Muscle-building without access to a gym - Page 3

Check out Kettle Bell training. Its great and you can do it at home or any where. http://www.mikemahler.com/exercises_page.html

I don't get it -- what's the advantage over dumbells?



Holy crap, does here anyone do these? Never heard of this before, but it sounds amazing.

Thanks for all the body weight links. Burpee drop sets ans some of the gymnastics stuff is a great change of pace. Handstand pushups here I come!

Quirk,
Dragondoor is probably the best site to get kettlebell info. I'm not a trainer and do not use them. The general idea, as I understand it, is that the "floppyness" of the kettlebell swinging at the end of your arm causes you to use more of the small stabalizer muscles. The purpose of the Kettlebell stuff seems more along the fitness line of conditioning than the bodybuilding line. No doubt that the Kettlebell exercises will increase strength.

At the Dragondoor site, look down the page to the left side for links to many articles. Pretty good info and ideas. The forums are also pretty worthwhile. This one article is darned good. Try to do one of those Planches.
Building an Olympic Body. This is a pretty good thread where a person posted his results doing the Planches. Note that he only claims to be doing this stuff 2 minutes a day. Bodyweight Conditioning Progress thread.

Go to the forums and read posts and threads by Sommer - the author of the above article. He is a gymnastics coach, of course, and is very big on the body weight exercises. And also look for posts by Ethan Reeve, the strength coach at Wake Forest.

And I agree with your assessment that a lot of the exercises that these folks are doing seem pretty amazing. Heck, I'm trying to do a few pullups and squats. Pistols or Handstand Pushups - maybe in a year.

BTW, if you thought THAT Glute/Hamstring exercise you posted was difficult, this comes from one of the posts in that Progress thread.
"...For hamstring strength utilizing body weight exercise, the glute/ham raise is one of the best. There are several variations. The easiest to master and requires no equipment, is the following. Kneel on a foam pad or cushion to protect the knees. Anchor your feet and ankles under a heavy piece of furniture like a sofa or dresser. Keep your body completely erect and back arched slightly, knees at about ninety degrees.Place the hands on your waist. Slowly bend at the waist while keeping the back arched and touch the forehead to the floor. Now contratct the hamstrings and glutes and straighten back up to the erect position. It is important to lean forward slightly during the entire movement to keep the hamstrings engaged. The tendency is to allow the butt to drift back, thus unloading the hammies. If this seems to easy, fold the arms over the chest to increase resistence with the weight of the arms. Work up to several sets with the hands clasped behind the neck. You can hold a barbell plate behind the head as well.This will thouroughly thrash the hamstrings.
Combine the body weight glute/ham raise with pistols, one leg pelvic bridges and one leg back extensions for a complete hamstring, hip and low back workout.
Steve Maxwell"

Oh, Yeah. Let me rip off a few sets of those.

^^^ i've seen kettlebells used in russia quite effectively--over 10 years ago, long before the big hype in the states. then again, i've seen regular weights used just as effectively. i've also seen no-weights used effectively.

This bodyweight stuff is fun. I'm back to working on my pullups which I suck at. I also decided that I should try and learn how to do a handstand pushup. Working on the handstand but I have a long way to go. I was suprised to find out that I could do a pushup against the wall first go at it. It's just head to the ground, not full range of motion on bars but I was still shocked that it worked. I'm really enjoying learning the first steps of body controll to do planches. This is way way more fun than weights and I can do it in my living room while watching TV. I'm a convert.

The truest, best, and definitive work, FM 21-20

Take a look at the following as well: http://www.navysealteams.com/warning.htm. It'll tone your muscles and develop strength with relatively little bulk. I preferred it to any of the gym workouts I've done (although, I am still a little partial to the erg machine).

if you want more range of motion, stack up a couple telephone books, or use those pushup stands. or use a couple chairs (be careful!)

I'm just quoting you here so that I can manage to actually look away from your avatar long enough to read what you've written.... EDIT: And now you've changed it, so my post no longer makes any sense. For posteri(ori)ty: Jessica Alba.

btw, if you want the one best all around bodyweight exercise. it's gotta be the burpee.

do 15 in a row, then decrease by one each time, so:

one set of 15,
one set of 14,
one set of 13

all the way to 1.

you will quickly understand why this is the preferred exercise for prisoners in supermax prisons.

Another Source for bodyweight drills:

BODY BY FISH

bodyweight exercises are not a good way to build hypertrophy...well you might see short term gains just because you are exercising but after a month when you've reached the maximum your gonna get you need to increase resistance/volume in order to stimulate growth in your muscles.

Ie, after doing pullups and being able to execute 15-20 per set you will need to get a dip belt and atatch weights to it to increase strength and muscle growth.

If you are serious about bodybuilding and having big muscles you will join a gym.