Get an army duffel bag. Fill it with 220lb of sand. Farmer’s walk, deadlifts, cleans, zercher squats, presses, benches…it should cost you about $20 and you’ll be able to drive yourself into the ground. Ironmind do a great sandbag course.
[quote]wsk wrote:
Get an army duffel bag. Fill it with 220lb of sand. Farmer’s walk, deadlifts, cleans, zercher squats, presses, benches…it should cost you about $20 and you’ll be able to drive yourself into the ground. Ironmind do a great sandbag course.[/quote]
Good advice. Strongman workouts are great fairly cheap alternatives to weights. The only real limitation with them is that they’re tough to do in a confined space (i.e. apartment). If you live in a warm climate where you can take them to a park or have a decent sized yard then they’re great year round.
Recarnus,
I think you need to read through the replies on this thread a little more carefully. People aren’t saying that bodyweight exercises can’t and won’t build muscle. What people are saying is that their effectiveness is limited (especially for the lower body as has been stated) and aren’t going to be ideal for someone who wants to get hyooge.
The above picture is of bodybuilding pro Lee Priest. Contrast the muscularity of Priest with the muscularity of that gymnast. It’s not really even a contest as to who is bigger, and Priest is in contest shape for that photo, not off season shape (in which he would be much bigger, or at least has been in the past).
These kind of discussions kill me.
Bodyweight exercises are not worthless, but if they were all that’s needed for anything approximating optimal gains why have all these generations of trainees been wasting their time and money on all this equipment?
There is also a huge difference between equipmentLESS bodyweight work and improvised weightlifting. Quite a bit can be done with relatively little with some intelligent creativity, but that is still weightlifting and not bodyweight training.
Why do some of you guys find it necessary to defend and champion bodyweight training to the point of almost taking offense at the obvious and undeniable notion that moving exogenous weights is a far superior method that should be pursued whenever possible?
[quote]razoreddarkness wrote:
So I’ve been lifting for about four years now, and i can’t afford a gym membership. Does anyone know if it is possible to gain muscle mass with bodyweight only? Thanks for any replies![/quote]
Check out your local YMCA or one in a nearby town. Most have a decent weightroom, and most also do membership costs based on income level. Your poor = they charge you less. bonus.
Their site has a YMCA locater:
[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
These kind of discussions kill me.
Bodyweight exercises are not worthless, but if they were all that’s needed for anything approximating optimal gains why have all these generations of trainees been wasting their time and money on all this equipment?
There is also a huge difference between equipmentLESS bodyweight work and improvised weightlifting. Quite a bit can be done with relatively little with some intelligent creativity, but that is still weightlifting and not bodyweight training.
Why do some of you guys find it necessary to defend and champion bodyweight training to the point of almost taking offense at the obvious and undeniable notion that moving exogenous weights is a far superior method that should be pursued whenever possible?[/quote]
Agreed.
This is what I did in your situation. I filled a backpack with sand did various lifts with it, when it got to easy I added more sand. I also ran. I duno how much it helped, I got a little leaner but I had to do some serious work to get my strength back, but that only took about 2 weeks.
Bodyweight exercises will build muscle and burn fat at a rapid pace because of the amount of muscles used when you use your bodyweight as resistance. Muscle hypertrophy can be simply defined as growth in the size of skeletal muscle due to increased cell size. Biological reasons of muscle hypertrophy include age and nutrition.
www.bodybuilding-supplement-guide.com/
protein-supplements.html