Build Muscle At Home – Your Core
Who doesn’t want to build muscle at home? I mean it saves you a trip to the gym or even having a gym membership for that matter. The beauty is you can literally exercise however and whenever you want and still build muscle at home or wherever you are! That’s what the DIY lifestyle is all about!
Can you build muscle at home?
In the last 5 years or so there has been a noticeable increase in ‘casual’ people getting into the gym, building muscle, and effectively taking up bodybuilding as a lifestyle hobby.
The casual gym-goers are people like you and me, the kind who want to look good, feel better about themselves but really just looking to lead a healthier life in general.
In all likelihood, we still won’t be hitting the gym at 5am, giving up alcohol and carbs or entering iron man competitions!
The gym is a personal pet peeve of mine, I don’t really feel that unless you are a hardcore bodybuilder or athlete, it is needed. We tend to waste anywhere from $40-$100 per month on gym memberships, which over the course of a lifetime quickly adds up to $1000’s.
Add the expensive clothing to the list that people feel they need to buy to look good there and that cost quickly sky-rocket.
In reality, there are plenty of things you can do to build muscle at home, get a cardio workout or increase flexibility.
No Equipment Needed – Core Strength
If you are new to working out and are looking to build muscle at home then you need to achieve a good base level of strength first, and it is important that this is across your entire body, not just in one area i.e. biceps/triceps.
These exercises work well as they use your own body weight to build muscle at home, therefore there heavier/more out of shape you are, to begin with, the quicker the results!
So let’s look at a few exercises to try as part of a workout then:
Pushups/Pike Pushups
For beginners, pushups are great, they work all of your upper body including arms and shoulders, if you are more intermediate and looking for a bigger challenge then try pike pushups which are bending over at the waist to create an upside-down ‘V’ shape while performing pushups.
Sets: 4 Reps: 10-12 Rest: 60 seconds
Spiderman Crawl
The Spiderman crawl is exactly as it sounds, you start off in a pushup position and then crawl forward with your right arm and left leg, keeping as low to the floor as possible. You want to almost graze your elbow as you swing your leg around. You then repeat with your left and right leg. To make this exercise a little harder, try doing it backward.
Sets: 6 Reps: 10 Rest: 30 seconds
Spiderman Pushups
A similar starting position to the Spiderman Crawl but this time combined with a pushup. Stick your right knee out to the side and try to touch your right elbow with it, as you do that do your push-up and then return to the starting position. Put your right knee back in and this time do it with your left knee.
Sets: 6 Reps: 10 on each leg Rest: 30 seconds
Alternating Side Plank
A side plank is done by lying on your side, placing your forearm on the ground perpendicular to your body, and twisting your body towards the ground. When you have done this, switch around and do it on your other side.
Sets: 4 Reps: 5 on each arm Rest: 30 seconds
Squats/Alternating Split Squat Jump
The infamous squats, everyone dislikes them but they are a necessary evil! For those who are a bit more experienced, try split squats. Stand in a split stance and then when you jump into the air, land on your opposite foot and alternate as you do them.
Sets: 4 Reps: 20 (or 10 on each leg) Rest: 60 seconds
Wrap-Up
This is one of the best home workout plans and one that I have seen some impressive results with if it is stuck to.
By the end of it, you will have excellent core strength, and a superb weight to strength ratio that will enable you to take part in a variety of activities that naturally increase your muscle mass further, i.e. gymnastics, parkour, or martial arts.
The aim of this routine is to put you in a position where should you wish to take weights more seriously in the future and really bulk up then you can easily progress.
Until then build muscle at home with this workout!
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