell you that yes, you can build muscle without weights. Even though its not the most effective thing to do, building muscle without weights can be done.
Building Muscle Without Weights
Building muscle is a little trickier without weights. Attempting to build muscle without weights eliminates a whole host of effective muscle building exercises but does not mean its not possible!
The Push Up/Press Up. The push up and press up are the same exercises. In this article I will refer to them as press ups. Press ups are one of the best upper body exercises you can do that do not involve any weights. The press up will work your chest, tricep and shoulder muscles. If you are a complete beginner you may find it hard to perform one press up. If this is the case do not worry. You can perform a slight variation of the press up which will be shown in the video below.
For everything you need to know about performing the press up check out this video: Pushups for the complete beginner. The video demonstrates the right and wrong ways of performing a proper press up and will show you what to do if you can not complete one full press up. Once you can perform a lot of reps for this exercise you should try and make the exercise harder for yourself.
To do this you can either place something heavy on your back (e.g. a back pack with some heavy items in), get someone to sit on your back whilst performing them or place your feet on a higher obstacle such as a chair. These are great ways of overloading the muscle to make it grow back bigger and stronger once you adapt to the traditional press up and find it easy to perform.
Pull Ups. Pull ups will work you lat muscles (back) and biceps. Pull ups are performed with your palms facing away from you when you grip the pull up bar. This means that your knuckles will be facing you whilst performing the pull up. To perform the pull up grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder width. Let yourself hang at arms length and pull yourself up as high as you can go. You should get into the habit of only counting each rep if your chin has successfully cleared the bar. Tuck your legs up behind you instead of letting them hang all the way down to improve balance and try leading with your chest.
Pull ups can be extremely hard for some people. It is only natural that you may struggle to complete just 1 repetition of this exercise. If thats the case then take a look at Get Better at Pullups and Chinups. It may be worth performing half reps if possible or get someone to assist you and push you up when you get stuck. You can also try positioning a chair beneath you and use that to push yourself up once your stuck.
Chin Ups. Chin ups are similar to the pull up but are performed with your palms facing towards you. To perform a chin up, grip the bar at around shoulder width apart (or slightly less) with your palms facing you. Hang at arms length and tuck your legs up behind you slightly. Now attempt to pull yourself up so that your chin successfully clears the bar. Lower yourself back down gradually so that your arms are fully extended once again in the starting position. Chin ups will work more of your biceps and be easier to perform than standard pull ups.
Dips. Dips are a great exercise for your tricep and chest muscles. This exercise can be performed on parallel bars or between 2 objects such as a bench or chair. Place your hands on the bench/chair with your palms facing down. Hands should be slightly closer than shoulder width apart. Your Legs can either be positioned on another bench/chair or can be positioned on the floor with your legs extended out.
Lower your body by bending at the elbow. Keep your elbows pointing behind you at all times. Once the elbows are bent at a 90 degree angle, stop and push your body back up using your tricep muscles. Try not to come too far down when lowering yourself as doing so can put unnecessary strain on other muscle groups.
You should try and exhale on the way up and inhale on the way down. If you are performing these on a bench or chair, the main focus is going to be on your triceps. If however you are able to place your hands on two sturdy parallel bars you can bring more of the chest into play by leaning forward whilst performing the movement.
Close Grip Press Ups. The close grip press up is another tricep exercise. The movement is exactly the same as the traditional press up but you will place your hands a lot closer together. Place your hands next to each other or slightly wider. As long as they are less than shoulder width apart the emphasis will be placed more on the tricep muscle.
Crunches. Crunches are a great abdominal exercise. Crunches will help build muscle in your mid section and give you that elusive six pack if your body fat is low enough. Lie down on the floor and bend your knees. Place hands either across your chest or lightly behind your head. With your lower back pressed firmly against the floor contract your abdominal muscles and lift yourself up off the floor.
Shoulder blades should be raised 2-3 inches off the floor in a slow and controlled motion. Pause for a second and then lower your body slowly back to the floor. Do not go all the way back down to the floor as you still want your ab muscles slightly contracted when you push for that next rep. If you already have a flat stomach crunches will make your ab muscles more visible.
Leg Raises. Another abdominal exercise. Leg raises are great for targetting them lower abs that many people seem to have a problem developing. Lie down flat on the floor with hands positioned by your sides or behind your head on the floor. Now attempt to curl your legs up above you while keeping the legs as straight as possible. Allow yourself a slight bend in the knees if it feels more comfortable. Focus on really contracting your abdominal muscles when curling your legs up. Lower your legs back down so that the legs are a couple of inches off the floor and repeat.
Squats. Squats are a great lower body mass builder. Squats will build muscle in your quads, hamstrings, calves, bum and lower back. To perform the squat place feet around shoulder width apart with eyes looking straight forward. Keep your head up and back straight. Hands can be placed out infront of you or across your chest. Slowly bend your knees and lower your body until thighs are around parallel or just below parallel to the floor.
Lower yourself as if your about to sit on a chair behind you while keeping your chest up and back straight. Now raise yourself back to the starting position by pretending your pushing your feet through the floor. To make this exercise harder try performing it with one leg. Place the other leg out infront of you and squat down with one leg only.
Standing Calf Raises. Standing upright with your body straight, raise your heel up off the floor by pushing through the balls of your feet and toes. These work your calf muscles which are located at the back of your lower leg.
Building Muscle Without Weights – The Diet
Your diet will need to be high in protein and you should be taking in more calories than your body needs each day in order to put on weight and muscle. How much protein do you need to build muscle? I would recommend at least 1 gram of protein for every pound of bodyweight. If you weigh 150lbs you need at least 150 grams of protein in your diet. If you think this will be a problem check out the best protein foods to build muscle for an insight into the type of foods you should be consuming. Take in moderate-high carbs and a small intake of healthy fats throughout the day.
Building Muscle Without Weights – The Problem
The problem with building muscle without weights is that results are going to be limited. Bodyweight exercises are a great way to get stronger when you are a beginner but as you progress strength and size gains are going to be limited. To build muscle you need to constantly overload your muscles.
Attempting to build muscle without weights means that certain fundamentals of muscle growth are not possible. Hypertrophy and size gains are best made in the 8-12 rep range. Performing sets of 8-12 press ups is not going to be enough to trigger muscle growth once you go past the beginner stage. The stress placed upon the muscle needs to be greater in order for it to grow and adapt. This is known as progressive overload. Progressive overload can not be adopted into your training effectively with bodyweight exercises.
Building Muscle Without Weights – Final Verdict
If your a beginner then bodyweight exercises will help you build muscle up to a certain point. Eventually you will need to incorporate proper weight training into your routine to continue progression in your training and allow for more muscle mass to be built. Check out weight training routines that build muscle for more help with this.
The only time you should really be using bodyweight exercises is when you are either a beginner, or your away on holiday and have no access to any weights for a few weeks. Bodyweight exercises can be effective for beginners or trained athletes who are looking to maintain some muscle mass and strength when away from the gym. Apart from this you should be using proper weight training exercises that are proven to build strong and muscular physiques in your routine for the best results.
