Il be going home for a month soon from university.
i won’t have access to weights, i have some bands and some dumbbells which will just about take care of rear and lateral delts, nothing too heavy.
i was wondering if people could help me put together a challenging well thought out plan, I’m thinking exercises (below) possibly in circuit form or quick progression. Was thinking of cutting, would it be a bad idea, trying to cut, while not lifting heavy enough to maintain strength/muscle?
Sprints - HIIT style, will this cover legs well enough?
push ups - possibly between sprints
band pull aparts
bulgarian split squats if sprints aren’t enough
leg raises
lateral raises
chin ups off near by trees (possibly)
there are probably more exercises i can do, which i haven’t thought of, so mention any if you have some good ones.
alternatively has anyone had any luck with those home workout video things, e.g. insanity or anything like that
I’ve seen a few articles that promote high rep, 100 reps up to 10,000 reps, i wouldn’t mind the 100 rep challenges but with bodyweight exercises and band exercises.
I might have a different philosophy than most, but I think if you are cutting you should reserve muscle by avoiding unnecessary volume. Do what you need to do.
Pushups
Pullups
Inverted Rows
Lunges
Split Squats
Step-ups
Band pullaparts
Band RDL
(there are also a lot of bodyweight variations to hit other muscle groups better if you feel like you need more)
I would do enough reps to get good work in, but don’t destroy yourself.
My view is that just because you’re doing bodyweight exercises doesn’t mean that normal set/rep schemes go out of the window. People seem to have the idea that if you’re exercising using bodyweight you should do hundreds of reps or circuits or something.
If your goal is strength or size then doing lots of push-ups and lateral raises will do absolutely nothing for you. In fact regardless of what your goal is they will do nothing for you.
The key is to use exercises that are difficult and that you can only do for a traditional rep range. You’d never do sets of 40 on the bench press so why do sets of 40 push-ups? Instead you should do sets of 5 one-arm push-ups for example. The same applies with legs - sprinting is good for getting fit, but if you want to train your legs then you need to do something like pistol squats - a challenging movement that you can manage for 5 or 8 or 12 reps or whatever, not something that you can do for 20 or 30 or 40 reps.
If you were planning a weights routine you’d want to use a few basic heavy compound exercises that hit the main movements (push, pull, hinge, squat) and then possibly supplement it with isolation stuff.
You should take the same approach with bodyweight training - use dips, one arm push-ups or handstand push-ups for your push movements, use pull-ups and inverted rows for your pull movements, use pistol squats and split squats for your squat movements and use single leg hip thrusts and back extensions for your hinge movements. Challenging movements are the key.
Once you’ve covered the basics like that feel free to add in lateral raises and band pull-aparts etc.
If I were in your position (and I have been) I’d do 3-4 fullbody days per week, alternating between the following 2 days:
Push: dips
Pull: pull-ups
Squat: pistol squat
Push: one-arm push-ups
Pull: inverted row
Hinge: back extension
Tag isolation exercises on at the end of a session as you see fit.
I was gonna say try to achieve calisthenic PR’s for the time being. Or grab an axe and chop wood, find a solid rope and start climbing.
Find a hill and sprint up. tons of options, good luck
I would say divide things up, do not just do a huge circuit.
For Upper Body you have a few options
Giant set to make Pushups more difficult
For this you would do Lateral Raises->Front Raises->Push ups.
This will tire your shoulders putting the emphasis on your chest and tri’s
Band Resisted Pushups
Self explanatory
DB’s in backpack Pushups
Self explanatory
Also doing pullups, band pull aparts. and rear delt raises.
Dips if you can find a good place to do them
For Lower Body
Deadlift- Just find something heavy to lift.
Squat- Depending on the number of DB’s/weight put them in a backpack and squat or get someone to get on your back and squat.
Worst case scenario save these for last and use what DB’s you have in a backpack
Lunges- Use DB’s if not heavy enough put in backpack
If you can not get things heavy enough with all of those then start you lower workout with hard sprints or limit rests in sets.
I would say nothing over 20 reps just like most lifting in the gym.