How to Build Muscle Without Lifting Weights

Lifting weights is the traditional, effective and most popular way to build muscle-but it is not the only way to achieve this goal.
Prohibitive costs of gym memberships, travel time and fear of injury are some of the reasons a person may wish to find an alternative to weight lifting.

Things You'll Need

• Preferred equipment (tubing, rowing machine--optional)
• Water
• Towel
• Comfortable clothing
• Supportive shoes

Instructions

1. Avoid generic workouts and nutritional plans.
   Muscle building requires attention to nutrition, muscular stress and rest. Genetics will influence how easily and how quickly your body responds to your efforts to build muscle. However, determination and professional help can overcome the challenges of human genetics.

2. Obtain medical clearance before embarking on any fitness program.
   For some people, this is a mandatory starting point because of pre-existing health issues. Building muscle requires stress beyond personal comfort to trigger muscle growth and these stresses can in themselves cause other health problems. The physiological stress during a workout is likely to temporarily increase heart rate, increase blood pressure, affect breathing, stress muscles and ligaments, and stress the skeletal system.

3. Address each component of the muscle building formula for success.
   Nutrition with a higher than average protein intake plus increased small meal frequency plus nutritional supplementation plus resistance training plus one to two days rest per body part worked equals muscle growth.
   Cardio exercises should be done, but 30 minutes of low to moderate intensity walking pre-resistance training should be sufficient. High intensity, 30-plus minute cardio workouts tend to lead to weight loss, which may interfere with the fitness goal of muscle building.

4. Exchange your current diet for a muscle building one.
   Protein is the nutritional building block for muscle growth. Eggs, lean meats, soy, and other supplements should be increased during the training period. Calorie intake will also need to be increased but to avoid increasing body fat, look for low/no fat ways to do this, such as fruit smoothies, protein shakes and so on. For more detailed help on creating muscle building meal plans, consult a nutritionist or registered dietitian. The average personal trainer is not qualified to create a personalized diet plan, however, they can recommend a pre-existing generic program for you.

5. Create a workout space that meets your budget and preference.
   There are a variety of weight training tools available that can deliver muscle-building benefits without the use of weights. The Bowflex, treadmills and treadclimber machines, for example, have effective resistance options. Rubber tubing, partner-delivered resistance, and using your own body weight as its own resistance are some additional effective ways to build muscle without the use of dumbbells or weighted equipment.
   Special note: Rubber tubing is cheap, easy to pack and travel with and comes in varying degrees of resistance and is without a doubt the best alternative to weights for muscle building resistance.
   Muscle building goals vary and so will the training approach. Decide if you want to build enough muscle to get a defined "cut" look, build muscle for strength regardless of whether it is externally visible or not, or if you are a hard core body builder looking to bulk up body mass and weight with lean, yet pumped, muscles.

6. Do the workouts that focus on muscle building.
   While level of resistance, repetitions and frequency may vary, there are some basic muscle building exercises that are used by all. Squats, pushups, chest presses, bicep curls, hamstring curls, tricep dips, pull-ups and calf raises are some of the basics upon which variations are built.

7. Get some rest.
   Rest is highly underrated when it comes to its impact on muscle building. Rest is vital and it is during the rest phase that the growth actually happens. Unlike weight loss training, muscle gain training stresses the muscles beyond fatigue to the point of soreness. Over-training leads to excessive stress, which causes the opposite effect desired. If you train your upper body today, it is necessary to wait one to two days before training that area again. Muscle builders who visit the gym regularly will tend to have split training programs alternating upper and lower body, or arms versus legs, so as to allow rest before repeating the stress.

Tips & Warnings

• Exercise form and execution is important to avoid injury and to accomplish the goal of the exercise. Too many people do the "looks like it" version because they never learned the correct way or they are cheating. Ultimately, if you are making the effort to do the exercise, you may as well make the effort to ensure you are doing it correctly. Consider using a personal trainer for enough sessions to learn the correct form and execution of the exercises in your program before going it alone. Don't get frustated if your results are different than others. At the genetic level, muscle growth is influenced by the types of, and the combination ratios of, those muscle tissues. Ectomorphs tend to be leaner with smaller shoulders and chests and have the biggest natural disadvantage to muscle building. Mesomorphs are the naturally athletic builds with bodies that quickly respond to muscle conditioning and show results quickly as well. Endomorphs tend to be rounder in their physiques and while they may build muscle with some ease, that muscle will be hidden under the extra fat their bodies tend to have and want to hold on to. Body type combinations are also prevalent such as endo mesomorphs and ecto mesomorphs. All body types can and should have a muscle building strategy in their health agenda because muscle impacts metabolic rate-the rate at which the body processes all its basic functions. However, personal goals and the approach for successful outcomes will need to be customized and it may be wise to seek the services of a personal trainer at least long enough to learn the correct execution of the exercises to avoid injury.

• Resistance is a key component to muscle building and this type of training causes minor tears to the muscles, which in the process of the body repairing itself, muscle growth happens. However, post-workout muscle soreness is likely to be uncomfortable and you may want to consult your doctor about taking over-the-counter NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as ibuprofen for relief.

Resources

• Muscle Building Nutrition
• Resistance Training
• Plan your healthy meals and menus
• Muscle Building Supplement information
• Youtube: Home Chest Workout