weight free strength training

[Babeinchrist]

Does anybody know of any strength training exercises in which you just use your body weight, like push-ups and crunches. I need to build muscle mainly my upper body but I don't have any dumbells.
Thanks
TTFN<><

[bigkat]

The ones that I do the most of are pullups and dips. I have this thing in my house that I can do them on. But before I got it, I used to go down to the park and do them on the playground equipment.
Another exercise that you can do at home is kind of like dips. You sit on a bench with your legs straight out in front of you and rest your hands on the edge of the bench with your fingers facing forward. Then you basically do the same thing as a dip. You can put your feet on something higher than the ground (like another chair) to make it harder.
I have a couple of favorite exercises that I used to do a lot at the park when I was training for pole vaulting. For one of them, I'd hang from a bar like I was going to do a pullup. I'd bring my feet up to my hands and rotate my legs side to side like a windshield wiper. Those were tough. The other one we called 'Bubkas' because we'd seen Sergei Bubka do them (he holds the record in the pole vault). It starts out the same, you hang from a bar and bring your feet to your hands. But then you straighten your back and pull with your arms and shoot your legs into the air. Those were very tough.
We also used to do handstand pushups. I could never get my balance right so I pretty much always had to use a wall.
Some of these are much harder than others, but if you can't do them at first, you can have a friend help you until you're strong enough to do them on your own.
I think that's all that I can think of for upper body. There's a ton of stuff that you can do for lower body though.

[Anne]

If you don't have any dumbells you can start off using soup cans :D Or other things in your house that you can grip onto.

[bigkat]

If you don't have any dumbells you can start off using soup cans Or other things in your house that you can grip onto.


Yeah, if you want to increase the resistance, start shopping at Costco! :D