How to build muscles at home: effective exercises to create an athletic body

Professional bodybuilders disdain training at home; they believe that in order to pump up the body, you need to visit the fitness room and take sports supplements. There is a deal of truth in it. However, beginners do not need huge biceps and triceps; they want to get their body in order, make it more athletic and strong. Home workouts with your own weight are quite enough for this.

But in order to achieve the goal, it is necessary to properly organize classes and follow a special diet. To lose weight and develop beautiful muscle definition, you need to combine strength and cardio exercises. Effective bodyweight exercises will be an excellent basis for further development. But so that progress does not stop, you need to use sports equipment during training.

Three components of success in upgrading your home

To create a beautiful, sculpted body without using exercise equipment, you need to be patient and create a competent program. But a novice athlete needs to learn that training alone will not help achieve results. It is important to combine training with proper nutrition, because muscle growth is 80% dependent on diet. The athlete must give up junk food and supplement the menu with proteins and complex carbohydrates. Such food stimulates muscle growth and saturates the body with energy before training.

To stress your muscles and stimulate their growth, you need to do strength exercises. And cardio exercises will help reduce the percentage of fatty tissue in the body. You need to combine these 2 types of training to strengthen your muscles, lose weight, contour your body, and increase strength and endurance.

To achieve results faster, you need to devote 3-4 days to strength training, and cardio (running, cycling, jumping rope, etc.) - about 5 times a week. You should take days off between strength training sessions to give your muscles time to recover. On non-training days, you can do aerobics.

Eat properly

Even effective exercise will not give results if a person is overweight and his diet is of poor quality. No matter how hard you try to exercise, you will not be able to lose weight without a balanced diet. Therefore, if you want to make your body athletic, change yourself and your life for the better, you need to adjust your diet and food intake.

To lose weight faster, follow these dietary rules:

1. Enrich your menu with meat, eggs, fish, cottage cheese and other protein-rich foods. The optimal daily protein intake is 1.5 g/1 kg.
2. Avoid simple carbohydrates: sweets, wheat bread, pastries, etc.
3. Eat complex carbohydrates: whole grains, cereals, grade A pasta.
4. It is also worth consuming more fresh vegetables and fruits, which contain fiber.
5. Move higher-calorie foods to the first half of the day, and leave some protein with vegetables or fruits for dinner.
6. Eat 5 to 7 times a day, but in portions not exceeding 250-300 g. This style of eating will speed up metabolic processes, improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, and prevent you from feeling hungry.
7. Consume small amounts of vegetable fats.

Important! The athlete must give up fast food, processed foods, canned food, confectionery, animal fats, and fried foods. It is recommended to boil, bake, stew or steam products. In addition, it is necessary to comply with the drinking regime.

Do aerobic exercise

Effective cardio exercise will help speed up fat burning. To lose weight quickly, you can run, jump rope, ride a bike, or just walk at a brisk pace. To speed up progress, give up transport, elevators, walk more, climb stairs. The main thing is to practice at an intense pace.

At first, cardio training should last half an hour, gradually the time of training can be increased to 50-60 minutes. It is recommended to perform aerobic exercise 3 to 5 times a week. They can be used to warm up the muscles before performing the main complex.

Cardio exercises are very useful, they strengthen the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, accelerate metabolic processes, fat burning, strengthen muscles, and increase endurance.

Train with your own weight

Strength training with your own mass is the basis of a program for pumping up the body at home. It is enough to choose 5-6 exercises for different muscle groups and perform them regularly. An athlete can exercise 3-4 times a week.

For strength training to bring results, you need to follow these recommendations:

• execution technique. First of all, focus on technique, try to perform the exercise correctly, tense the target muscles. If the technique is violated, you will not achieve results and risk injury;
• control your breathing. Exhale during effort, and inhale when relaxing;
• do not hurry. All movements must be smooth so that the athlete constantly feels muscle tension;
• load your muscles as much as possible. Perform the exercise to failure, then rest a little and proceed to the next one;

This is interesting! There is a circuit training option, during which the athlete performs each exercise one set for a certain number of repetitions without a break. Then there is a pause - no more than 2 minutes, and the complex is repeated again. This method also helps pump up muscles.

• increase the load. Change the complex periodically, supplement it with new elements. To ensure your progress doesn’t stop, use weights, these can be sports equipment, weights, regular water bottles, a backpack with sand, etc.

By following these rules, the athlete will be able to achieve excellent results.

Be sure to check out:

Exercises with dumbbells at home for women Shaping programs for losing excess weight at home Exercises for an ideal figure at home: a beautiful athletic figure at home Workouts at home, or How a girl can effectively pump up her body without the gym

Three effective steps towards building a sculpted body

First step

Doing bodyweight exercises

If for some reason there is no opportunity to go to the gym, then this training will replace working on specialized sports equipment

Push-ups, pull-ups, squats, bends, lifts and lunges are the most accessible exercises to perform at home. To increase muscle mass, do rhythmic exercises three to five times a week.

Tip: Be sure to take rest between workouts. As the intensity of daily exercise increases, the likelihood of fat burning increases. In order to build muscle while burning fat and excess calories, you need to maintain the intensity of the rhythmic gymnastics performed.

Step two

Cardio, aerobics

Aerobics will allow you to get rid of excess fat easily and simply.

The recommended training intensity is up to five times every seven days. The best way to start is to practice for thirty minutes. You can try brisk walks or cycling. If there is a need to constantly reduce body fat, the intensity is increased.

Important to know: Low-intensity exercise helps you get rid of fat calories, while high-intensity exercise, such as sprinting and running, helps you get rid of calories. Knowing these nuances when performing cardio training allows you to maintain a high metabolic rate for a longer time.

Step three

Proper nutrition

Eating five or six times a day may seem quite strange to many. However, those who want to gain muscle definition should adhere to just such a schedule. Moreover, the number of servings eaten is much more important than the contents.

General recommendations:

• Eating small meals frequently speeds up metabolism and reduces hunger;
• before and after each workout you need to consume proteins with carbohydrates;
• create portions that include foods with healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, and proteins.

Remember:

1. You need to eat foods that do not contain extraneous additives, ingredients such as fats, sugar, salt, which can lead to disruption of the overall healthy eating plan.

1. Increased activity not only during training periods, but also an active lifestyle throughout the day leads to muscle growth.

1. Maintaining a normal weight and avoiding problems with extra pounds allows you to consume fewer calories than required. The main thing is not to overdo it. Excessively reducing the nutritional value of foods can lead to muscle loss.

Is it possible to achieve results quickly?

If your goal is to pump up all the muscles of the body, make it more athletic, sculpted and massive, then you should not hope for quick results. To build muscle, you need to exercise regularly and follow a diet. To speed up progress, you need to train at least 4 times a week. Then, provided that all conditions are met (nutrition, strength and cardio training), you will be able to change your body for the better within 1.5-2 months.

If an athlete wants to build huge muscles like a bodybuilder, then bodyweight exercises will not help him. In this case, you cannot do without sports equipment, the weight of which must be periodically increased. To make your muscles massive, you need to work hard on yourself for at least 1 year.

What exercises should you do at home to build muscle?

If you don't know how to build muscles at home, pay attention to basic exercises. With push-ups you can strengthen your chest, deltoids, triceps, and rhomboid muscles. During pull-ups, all muscle groups of the torso, abdominal and leg muscles are involved. Crunches, hanging raises or leg raises are great for developing your abdominal muscles. The plank is a universal exercise that subjects almost all muscle groups to intense static load. To pump up your buttocks and legs, you can perform different variations of squats, lunges, etc.

There are a lot of modifications to bodyweight exercises, so any athlete can choose what suits him.

For men

Guys can use the following exercises when training with their own weight:

1. Grab the bar so that your hands are at shoulder level. Arch your back and bend your knees and cross them to avoid loosening. Raise your body to the base, trying to touch it with your chest, then smoothly lower yourself. Then you can pull yourself up with a reverse grip (your fingers are turned towards your face).
2. Take a lying position, the distance between your hands is slightly wider than shoulder level. Lower your body down, trying to touch the surface with your chest, and then sharply push your body up, slam your hands, land on half-bent arms and repeat all over again.
3. Stand up, spread your legs wider than shoulder level, begin to squat, keeping your back straight and looking forward. When your thighs are parallel to the floor, slowly rise up. Shift the weight to your heels, tighten your abdominal muscles, and extend your arms forward to maintain your balance.
4. Turn your back to the chair, place the toe of one foot on it, and move the other forward. Gently squat down, using the heel of your front foot to touch your back knee to the floor, then rise up. Repeat for the other limb.
5. Lie down, stretch your arms forward, begin to smoothly lift your head and upper body from the floor, stretch your arms in front of you, but not down, then lower yourself. Make sure your back is rounded.
6. Stand with your back to chairs or a sofa, rest your hands on it, place your heels on a hill. Start lowering your body as far as possible, and then lift it up.
7. Stand in a handstand with your back to a support (wall), with your fingers facing it. Smoothly lower your body down on your hands and then lift it up.

The last element is quite difficult, so it is better to do it with an assistant at first. Otherwise, the risk of injury increases.

For women

To tighten their body, girls can use the following effective exercises:

1. Women can perform different variations of push-ups. If the muscles are weak, then first the element is performed on the knees, then in the usual way, and later it can be done on an elevated platform (chairs) to increase the range of movements. You can also try doing reverse push-ups.
2. Girls can squat, the main thing is to move their buttocks back, keep their back straight, stretch their chest forward and make sure that their knees do not go beyond their toes. You can squat with your legs wide and your toes turned outward, or you can perform the exercise on one leg.
3. Press your back against the wall, fold your arms in front of you, then begin to smoothly lower yourself, bending your knees. When your thighs are parallel to the floor, hold for a few seconds and then rise up.
4. Girls can perform different variations of the plank at home: regular, on the side, on the back, with arms and legs raised.
5. Lie face down, arms extended forward and legs back. Simultaneously lift the upper (up to the chest) and lower (including the knees) part of the body from the floor, fixate, and then lower.

There are a large number of exercises that women can include in their bodyweight training program: sit-ups, leg raises, crunches, burpees, bicycles, glute bridges, etc.

The best exercises to get pumped up at home

We recommend that you read the article: how to gain muscle mass at home, from it you will learn how to eat properly, exercise and what you need to do to increase muscle mass.

Upper body and abdominal exercises

Push ups

To work your arms and chest, do push-ups - this is the alpha and omega of home workouts. To get the most out of them, make sure you perform the movement correctly. The back should be straight and in line with the pelvis, the pelvis should not sag. In general, the palms should be approximately shoulder-width apart, but to emphasize the chest, you can place them a little wider, and to emphasize the arms, a little narrower. Additionally, mix negative and positive incline push-ups for better muscle growth.

• Positive incline push-ups work different areas of the muscles. To perform them, simply rest not on the floor, but, say, on an armchair or coffee table.
• For negative incline push-ups, place your feet 1-2 feet (0.30-0.61 m) above the point of support and perform a regular push-up. Remember to keep your head slightly raised and your back straight.
• Each set should consist of eight to twelve repetitions. Try to do three approaches, a man can do it.

Wall push-ups

To work your shoulders and back, do push-ups on your hands against a wall. And although this exercise is not for the faint of heart, it nevertheless works great on many different muscles. To get into the right position, lie on your back against a wall. Place your hands on the floor and slowly “walk” up. From the top position, touch your feet to the wall for balance, slowly lower until your head touches the floor and return to the starting position to complete the repetition. Try to do three sets of ten reps.

• If you're nervous about doing this exercise, you can cheat a little and use a high table. Place your feet on the tabletop so that your hips and torso remain in the air, and place your hands on the floor. When doing push-ups, make sure your head is pointing strictly vertically down. This exercise is sometimes called corner push-ups.

Triceps push-ups

To work your arms, do dips or you can use a chair. A stable bench, table or chair approximately 1-2 feet (0.3-0.6 m) high will be suitable as a replacement for the bars. Place your hands on the bench behind your body, your pelvis should be in the air, your knees bent 90 degrees. Place your feet firmly on the floor and lower your pelvis until your arms are bent at about 90 degrees. Push back to the starting position. Perform three sets of 15-20 repetitions.

Plank

Planks are a great way to tone your muscles at home, strengthen your core, and are easy to modify to add more challenge to the exercise. To perform a plank, take a lying position. However, instead of resting on your palms, lower yourself onto your elbows. Tighten your gluteal muscles, straighten your back - the line between the base of your neck and the base of your pelvis should be completely straight. Hold this position for a minute, rest and repeat two more times.

• A side plank is where you stand on your side, resting on your elbow and the outside of your leg. Again, keep your back straight and focus on not sagging your pelvis.
• Plank push-ups: Start by lying down, palms shoulder-width apart, feet hip-width apart. Lower yourself onto your elbows into an elbow plank position, then rise back up into a prone position. Perform 12 reps in each set.

Ab crunches

To strengthen your abdominal and core muscles, do crunches. Crunches have been and remain the best exercises, so don't neglect them. Lie on your back, bend your knees and place your feet on the floor. Place your hands behind your head and lift your shoulders 6-8 inches (15-20 cm) above the floor, pause for a second, then slowly lower back. Immediately bend over again, keeping your eyes focused on the ceiling and your movements slow and deliberate. Try to do three sets of eight to twelve repetitions.

• Straight Leg Raise: Lie on your back with your legs completely straight, arms extended towards the ceiling and lift, keeping your legs straight. Stretch your arms and try to touch your toes, then slowly lie back to the starting position. Complete 10 reps.

For the simplest curls, use a bottle of water, a heavy book, or buy dumbbells. While other exercises require little or no additional equipment, most upper body workouts still require weights or resistance to be effective. Take a weight that is comfortable for you and try

• Biceps Curl
• Triceps extension
• Shoulder raises
• Craving for the lower back

Exercises for the muscles of the lower body

To work your leg muscles, do intense explosive cardio-style movements. And while most people don't associate muscle growth with cardio exercise, there are plenty of moves you can perform that will give you strong, toned legs. Choose 5-6 exercises and perform each for 60 seconds. Rest for 30 seconds, then move on to the next one. After you complete all six exercises, rest for 4-5 minutes and repeat 2-3 more times. Your legs will be on fire, but this way you will quickly tone them up.

Leg exercises:

• Jumping with arms swinging to the sides;
• Lunges;
• Burpee - perform a jump with arm swings, fall into a prone position. Repeat;
• Jumping Knees - Jump quickly with each leg in turn, raising your knee as high as possible. Try to keep the time of contact with the floor to a minimum:
• Side Jumps - Jump to the side, land on one leg bent at the knee, then explosively jump onto the other leg;
• Twisting the body;
• Box jumps or simple plyometric exercises.

Wall Squats

Rest your back against the wall and “sit” so that your knees are bent at 90 degrees and your pelvis is hanging in the air, as if you were in a chair. Hold this position for one minute. Rest for thirty seconds and repeat two more times.

Body weight squats

This is one of the best ways to pump yourself up. To perform a squat, stand with your feet hip-width apart, straighten your back, lift your head, and tighten your abs. Place your hands on your hips or extend them out in front of you, whichever is more comfortable for you. Squat down as if you were sitting in a chair. Your back should be kept straight, your knees should be directly above your toes, and they should not protrude forward. Focus on sinking your pelvis. Perform 10 times, then do two more sets after a short rest.

• Bulgarian split squat: Place your front foot on the floor and place your back foot on a raised platform, such as a coffee table or chair. Lower yourself into a squat, then return to the starting position. You can spread your arms out for balance or rest them on your hips. Do 12 reps on each leg.

Swing your leg up while standing on all fours . Get down on your hands and knees and lift one leg back and up, keeping your knee bent at a 90-degree angle. Do 12 reps on each leg.

Gluteal bridge

Lie on your back, bend your knees, and place your feet on the floor. Raise your pelvis so that your body forms something like a bridge. Raise your left leg in a high pelvic position, then lower it and repeat with your right leg. Perform 10 repetitions on each leg.

Lunges

Lunges are a great way to work your glutes, thighs, and hamstrings. To perform this movement, step approximately 3-4 feet (0.9-1 m) in front of you. The leg should be bent at the knee about 90 degrees. Lower your pelvis, the knee of the front leg should be above the toe, the back leg bent at the knee should almost touch the floor. Push off and step with your other leg to complete the rep. Perform 10 times on each side, then rest and do 2 more sets.

• If you have dumbbells or other weights, you can make this exercise heavier and thereby significantly increase its effectiveness. Even just a bottle in each hand is good.

Training program for pumping up all muscle groups for a guy for a week

This complex is designed for 4 days a week with a break of 1-2 days between workouts. The program helps to pump up all the main muscle groups without sports equipment:

Day 1:

1. Perform classic push-ups - 10x3.
2. Pull up on the horizontal bar – 10x3.
3. Do push-ups upside down – 10x3.
4. Do push-ups with a narrow hand position - 10x3.
5. Perform horizontal pull-ups (reverse grip) – 10x3.

Day 2:

1. Rise up onto your toes on one leg – 10x3.
2. Jump squats – 10x3.
3. Walk with lunges - 10x3.
4. Raise your legs while hanging on the horizontal bar - 10x3.
5. Cardio – 1 minute three times.

Day 3 – rest.

Day 4:

1. Do push-ups with your legs on a hill - 10x3.
2. Perform horizontal pull-ups with wide arms – 10x3.
3. Do push-ups on parallel bars – 10x3.
4. Pull up (reverse grip) – 10x3.
5. Stand in a plank position – 1 minute three times.

Day 5:

1. Jump to a hill - 10x3.
2. Squat on one leg - 10x3 for each leg.
3. Do backward lunges - 10x3.
4. Step onto the bench – 10x3.
5. Cardio – 1 minute three times.

Then follow 2 days of rest.

It is recommended to train in a circuit mode, that is, perform all exercises in 1 set without a break. Then rest for no more than 2 minutes and repeat the complex again. Before each session, stretch and finish your workout with cardio exercises.

A set of exercises for all muscle groups

For beginners, it is better to practice fullbody programs at home. They don’t need splits yet, that is, differentiation into “top”, “bottom” or by muscle groups, since the fullbody will provide an overall increase in load faster.

Workout 1

• Plank – 3 minutes, broken down
• Standing Dumbbell Press – 3 sets of 12 reps
• Pull-ups with rubber or shock absorber pull to the chest from a vertical position – 3 to 10-12
• Romanian dumbbell row or forward bend with dumbbells – 3 x 10
• Classic lunges – 3 to 12.

Workout 2

• Side plank – 3 minutes on each side
• Push-ups with weights or regular 3 to 12
• Bent-over dumbbell rows 3 x 12
• Squat with 1 dumbbell on the chest – 3 to 12-15
• Bulgarian split squats without weight – 3 x 12-15

You can perform these complexes one after another every other day. The training regimen can be set every other day, or twice a week, if recovery is really bad. Ideally, increase working weights when a strength plateau occurs - take dumbbells a little heavier, but reduce the number of repetitions by two.

A complex for pumping up muscles for a girl’s whole body

Women can train using a split system, devoting a separate day to large muscle groups. Training is carried out 3 times a week for a month, then you need to change the program.

Complex for the development of all muscle groups for girls

Day 1 (upper body):

1. Do pull-ups or push-ups to failure three times.
2. Perform horizontal pull-ups - 10 to 12 times three times.
3. Do push-ups with a narrow hand position until failure three times.
4. Perform push-ups with your feet on a hill - 15x3.

Day 2 (lower body):

1. Jump squats – 30 seconds three times.
2. Walk with lunges - 20 times for each leg three times.
3. Raise your toes on the platform to failure three times.

Day 3 (muscle corset):

1. Perform a sit-up (lifting your body up while sitting) – 15x3.
2. Lift your legs while lying down - 15x3.
3. Perform diagonal twists - 20x3.
4. Bicycle – 30 seconds three times.
5. Stand in the plank for 1 minute three times.

You can study for 3 days in a row or take a break for 1-2 days. As in the previous complex, all exercises are performed without a break; the pause between sets should not exceed 1 minute.

How to create a training program

Set up a schedule so that you do exercises for each muscle group twice a week. You don't need a coach to create an effective training plan. There are a few simple rules that are easy to remember, following which you can get the most out of your exercises and quickly and safely get your muscles in order.

• Between similar workouts there should be 1-2 days of rest. If you work on your chest on Tuesday, don't return to it until Thursday or Friday.
• Group exercises for similar muscle groups in one workout. For example, many chest movements also work the triceps: perform them on the same day.
• Make sure you have 1-2 rest days where you do not engage in any physical activity or it is kept to a minimum. Your body needs time to rest and recover to build muscle.

To pump up quickly at home and do it safely, focus on proper form rather than a few extra reps. It is necessary that all training movements be smooth, confident and slow, and not torn and crooked. And although all exercises are different, the following points are relevant for everyone:

• Inhale in a neutral or relaxed position. Exhale when tense.
• Make sure your back is always straight and not bent or twisted.
• Hold at the extreme point of the movement for 1-2 seconds, then slowly return to the starting position.

When doing a full-body workout, don't forget to stretch. Yoga is another option that allows you to work large muscle groups and can help strengthen your muscles and gain flexibility. Calm and relaxed activities are good for days when you are resting, this will allow you to achieve more during hard training and provide variety to the program. If you don't know which exercises to choose so that they don't require special equipment, you can try yoga.

• YouTube is an endless source of yoga tutorials for any level of practitioner, so don't be intimidated if you're new to it: you'll learn how to do it at home without any special equipment.

Try to make the last 2-3 reps of each set difficult but not impossible. If you really want to build muscle, you have to put in the effort. Your body is the best indicator of your training, so keep working the muscle until you fatigue it. By the end of each set you should be struggling, so that the last 2-3 reps require complete focus and dedication.

Set goals early. If you recklessly decide to do three sets of twenty reps, you will likely be exhausted by the end of the set. But if the goal turns out to be too easy, you can always add more.

Overcoming difficulties is not the same as risking injury. If your muscles, joints or bones ache instead of burning or getting tired, you need to stop and rest.

Main conclusions

It is quite possible to pump up your entire body at home without sports equipment; to do this you need to follow these recommendations:

1. Eat right.
2. Create a strength training program.
3. Do cardio exercises.
4. Hone your technique, watch your breathing, gradually increase the number of repetitions and approaches.
5. Warm up before training, and do stretching or cardio after it.
6. Give your muscles time to rest so they have time to recover.

Home workouts with your own weight are an excellent basis for further progress. In order for the muscles to continue to grow, you need to use sports equipment (weights, dumbbells, barbells).