Weightless workout routines

Hey health gurus, can you help me? I've gotten soft in my time out of the Army. Which is bad, as I have a job looming that is very physical in nature. However with everything that's going on I can't afford a gym membership or a home weight set. So I'm looking for a solid 'no-weight' exercise program. I know weights are better, but I have to work with what I have.

I found this one and was wondering if it was any good.

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/full-body-bodyweight-workout.html

Can you guys help me out? Looking for a general plan to increase strength, endurance, and help me lose some weight. I'm already running, biking, and walking for my cardio. What say ye?

http://www.bodyweightculture.com/forum/content.php

Dig around there.. You can thank me later.

huge-O-chavez wrote: http://www.bodyweightculture.com/forum/content.php Dig around there.. You can thank me later.

How about I thank you now?

I like the 20 level challenge, but there are plenty others in the forum.. Just dig around.

http://www.bodyweightculture.com/forum/showthread.php?8493-20-Level-Challenge-Training <-- need to get a login

Drewsifer wrote:

huge-O-chavez wrote: http://www.bodyweightculture.com/forum/content.php Dig around there.. You can thank me later.

How about I thank you now?

You guys tricked me!

I just knew that was going to be a section with scantily clad women working out and it's nothing but men. I've never seen anyone give people the right advice on the first try here at GRM.

That's low, man!

http://www.marinestylefitness.com

One thing that I've found for a bit of added resistance: weights cost money, but rocks are free.

I added some upper body work to my runs by holding a decent sized rock in each hand. Cheaper (and manlier) than buying a couple of pastel colored 2-pound weights. Need to increase resistance? Don't buy more weights, find bigger rocks. The military has you run around carrying a pack with a bunch of gear. I see no reason why you couldn't run around with a pack filled with rocks.

Salanis, I'm gonna find your rocks and paint them a nice chartreuse

huge-O-chavez wrote: http://www.bodyweightculture.com/forum/content.php Dig around there.. You can thank me later.

boo~ manditory registraion...

madmallard wrote:

huge-O-chavez wrote: http://www.bodyweightculture.com/forum/content.php Dig around there.. You can thank me later.

boo~ manditory registraion...

the site is worth it. Don't you have a junk email address for this sort of thing?

Squats are free, and do wonders for the legs and butt

Pushups (preferably with pushup handles) and pullups/chin-ups as well as dips on the pushup handles (with your feet up on an ottoman or a step).

Get a good routine of this going (pushup/dip routine one day and pullup routine another day) and you'll get 90% of the results of a gym--no joke.

I also do a jump rope circuit (when I don't have the time to get out on my bike) that is KILLER:

put on ipod set timer for 30 minutes jump rope for a song (~3 minutes) 20 pushups followed by (yoga) downward dog and then child's pose for 30 seconds repeat until time is up.

Sometimes I'll do it with pullups (chinups) instead of pushups (sets of 15-20). Today, I rattled off 160 pushups. It'll take awhile to get to that level, but it's a damn fine workout in a short time.

I absolutely cannot do pushups on handles, or on dumbells... my one shoulder wants to pop out of its socket!

Those "inchworm" pushups (walk out from standstill, kind of downward dog thing, plank, pushup, then walk it back up) are great, I do a lot of those.

I should clarify that I do the circuit pushups on the floor, not on handles. I can see where the handles would be rough on a bum shoulder, though...

Pretty sure I have a bum ACL joint, all the symptoms are there. Can't do flies any more either.

Salanis wrote: One thing that I've found for a bit of added resistance: weights cost money, but rocks are free. I added some upper body work to my runs by holding a decent sized rock in each hand. Cheaper (and manlier) than buying a couple of pastel colored 2-pound weights. Need to increase resistance? Don't buy more weights, find bigger rocks. The military has you run around carrying a pack with a bunch of gear. I see no reason why you couldn't run around with a pack filled with rocks.

I came to GRM for fitness advice and all I got was a sack of rocks.

I second the push-up recommendation. I do twenty during commercial breaks of an hour long program. I'm aiming for doing 60 a day to start. I'm seeing results in my arms and it's time I'd waste anyway. The low number is unintimidating and easy to motivate for.

I like the p90x workout program... It is a decent routine.... and if you stick with the workouts.. there is no possible way you won't have awesome results...

And.... You need some "weights" to do most of the Crossfit "WOD" (workout of the day) but you can be very creative with what you are lifting.. Starting out you will almost certainly have to "scale" the workout to suit you current ability... but this is a AWESOME system for overall fitness...

http://www.crossfit.com/

I paid $25 for my weights, doin fine

What kind of "physical" are we talking about? Lifting, carrying, walking, running ... ? My job isn't too bad, but I do have to carry several pounds of gear and PPE all over customer sites, sometimes climb several stories of steps and/or ladders, and occasionally climb over or crawl under obstacles. Walking the dog, two-stepping, and occasional weight work on a cheap bench do what I need.

I do pushups on the handles because doing them on the floor kills my wrist. My shoulders don't mind either way.

Watch Craigslist - sometimes folks give away old weight sets.

First thing is to look at your diet. You want to get into better shape, start there. No matter what kind of workout you do, if you eat like crap, your results will be minimal at best.

As has already been said, if you can't get weights, be creative. Use rocks, chairs or such. There are countless kinds of push ups you could do. Pull ups. Squats,

If you have the physical room for them, look for a cheap weight set on Craigslist. You'll find them.

I'll second the P90X routines. If you don't die initially, you will get stronger, lose fat, and feel better.

cardiacdog wrote: I'll second the P90X routines. If you don't die initially, you will get stronger, lose fat, and feel better.

One month into the P90X business, and I don't get it. They're more annoying than difficult, some of the information (spot fatloss, "toning") is wrong, and some of the exercises don't make any sense. On the upside, 3 months of it is better than 3 months of nothing! A pretty good autopilot program: "Today I'm going to press play on this video, and do what it says!"

Take a look at this:

Insanity

You don't need any equipment and it will kick your butt. I may be able to help with the cost, PM if you are interested.

Well, here's something from a more eastern/yoga mindset: 5 sacred rites

Idea is to work at a pace that you complete your X number of reps of each thing in something like 15 minutes. If you're totally out of shape (which it doesn't sound like you are) you can start with doing 3 or 5, and work your way up 'til you're cranking out 50 or so twice a day. These work really well for keeping your back strong and limber. No specific muscle targeting, but that's pretty much BS anyway unless you're body-building.