I’ve posted here and there, had an occasional say in a topic or two, but I’ve come to a strange spot. I’ve had troubled times lately, and to top it off, my car has recently died: combined with my atrociously low income, that means that I’ll be biking and taking the bus for the foreseeable future.
So here’s the issue: my wonderful new gym is an easy 8 miles away: not an issue on a bike - unless I’m rocking a lower-body workout, which would make biking back honestly dangerous.
I have a decent amount of floor space in my college-house bedroom, as well as two 25lb dumbbells.
So what can I do to maintain strength and size until I can get back to my beloved squat racks? I’ve considered Tabatas once a week with different exercises, perhaps buying a pull-up bar… thoughts?
maintain strength with 2 25lb DB’s boy ifs its any good amount of strength not much bro LOL. you can do unilateral work pistols etc id get outside and find heavy things to lift rocks cars etc.
1 legged jump from deep squat or two legged jump with dumbells
1-legged squat
lunges
Natural Glute Ham raise with or without dumbells (find something to hook the feet under)
Chest and back
1-arm pushups or planches
1-arm reverse rows or two arm suspended bodyweight
pullups
levers (gymnastics move)
Shoulders
Handstand pushups (from minimal range of movement working up to maximal range of movement
upside down bodyweight shrugs
Dumbell laterals
Arms
Dips on chairs
diamond pushups
curls (hang stuff off the dumbells when they get too light.)
Midsection and lower back
crunches or handwalks from feet out to full extension and back
side planks for time(put the dumbell on your hip when they get too easy)
hyperextensions (if you can find a playground somewhere you can use the monkeybars)
playgrounds have a lot of great stuff to exercise on - and they’re free. You can find weird heavy stuff to pick up and maybe put over your head all over the place too. You’ll look odd, but nobody will say anything because you’re obviously crazy…
A pair 25s isn’t much. I’m no expert of course, but about the only way I can see to maintain a high level of strength is go unilateral. Single-leg squats would probably be your best bet for lower-body strength (remember you can squat to a different heights by using a “box” if they’re too difficult to do through a full ROM). They won’t do a lot for your hip extensors, though.
Perhaps you could do single-leg deadlifts with the 50 lbs., though that still isn’t a lot of resistance, and unless you can come up with a more creative exercise, you’ll probably lose a little bit of strength in that area. A pullup bar would be great, as you could do weighted pullups with the dumbbell between your feet or knees. T
hat doesn’t leave much for pressing strength, though. You might do handstand pushups against a wall for that, as 25s wouldn’t do you any good for pressing. I guess if you could figure out a way to put the dumbbells on your back you could do weighted pushups.
Well mates, I know it’s not going to be easy, that’s why I turned to you boys instead of going it alone.
I reckon I’ll get a pull-up bar, as that’ll broaden my options, and there are a couple of parks with playgrounds around - I hadn’t even considered the possibilities there.
For a couple of years, the local playground was the only gym I could afford, but I got pretty strong for my size at the time.
Your can develop a high degree of relative strength from a playground, which will serve you well when you get back to the gym. Plus, the change is likely to shock your system into more gains.
Check out www.rosstraining.com/ and his book “Never Gymless” for more ideas. He has a lot of inexpensive fitness and strength solutions for the budgetarily challenged.
I agree with skidmark - look at rosstraining.com for some great ideas. A good one is to pick up a sledgehammer and hit a tire with it.
Also, never underestimate push-ups: you can do them one-handed, with your feet elevated, clappers (clap once or twice, depending on strength), handstands, fingertips, diamonds, knuckles, elbows in, wide grip, etc.