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Exercise you can do without Equipment (or money)

yucatanboy2

yucatanboy2

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 15, 2006
Messages
1,913
Location
Crazytown USA
Ok guys,

So, i've heard people say "I'd work out but i don't have the money or equipment", and I've felt that way at times in my life. I'm trying to counter that now, and I do crunches and pushups pretty much every morning now. I wanted to put together a list of things people can do without spending money, buying equipment, etc. (this includes bikes, lets assume this person doesn't have one).

This list would also help people who say "i don't have any time to work out" because they could do this in the morning when they get up or after work, etc.

Note: I am doing this kind of exercise for now, as all i have in terms of "equipment" is two 10lb weights. I'll admit I pretty much know jack squat about exercise/physical fitness in general.

Here's what comes to mind for me (and these are the things I've been doing):

walking! Why not walk to and/or from work?! (not running, because lets say this person doesn't have any decent running shoes).
crunches (i've read that situps don't work the abs as much as crunches)
pushups
stretching exercises
breathing exercises/meditation/tai chi

So, can you guys help me out here and educate me and bluelight on other exercises that one could do without equipment or money? Remember, lets assume this person doesn't have a weight bench, pull-up bar, or a bike.
 
if u wont even get a pullup bar youre really limited

if u have netflix you can watch self work out videos there and just follow along with them, aside from that its the stuff you listed along with 1 legged leg lifts like a 1 legged squat holding yourself up with the wall
 
Hindu pushups. Seriously, look into them. It is the staple exercise of my routine. Do a few of them and you'll feel your entire upper body pushed to the limit, including all of your arms, chest, and stomach/ back muscles. It is really a well-rounded exercise. This, combined with leg stretches/ squats, martial arts, plyometrics makes up 90% of my routine easily.
 
Well for this thread lets assume that the person doesn't have a pullup bar. In terms of me, several years ago I used to have one that went on the doorframe, but it really fucked up the doorframe and fell off a few times (I'm like 240 lbs, so you could see how doing pullups and such with frequency could cause damage or lead to it falling off). I'm wary of that happening again and don't want to pay a bunch of money to my apartment when it messes up the paint/doorframe.

Good tip on the netflix if someone already has a subscription. You can do yoga or pilates without much/any equipment at all in the comfort of your own home (my wife does pilates).

Anyone else got suggestions/ideas? Keep em coming!
 
I cancelled my gym membership last week. I started trail running.
I have hand weights at home which I bought second hand.
I have a yoga mat.
I have the internet for workout videos.

Yeah, it does cost some money.
 
Could have a look at Pavel's book "The Naked Warrior"? It's dedicated to bodyweight exercises and is by a world-leading kettlebell trainer :)
 
Trail walking/hiking is free, fun, and doesn't require any special equipment.

If you can't afford weights, depending on how much of a novice you are, you could lift large soup cans or two liters of soda.

I also bike places under 10 miles away. Though you said no bicycles. :P

NeighborMike said:
if u wont even get a pullup bar youre really limited
Click to expand...
Not everyone has a house that can accommodate a pull-up bar--My ceilings are much too low.
 
handstand pushups are pretty decent
feet above your head, hands on the floor, arms extended. lean against a wall
lower and raise yourself until muscle exhaustion

tricep dips
place a chair behind you and extend your legs in front of you facing away from the chair.
place your hands behind you on the seat of the chair
lower and raise yourself to muscle exhaustion.
http://inthisweek.com/images/photos/l_683400.jpg

shadow boxing
place a calendar on the wall in front of you.
select random squares to aim for
use quick, consecutive jabs alternating to different squares on the calendar
exhale as you jab

jumprope
self-explanatory

there are a ton of options you just need to get creative.
body weight training is intense and yields extremely positive results
 
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Here is a short list of exercises you can perform, free of charge, (almost) anywhere in the world:

Pushups
Running (endurance or sprinting) on a nearby school track
Hiking / walking
Swimming (most small cities / suburbs have free pools)
Pullups (you can use a wide door top, a tree branch, a clothing line "T", etc. You don't need any equipment to do that)
Crunches / ab exercises
Squats / lunges / plyometrics
Climbing
Stabilizing any of the above workout exercises (pausing at the bottom of a pushup, squatting to parallel and holding it, etc.)
Par-fucking-kour.
 
Yoga. It's free on the internet. I have never paid for a class. I do yoga every day.
 
Use the resistance that the water offers! If you CAN swim of course.

-Learn to clear or equal your sinuses to the depth of the water........(type in Clearing sinuses scuba diving on youtube.com)
-in chest deep water, bend your knees until your thighs are parallel with the bottom and then thrust up explosivly out of the water. While your torso is out of the water, take a breath before going back down and exhaling. You will want to compleate a inhalation and the eventual exhalation accordingly. If you do it this way, it will be both anerobic and aerobic.
 
OverDone said:
handstand pushups are pretty decent
feet above your head, hands on the floor, arms extended. lean against a wall
lower and raise yourself until muscle exhaustion
Click to expand...

You make it sound so easy! I've tried a few times and can't really even do a handstand against a wall, think I need some help the first few goes.

The biggest problem I have is having a place to do some of this stuff. Living in an apartment I feel limited to things that wouldn't make a huge racket in the apartment below, and the ceiling is a little low for jumping. And I really don't want to go out in the (shared) yard or something and do burpees :(

But I do have a pretty sweet bike, just need it to stop raining all the time...
 
skillet said:
The biggest problem I have is having a place to do some of this stuff. Living in an apartment I feel limited to things that wouldn't make a huge racket in the apartment below, and the ceiling is a little low for jumping. And I really don't want to go out in the (shared) yard or something and do burpees :(

But I do have a pretty sweet bike, just need it to stop raining all the time...
Click to expand...
Is your bed low/sturdy enough for you to do some of the noisier exercises on? My floor creaks like you wouldn't believe, making it tough to do even exercises like yoga without the person I live with being "What are you doing?" so I've taken to do stretches/yoga/thelike on my bed. :P I'm not suggesting you start doing the jumping exercises on your bed (if your ceilings are as low as mine, that'd be bad :P).

As far as biking in the rain goes, if it's just a light rain and you're not biking to somewhere, who cares if you get all wet? I biked home seven miles in the pouring rain/thunderstorm and it wasn't that bad aside from not being able to see at times. While I wouldn't suggest biking in a thunderstorm like I did, I highly encourage biking in light rain. Yes, you will get wet. Yes, you will get road grim on you. Yes, it is fun. :D
 
skillet said:
You make it sound so easy! I've tried a few times and can't really even do a handstand against a wall, think I need some help the first few goes.

The biggest problem I have is having a place to do some of this stuff. Living in an apartment I feel limited to things that wouldn't make a huge racket in the apartment below, and the ceiling is a little low for jumping. And I really don't want to go out in the (shared) yard or something and do burpees :(

But I do have a pretty sweet bike, just need it to stop raining all the time...
Click to expand...

Don't sweat that too much, I can't do very many either but if you can try and complete one than work from there (have someone hold your legs if needed). Do one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one at night. The pain in the ass body weight exercises seem to pay off the best.

I'm kinda jealous, I want a mountain bike so fucking bad I can taste it!
 
Just make a routine out of body weight exercises (calisthenics) like push ups, crunches/sit ups, squats, pull ups, chin ups, dips, and so on. There are some really great books out there that have huge listings of body weight exercises with instructions on how to do them. "Convict Conditioning" seems popular, but it's pretty expensive. Mark Lauren's "You are your own gym" is much cheaper and has a great listing of body weight exercises including progressions to more difficult versions. Cheapest yet is that, with the internet, you can probably find tons of body weight exercise instructional videos and write-ups.

For an easy introduction to body weight exercises you can check out simplefit.org. I recommend learning more body weight exercises than they have on simplefit, but it's a start, especially if you don't know what to do in the direction of getting into exercise.
 
You do not need running shoes to run, so there is no excuse to not run.
That's what we humans were supposed to do in the first place, and the more "shoe" you have on, the more you're going to hurt yourself.
When it comes to shoes and running, less really is more.

Once you get better at running everything becomes easier, because your heart and lungs work better to give you more energy constantly.
And then everything everyone else has said. Can't really add on that.
But definitely run. For a long time. You'll learn things about yourself.

And definitely try running while you're stoned. There are no words, my friend.

EDIT: To clarify, you could even go running barefoot. It's actually way better for you. Go to a park or something and jog around.
If you don't have any parks, man up, jog on the sidewalk barefoot. I've done it in New Orleans.
Your feet will toughen up quick, and they'll shrink a shoe size or so in about a year.
 
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Running is great, on mountain trails and stuff, but I hate doing it in the city. The shrinking feet would be useful though!

I think I'm gonna try and learn to do pullups from the narrow bit of the doorframe, so I can be like this guy =D And alternate fingertip pushups with knuckle pushups. Long way to go though, I can barely support half my weight so far (hanging, I can kinda do the pushups).

The hindu squats are pretty good, just tried it. You could get a pretty good cardio workout I guess if you could build up to doing it for 20-30 min or more.

And I really want to find a good place to try parkour, preferably with no people because I'm sure I'll look like an idiot at first!
 
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