What is the best workout without weights?

[MacDonald]

I don't have access to any weights; so what is the best workout I can do to look the best. I've been doing push-ups and crunches for a while now(with some results, I think), but what else can I do?

I'm going for this look:

 

[KmZDon]

lol you're not going to get that kind of physique without weight lifting, dream on

 

[Lt dan]

i beg to differ. if i ran some more i wold have a physique like that except for i have more muscle then that guy. i havent touched a weight in three years and ive never had a weight routine. pushups and situps. real situps not cruches and running is the way to go

 

[MacDonald]

I'm not terribly far from Discuss Thrower right now. I need to get toned a little more. So I'm not out of shape or anything. I think I have a good platform to start on. Besides, it's not too much to ask to look like a perfect Greek, is it?

Eventually, I'll get some dumbbells to really bring up the workout. Until then, though, I'm stuck with no weights.

Are there any specifics that will help me?

LT Dan,

Are sit-ups really better? I have one of those ab machines that were popular a while back(you lay on the floor and it supports you head). It seems to get the burn going pretty quick.

You know, as I was typing I was thinking about this. I guess sit-ups would be better because you're lifting the weight of your upper body with your abs. With crunches you just mainly flex the muscles. It's like just flexing your chest muscles and expecting to see real results.

I wonder why crunches have become so popular?

 

[sonick182]

Crunches are said to be more effective because you only work your abs. The extra distance you move when you do a sit up you're only putting strain on your back and working the abs minimally.

IMHO, that ab machine you spoke of is VERY effective in creating a burn, if done right. When you lie on it, your arms and head should only be RESTING on the support points. When you crunch, only squeeze your abs. Once you crunch up, hold it there for a second, then slowly move back down, but not all the way, keep the abs taught throughout the whole workout until you feel like your abs are gonna melt and it hurts to even breath.

However that said, you may have the biggest abs in the world, they wont be impressive unless you get rid of th elayer of fat above it.

 

[Eternal]

Hey Lt. Dan, what's your routine for sit-ups and push-ups?

 

[Lt dan]

im not gonna say the ab machine is bad, im not even gonna say cruches are bad. but situps have kicked ass for me. when i do situps i odnt feel it in my back i only feel it in my abs and in my thighs. the reason i feel it in my thighs is because when i do them im usually going really fast and you just try to do everything you can to get up and for some reason your thighs kick in.
crazykid, i dont really have a set routine. but i will this year whenever we start to practice. usually we just do about a hundred at a time. we usually do about three hundred in a practice if thats part of our training that day.

with the pushups either do sets of one hundred. two or three. increase as you gain more strangth of course. and dont go down on a knee when you do it. any resting you do should be using your muscles still. also if your watchig tv and a commercial comes on drop down and do about 20-25. it works for me. it could probably be explained better though

 

[imnexthere]

the ab machine that supports your head is BAD NEWS. My cousin is a licensed physical therapist and he told me to stay away from it. Unless you do it perfect it puts enoromous loads on your neck and shoulders.

 

[T.T. Boy]

Try getting a job doing manual labor. It's worked wonders for me - all I need to work at home is my chest, since my job amply covers everything else.

 

[LordBrian]

I once heard of some excerzises called "Dynamic Tension" ... or something like that. Anyway, it basicly is pitting one muscle group against another. Like flexing your triceps, and bicepts at the same time. Since they are opposites, they fight against eachother for control.

I've never really tried it, but if you really want to workout without weights, maybe this will help.

 

[-HPNOTQ-]

Try Combat Conditioning:

http://www.t-mag.com/articles/153combat.html

It's used by R&B singer USHER and some Ultimate Fighting Champion fighters.

I've been an avid gym rat and feel the best gains using weights.

But, I did this workout for a month when I moved and was between gyms...It's a hard routine.

After the first day...you'll burn..trust me. If weights aren't your thing..this routine is nice.

GOOD LUCK

 

[MacDonald]

Originally posted by -HPNOTQ-
Try Combat Conditioning:

http://www.t-mag.com/articles/153combat.html

It's used by R&B singer USHER and some Ultimate Fighting Champion fighters.

I've been an avid gym rat and feel the best gains using weights.

But, I did this workout for a month when I moved and was between gyms...It's a hard routine.

After the first day...you'll burn..trust me. If weights aren't your thing..this routine is nice.

GOOD LUCK

Thanks. That's an interesting site.

But this looks a little iffy:

I would use weights, but I just don't have any right now. So I just do what I can.

 

[OddTech]

HPNOTQ, thanks for the link, it looks very good. I would really like to try the hindu pushup and the handstand push-up.

 

[snatchdaddy]

I got this idea awhile back after watching the Strongest Man competitions on t.v. This is the competition where the competitors have to push gigantic tires or lift cars, move huge boulders onto a wall, push weights on a large millstone. It occured to me that even though they weren't lifting "weights" it made for an interesting competition.

So.... if you don't have ANY weights why not seriously find rocks of various sizes or logs or any heavy item that reminds you of a Strong Man competition. I have a 40 lb rock in my basement that I use for the h*ll of it to do bench presses or curls just when I need to break up the monotony of an ordinary workout routine. Just be careful you don't drop it on your chest. It may sound stupid but there is something about it that brings out your primal nature.

 

[Eternal]

Lol, good call on the Strongest Man workout. Good luck with it. Oh, as far as the link goes...I just completed the workout for day 1...painful yet rewarding.

 

[$ Cap Wun $]

bar excercises like chin ups...there are a lot of ways to work out your whole body by using just a suspended horizontal bar. my friend runs and does those...hez cut up good, i ono if hez done anything else but if so, it seems to work nicely.

 

[mikel]

Do pull-ups, and run hills...

 

[Eternal]

Originally posted by MacDonald
Thanks. That's an interesting site.

But this looks a little iffy:

I would use weights, but I just don't have any right now. So I just do what I can.

Yeah, the neck bridges look scary as hell and are when you do them, but it isn't that bad at all.