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 The tools of the trade: weights, benches, racks, dumbbells, barbells, excercycles, treadmills, stairmasters, thighmasters (har har!), and all sorts of machines. All have their place in a gym (except maybe the thighmaster), find out what they are best used for.

Or for the more spartan trainer: heavy books, bags, jugs, chairs, and anything else you might find at home. Can't afford a gym pass or just don't want to make a public appearance. Here you'll find some tips on working out at home, using anything you can to build a better body!

Poor Mans Home Gym

Not everyone can afford expensive equipment or a membership to a local gym. Or maybe you just want to start out at home and build a base before investing more in your physical development. Whatever your reason, you want to get into shape without spending big bucks.

Is it possible? Absolutely! Here are a few exercises you can do at home at virtually no cost. At the end I'll give some tips of how you can slowly expand your 'home gym', listing useful equipment that offer good value.

Aside from being inexpensive, working out at home saves you a lot of time as well. No driving to the gym, getting changed, waiting for the equipment. Eventually you may have to buy some equipment or visit a gym as your body demands heavier loads, but for starters, you can get a lot done at home!

The Tools

Here are some items you could use for resistance training that you would find in most any house hold:
  • chairs for dips, leg-raised pushups, pullups
  • broom, shovel, rake, or any other bar for pullups or twists
  • sofa or bed for extended range of motion crunches and hamstring lifts
  • water jugs for curls, shoulder raises, triceps extensions
  • luggage for more weight
  • backpack loaded with heavy books
  • phone book for calf raises
Sure you might feel silly using some of these items, but who cares! Your at home, no one can see you, except room mates or loved ones (who'd hopefully be understanding and supportive, and maybe even join you)!

Believe it or not, I've used such exercises while traveling when I couldn't find a gym!

The Exercises

Back:

Pullups with broom or some kind of bar between chairs.
Maybe buy a chin-up bar for a doorway if above is too easy.

Chest:

Pushups, pushups with feet up on chair, close-grip & wide grip pushups.
Dips between chairs.

Triceps:

Put hands on a chair behind you, put feet up on chair in front of you, and do dips (like dips between two benches).
Maybe to some triceps kickbacks or one-arm overhead extensions with a jug of

Shoulders:

Lateral raises with a 1 gallon/4 liter jug of milk/water. Maybe grab 2 if you can, or fill a backpack with books. Do one arm at a time, front & side raises, maybe even seated leaning over raises for rear shoulders.

Biceps:

Use jugs of water/backpack full of books, or even a full suitcase for curls.

Quads:

Lunges, lunges with a heavy backpack, squats with a heavy backpack (hung around the front for better balance). Jumping (good for power), and sprinting is another great way to work your entire body, especially legs.

Hams:

Lying on the floor, put feet up on sofa or chair, lift your body off the ground. Good mornings (legs straight, weight on your back, bending over keeping back slightly arched) with a backpack.

Calves:

Calf raises on a chair or block of wood/stack of books, phone book. For more weight do one leg at a time, maybe holding on to some weight like a heavy backpack.

Abs:

Crunches on the floor, crunches on a sofa with shoulders slightly hanging over the edge (to increase range of motion). Hip raises (lying on floor, hold legs straight up and lift just your hips, lower back shouldn't come off ground) for lower abs. Side crunches and twists for obliques.

Investing more Money in a Home Gym

This is really the poor-mans workout, but I think you could get pretty far with it. Here I'll list some items you might want to consider acquiring to expand your home gym from simplest to most elaborate. You don't need much to get a quality workout!

For the cheapest home gym, I would recommend buying an adjustable dumbbell set (probably around $100-200), a Swiss ball that you could use as your bench (~$30), and a chin-up bar(~$30-60).

There are tons of exercises you can do on a Swiss ball, and the imbalance it provides makes for some wicked stabilizer muscles!

I would stick with mostly free weights: they cost a lot less, lead to better, more balanced muscular development, take up less room, and are expandable.

If you really want to get serious, and are considering buying a bench, I would recommend something like a squat rack and a simple adjustable bench. This let's you do any exercise imaginable.

A good squat rack might cost you on the order of $500 dollars, a good barbell set around $200-300, and an adjustable bench maybe $100-200. Here are some exercises you could do with this combination.
  • Squats, lunges
  • Deadlifts
  • Chinups/Pullups
  • Barbell rows
  • Incline/flat bench press
  • Shoulder press
  • Shrugs
  • Barbell curls
  • Close grip bench, lying triceps extensions/French press
  • Upright rows
  • Standing calf raises
  • Stiff-legged deadlifts
  • Good mornings
  • Wrist curls
That covers pretty much every bodypart! If you have any questions or doubts, email me and I'll clarify any exercise! Or just let me know if you can think of any other good exercises you could do with this set. Add a decent set of dumbbells and you can do virtually any exercise imaginable!

Getting into Machines and Muscle Specialization

If you're thinking of getting some machines, here is a quick tip to get the most for your money: Consider buying a machine with an adjustable pulley from way high to way low. With various attachments, you could use such a machine for a wide variety of cable exercises:
  • pulldowns(close/wide, suppinated/pronated grip)
  • triceps pressdowns(reverse grip, one arm at a time, with a rope)
  • rotator cuff exercises(internal/external rotators)
  • shoulder raises(in front of body, to side of body, etc.)
  • adductor/hip flexor training(with a foot attachment)
  • cable rows(sitting on floor)
  • one arm cable curls
  • and more!
Here's a short list of gadgets you might consider for specific training:
  • Seated calf raise machine (hard to target soleus any other way)
  • Decline bench(for better French press, decline bench press, comfy dumbbell rows)
  • Dip bars for dips
  • Seated bench(~80-90 degree angle in case adjustable bench doesn't go that high)
  • Preacher bench for more intense biceps workouts (hard to get a better stretch).
If you really want to, you can go out and buy the newest Super Muscle Machine 2000 with dozens of pulleys and cables and attachments, but I think you are best served if you stick with more basic equipment. It's less likely to breakdown, it develops your stabilizer muscles better, and it's cheaper.

A Word about Smith Machines

Smith machines are nice in that they stabilize the weight for you, reducing risk of immediate injury. I say immediate injury, because using such a machine continuously can lead to a greater risk of injury in the long run than using free weights to begin with.

Since they stabilize the weight for you, you don't use your own stabilizer muscles as much. This allows you to handle more weight because often times the smaller, weaker stabilizer muscles give out before the major muscle which you are trying to train does.

I have heard of two opposing ideologies of how to incorporate a smith machine into your workout. First, you could use it to pre-exhaust your major muscle before moving to a free-weight exercise. Secondly, you could use it after a free-weight exercise to continue training a muscle after stabilizers have given out.

I don't know which is better if any, but the key point is to not use the smith machine exclusively. As for the greater risk of injury, this comes from the fact that if you don't use free weights, your major muscle gets stronger and your stabilizer muscles atrophy. When you do go to free weights, or lift something in everyday life, you may overload your stabilizers and cause some serious damage.

The moral of the story, use Smith machines only to supplement your regular, free-weight routine, and you'll be fine!

Last Modified:
February 10, 2000

   Exercise is not without its risks and this or any other exercise program may result in injury. To reduce the risk of injury in your case, consult your doctor before beginning this exercise program. The advice presented is in no way intended as a substitute for medical counsulation. The developer of Muscle101.com disclaims any liability from and in connection with any information conveyed on this web page. As with any exercise program, if at any point during your workout you begin to feel faint, dizzy, or have physical discomfort, you should stop immediately and consult a physician.
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