Trying to get shredded but can’t afford a gym membership? That ain’t no excuse not to put the work in, all from the comfort of your own home.
It’s hard being a teen and trying to build your physical strength without access to a gym or equipment. That doesn’t mean it’s not possible.
Ab workouts are probably the easiest to nail from home, but you can definitely hit your biceps and legs as well.
Without further a due, let’s see how you can start gaining muscle without investing in a gym membership or equipment:
#1: Crunches
Perhaps the most obvious way to start building ab muscle, crunches are a great way to get some sweat. You can start off with four sets of 25 crunches and work your way up to two sets of 50 once you feel like you can knock them out properly.
If you don’t feel like the normal crunches are challenging enough, you can raise your legs up while bending them and cross your feet together. It should make the crunches feel harder to complete and it will build more upper abdominal strength.
Whatever crunches you decide to do hit, make sure you do them at least 5 days a week to begin with, and eventually work your way up to everyday of the week.
#2: Planks
Another popular exercise to do at home, the plank hits your abs and back strength. Make sure you have a straight back at all times and either have your hands flat on the ground as if you’re doing a push-up, or plant them down as fists. Try to do a minute a day after hitting your crunches and add 10-15 seconds every time it feels easy.
If you have someone to challenge you, see who can hold a plank for longer. Try to squeeze your abs while doing your planks to make sure you summon most of your strength from your abs instead of your back.
If you want to spice your planks up a bit, do them for a minute each with each hand. Put one hand behind your back if you go this route.
#3: Leg raises
One of people’s least favorites exercises, the leg raises are sure to send your abs into a burning pain when you do them correctly.
Lift both of your legs by using the strength of your abs and hold them up at a position where you start to feel pain. Hold that position for about 30 seconds if you’ve never done leg raises before and work your way up to a minute through time.
The higher you can lift your legs up, the stronger your abs will get.
If you want to try a more advanced version of leg raises, hold them in the same position you normally would, but do a motion pattern where you lower your legs and then raise them continuously.
If you want another challenge, practice kicking your legs up and down. You can also pretend to ride a bicycle while having your legs up to summon more ab strength.
#4: Push-ups
Another popular exercise the whole world knows about, the push-up can help build your biceps. Start with four sets of 25 and work your way up to two sets of 50 and if you’re feeling really strong, try doing 100 at one go.
Make sure you’re doing the push-ups properly, or else it defeats the whole purpose of the exercise.
Feel free to try one handed push-ups when the time comes, as long as you do it correctly. You can also do modified push-ups by placing your feet on a higher elevation, like a chair or couch.
#5: Suicide Squat Jumps
Whatever you end up doing, save the suicide squat jumps for last. They are meant to hurt, and you’ll be feeling super accomplished after you complete them.
The first step is to jump as high as you can with your arms above your head. Once you land, you quickly go down to do a push-up and get back up. After you’re back up, you quickly squat, making sure your back is straight and your hands are together in front of you, and then you push your legs to jump as high as you can again with your arms above your head.
This is meant to be a quick motion of continuous exercise for at least 30 seconds.
The reason it’s best to save this for last is because you would’ve already exercised your body in some way, shape or form. You’ll be tired already to some extent. The suicide squat jumps are meant to knock you out for a while once you finish.
Make sure you don’t do this half-heartedly. No pain, no gain.
It might not be the coolest or most exciting workout, but there are exercises you can do to build your physical strength from home.
Covid was a reminder of that for me, and till this day I do workouts at home when I’m busy the whole day with work and family. There’s no excuse why you can’t get in shape and take care of yourself, even if you don’t have money to pay a gym membership or simply the time.
The choice is yours.
