How to get stronger without weights
It’s a common misconception that in order to build muscle and get stronger, you need to be at the gym lifting weights. As a result of this, many people are put off from attempting to build muscle, in particular women. In fact, you can get stronger without using weights through a range of different exercise types. These include, for example, calisthenics and plyometric training.
The great advantage of these forms of exercise are that you can do them anywhere, without any equipment. You can really focus on your technique and form and because of this reduce the risks of injury.
Calisthenics –
It’s a fancy name for what is essentially your basic bodyweight exercises. Think push, pull and jump. You’ve got your basics such as squats, lunges, and crunches. These exercises focus on large muscle groups, and use multiple muscles at the same time. Your bodyweight is being used as your resistance and the exercises tend to be functional. This means movements that you would use in everyday life.
Building strength without weights
Plyometrics –
This is your basic bodyweight exercises and making them explosive by adding power and elevation to the movement. You’ll build speed, endurance and strength. Think exercises such as burpees, jump squats and lunge to hops. These are exercises that you will execute for a short period of time and will exhaust the muscle groups you’re using.
Circuits and HIIT training are great for including the use of both calisthenic and plyometric movements. You’ll seriously get your heart rate pumping, and as a result you’ll build your cardio health at the same as getting stronger muscularly.
If you’re using these types of exercises in a less cardio intense workout session, you can start with a basic routine to get used to the doing them correctly. Then, as your confidence, ability and strength build, you can increase the difficulty rating by increasing your repetitions and decreasing your rest time in between exercises. You can also make the exercises more difficult by changing your angle and range of movement. You can achieve this, for example, by squat jumping on to a box or you can develop a bilateral movement into a unilateral movement (2 legs to 1 leg).
Whether you’re just starting out or coming on leaps and bounds in your strength building workouts, we always advise getting some 1-to-1 instruction. This ensures your technique is correct and helps you achieve the best results. Meet our range of fabulous personal trainers here: https://resculptpersonaltraining.com/instructors/
Written by Becky Barrett.
Becky Barrett is an international talent manager and personal fitness coach with over 15 years’ professional experience and a 1st class Honours degree in Business & Law.
Driven by her unique values of compassion and a holistic approach to talent management, Becky has devised an innovative solution to take on the fitness industry with a brand-new personal fitness concept that aims to inspire and boost ‘new normal’ approaches to exercise routines.
Features include: Health & Wellbeing, Natural Health, Arden University, The Telegraph, BBC, Time & Leisure, Bdaily News, The Stage.