Training on a budget

Posted at 12:41 on Aug 13, 2010 by Muscle Blog

You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment or expensive gym memberships to get in great shape. In fact, the cheapest, most convenient and portable form of “resistance” is your own body.

Bodyweight training lets you train anywhere at any time, as you literally become your own gym. Here are three bodyweight exercises that will give you a total body workout:

Press Ups. One of the most basic but effective exercises, the press up is great for building size, strength and endurance in the upper body as well as improving core strength. Find them too easy?

If you can easily do more than 25 press ups, put some stones or bricks in a Maximuscle rucksack and wear it on your back. This is a great way to make the exercise more challenging and build muscular strength as well as endurance.

Pull-ups. A thick tree branch or garage rafter makes an alternative pull-up bar. You can also hang a towel over the branch or rafter, grab one end of the towel with each hand, and start pulling. Not only does it strengthen the back and arms, the towel pull-up is great for building a stronger grip.

If you’re unable to do one pull-up, you can try what’s called a negative pull-up. Stand on a stool or bucket so that your chin is level with the bar, and slowly lower yourself until your arms are straight. That counts as a single repetition. Take a short break. Then do another one. Reduce the amount of rest between repetitions until you’re able to string together several repetitions.

Squat Jumps. A great exercise to build speed and power in the thighs, the squat jump begins as a bodyweight squat to parallel and continues with an explosive jump into the air. Concentrate on jumping as high as you can while minimising contact time with the ground. You can also shift the emphasis from the thighs to the calf muscles by keeping the knees just slightly bent and then jumping up and down from your toes.

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Maximuscle is Europe's Number 1 sports nutrition company and offer a complete range of products that are tested and safe, incredibly effective, and designed to work and get results fast. With the UK's best selling and research proven all in one muscle-growth range in Cyclone, and the UK's Number 1 selling Protein range in Promax, Maximuscle offers many award winning products, as well as expert information and advice on everything from training tips to dietary advice and how to get the very best out of your training.