Men, Is It Possible to Build Muscles Using Home Workouts Only (No Equipment)? If So, How? And How Long Would It Take?

Title says it all, but to add, I’ve been following Athlean-X’s home workout (it’s free on YouTube), coupled with daily cardio (only running and cycling for now) and light exercises (only push-ups, sit-ups, planks, and jump squats for now). I’m new to fitness and muscle building, so I’m worried I’m doing the wrong thing. I need advice and tips, thanks!

Also, no, I can’t buy equipment or go to a gym for now; I do have a plastic dumbbell filled with sand, and I’ve been doing pull-ups on the back of my stairs, but other than that, no equipment at all.

I lifted weights for years, and during lockdown, I was forced to transition to calisthenics only (minus using a backpack of books for weighted pull-ups/push-ups). Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures to share, but my physique actually got WAY better than it ever was when I was lifting regularly. I honestly don’t think I’ll need a gym again even after they open. Optimally, I’d say get a pull-up bar and rings if possible… especially rings, they make even simple exercises like push-ups a lot more difficult.

For pushing exercises, I’d recommend doing push-ups and dips for chest/triceps and wall handstand presses for shoulders. After a few weeks, these will probably get too easy. Once you can do 20 push-ups in a row and 10 dips, then it’s time to start making things harder. Ways you can do that are adding weight in a backpack and doing weighted push-ups/dips. For push-ups, you can also lean forward more or elevate your feet (or both). Handstand push-ups will probably be hard for a while, but once you can do 8+, then put both of your hands on top of a book to increase your range of motion.

For pulling, keep doing pull-ups until you can do 15 clean reps… this will probably take several months at least. Once you can do 15 pretty comfortably, look up some one-arm-chin-up tutorials and start working on those. Also, look up bodyweight rows—you can actually do these with a sturdy table or 2 chairs.

For legs, I don’t really have an answer, but I’ve found jump squats and sprints to be great if you don’t have any weights.

All in all, keep it simple. There are a LOT of exercises out there but, in my opinion, the core of what you need for upper body strength are just push-ups, dips, handstand presses, pull-ups, and rows.

@Stevie
> I honestly don’t think I’ll need a gym again even after they open.

Gym industry shits nickels.

Wynn said:
@Stevie
> I honestly don’t think I’ll need a gym again even after they open.

Gym industry shits nickels.

A recent survey said that ~60% of people, sample size 2000, weren’t planning on renewing their gym memberships because they found more affordable ways to work out the past couple of months

@Zephyr
People surveyed also said they’d buy New Coke over regular Coke, and they didn’t exactly follow through on that.

Ren said:
@Zephyr
People surveyed also said they’d buy New Coke over regular Coke, and they didn’t exactly follow through on that.

Fuck new coke.

@Zephyr
That’s gotta hurt.

@Stevie
Awesome! Sadly, I don’t have rings, but I can do pull-ups fine on my stairs. I can only do seated pull-ups with a broom rested on some chairs, though; I will look into how I can do a proper pull-up at home.

Part of the Athlean-X thing, coupled with my own routines, has push-ups and presses, and I can do them no problem. Handstand push-ups are kind of tough, but I can do a lot more than 8, though I still rest my legs on a wall; definitely can’t do it without. I haven’t started adding weights, so the only thing I’ve added was the duration; I’m aiming to be able to do a constant 1 minute for everything. At least that’s how it is according to the Athlean-X vid I followed. Pull-ups are still hard for me, though; the best I can do is 10 clean ones for now haha, so still a long way to go. As for legs, I’ve been doing daily jogging and running plus squats and lunges in my routine; good to know that that’s great!

Wynn said:
@Wynn

HIIT is the way to get big; anything I’ve found. It’s a great way of exercising.

@Wynn
Probably should buy a pull-up bar. Using the broom on chairs technique doesn’t seem that safe.

Of course. YouTube “calisthenics” and “bodyweight.”

My favorite is https://www.youtube.com/c/CalisthenicsWeightTraining.

I also like https://www.youtube.com/user/Calisthenicmovement.

Edited: can’t forget https://www.youtube.com/c/FrankMedrano1.

@Eli
The lunches of your favorite are good. Most people do them as if they’re walking. The only thing I wonder with such schemes is: what about the chest? I didn’t see him doing push-ups with a tire on his back. This is probably the hardest exercise to get a decent ‘weight ratio’. Legs up helps some, but just the torso for weight isn’t enough to train the chest.

@Teo
Afaik he uses variations:

This one is nuts https://youtu.be/naRaVsFn_g4

This is another mix https://youtu.be/sDlB0311wso.

He uses a weighted backpack here https://youtu.be/i-40ltKwk6o.

He has several dedicated to the chest/upper body/triceps, but several are more advanced. If you can find a bar that will hold your weight or a dip station of some sort, you’ll have a ton more options and YouTube channels. I’m lucky that I don’t weigh a lot and can use the doorway bar.

@Eli
> This one is nuts

Ah yes, more like breakdancing.

> This is another mix

Most of these I do to warm up on ‘chest day’. Not the pike or handstand variations; those are more exercises for shoulders. But pushing off the floor (not as high as the guy in the first video!). Hands together, wide aside, way back from the shoulders. I didn’t see him do one-arm pushups. I really need to just my back and abs for that, so that’s pretty much a core exercise.

> He uses a weighted backpack here

That indeed is an easy way to weigh things up. I do wonder if that wouldn’t feel weird. The weight is somewhere way different from when you’re pushing a barbell.

But when the OP’s reading along, there may be some inspiration there indeed.

@Teo
Lol, it’s definitely fun to watch and a good challenge when I’m bored with what I’m doing and don’t mind falling on my face. Have you tried a flying superman? Actually, I like the flying squirrel best.

@Eli
> Have you tried a flying superman?

Nah, I don’t even ‘jump’ high enough to be able to clap. It’s just a variation of my warm-up. Normal push-ups, something more ‘explosive’, what in the video is called ‘diamond’ or rather arms wide, feet up, push-ups on a bench or ball, things like that. It’s not like I’m very strong (and old too!), but it’s more like when I do a chin/pull-up with wide arms, I can easily take my own weight, so I’d need something extra and that’s where the cable in the gym comes in handy. Now with push-ups, I’d be pushing something like 40 kg, which isn’t even my warm-up weight when I’m bench pressing, and that goes up to 80 kg (or 90 on a good day), so how to compensate for the difference in a ‘weightless’ environment? Of course, ‘your’ way of training is something different, less focus on few-rep-high-weight and more explosive, but answering the OP, I had ‘my’ way of training in mind.

If he’s set on not buying too much equipment, he could certainly try another approach.

@Teo
I have no idea where OP is starting from and what he can do or what his body goals are.

The crazy push-up mix was for fun and inspiration. Plyometric push-ups do add mass to your pecs, but you need to have your form and stabilizer muscles strong before it becomes feasible, not to mention safe. This isn’t really my way of training as I’m not that advanced.

For myself, I really do find variations of basic calisthenics to be more effective strength training than weights because the stabilizers are engaged as well as multiple major muscle groups. In that respect, cables are better than weights too. But then, if you’re going for volume weights do more faster. I usually mix weights with calisthenics, but I already had dumbbells and a barbell at home when covid started, so I still have that option. It would be interesting to switch to purely calisthenics again and see what happens. Plus, I have a bar, rings, and parallettes, so I have more variation and challenges.

@Eli
> In that respect, cables are better than weights too.

Disagree, but there’s weights and weights. You can go to the gym and sit behind some bench press machine and push until you can no longer, or use a barbell that slides in a rack or a barbell that you have to keep from going in the wrong direction yourself or two dumbbells. In the last two cases, there’re a lot of stabilizers involved. The other two are, well, to show off? I only use them when I want to push a weight that I can’t really, since I’m not going to crush my sternum when I can’t :slight_smile:

> I usually mix weights with calisthenics

There’s a group workout that used to be very popular a couple of years ago, “power pump” I believe. I don’t see it much these days; there’s probably another trend.

> plus I have a bar, rings, and parallettes, so I have more variation and challenges.

No changes for you due to covid! Do you do all your workouts at home? I’m glad I can go back to the gym for some variations I can’t do at home.

@Teo
I :heart: the gym and really miss it. There’s an energy, motivation, and, of course, community, that I just don’t have at home :disappointed:.

@Teo
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!