How to Weight Train at Home

One of the best things about weight training is that you really don't need an expensive gym membership or a ton of fancy equipment to get results. You can weight train at home with inexpensive equipment. You can even get weight training advantages without any equipment at all. You can use your own body as resistance weight to help you tone up, lose weight or gain strength.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Weight Train at Home Without Weights

1. Clear out a workout space in your home. Pay special attention to relocating things you could stumble over.
2. Warm up with stretching and a brief cardiovascular workout of around 5 minutes.
3. Lay on your stomach on the floor. Place your hands a few inches wider than your shoulders. Perform a push up using only one arm, even if you have to kneel to do so. Lifting your body with only one arm focuses the weight training on one muscle group.
4. Switch to the other arm and repeat the process. Add more reps (number of push ups in one sitting) when you no longer reach muscle exhaustion.
5. Continue with that arm until you cannot push yourself up anymore.
6. Move on to lunges. Stand with one hand lightly resting on a chair for balance. Step forward with one foot while slightly lowering your torso. Your forward knee should be above your foot. Your other knee should be in a 90 degree angle when performed correctly.
7. Continue your lunges by stepping forward with the other foot. Keep going, alternating sides, until you have preformed about fifteen repetitions. You can also lunge walking forward, rather than remaining in one place.
8. Work in some calf raises. Stand on the floor and hold a chair for balance if necessary. Slowly raise up on your toes. Then lower your heels back down almost to the floor. Remember to keep your calf taut through both the upward and downward motion. Repeat for 15 to 20 reps.
9. Train your thighs and firm your behind with squats. Stand with feet shoulder width apart. Keep your abdominal (stomach) muscles taut throughout. Slowly lower your torso as if you were sitting down, keeping your head up. Slowly return to almost standing and repeat.

Tips & Warnings

• Perform your weight training slowly. Good form requires you to keep control of the weight on both the lift and the descent of each repetition.
• Weight training using only resistance of your body will take longer to produce results.

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