How to gain muscle?

[Eldora]

Yes, well. After spending a long time trying to decide whether I liked myself at the weight I'm currently at or not, I've decided I look quite nice without losing anymore weight. I realized that my main problem is not my weight, but my lack of muscle.

So, my question is this: How do you gain muscle without access to weight lifting equipment? Would push-ups and sit-ups help, maybe some planks as well? Some running, perhaps? I don't know, lol. And perhaps omitting sugar from my diet would help me tone up quicker?

No laughing. I know I'm a girl, thank you very much, but I damned well hate being without at least a little bit of muscle, and I hate feeling like a weakling.

So, any advice?

[Troubled_Heart]

I do 30 situps a day (I can't do more) and then I do 30 push-ups. I don't do the plank but that would probably be a good idea. Running should tone your legs and so should cycling. You could make you own weights or try holding a large bottle (1+ litres) of water in front of you for a certain amount of time. Stupid but it'll work... I don't know about the sugar but it's worth a try... good luck <3 go in peace!

[Angel]

Get active! Lace up your running shoes and have a leisurely jog around your neighbourhood, run up and down stairs, push ups, crunches, leg lifts, calf raises... you'll slowly begin to build up stamina and strength. Once you feel comfortable, push yourself to run the extra distance, do ten more reps, etc.

Sorry this is so short, I'll add more to it when I get home.

[Eldora]

Just got my mom roped into running around our farm with me this evening, so I'm not going to be alone! Run, run, run little Ana... Lol.

[BDF]

Any "ordinary" and balanced exercise, such as squats, pushups, pullups, situps. Decent diet, containing a slightly higher dose of protein (personally I drink more milk, eat more eggs and chicken), and finally you need good night's sleep if you exercise to rebuild your muscle. And you need to keep yourself hydrated more carefully, also to rebuild muscle/digest protein more efficiently.

Ultimately you could approach a professional coach, pay a small fee for him to devise an exercise programme specific to you (if you're inexperienced doing it yourself). There are also protein supplements you can take, made specially for girls/women. Just to clarify, they are not "evil" and nothing like steroids, which is what a lot of older people seem to think. All it is, is extra protein to help rebuild muscle more efficiently to help you recover faster. Cheap brands make you fart though... lol.

If you have any questions ask.

[OMFG!You'reActuallySmart!]

Omitting sugar would make it much harder to tone up. You need to take sugar as well as large amounts of protein. That said, don't go only on a meat-carb diet, you need to keep eating a healthy diet but add on extra protein.

Push-ups and sit-ups do help, although I'd recommend you look online for different types you could do because they don't all work the same muscle areas. Some of the push-ups I do are as follows:
- go into normal push-up position, make hands into fists and place fists side-by-side. Move down slowly and hold for a few seconds then go back up. I'm not sure on the name for this one.
- go into normal push-up position, extend arms farther and use only fingers and thumbs. Alternatively, you don't extend arms out but go only on fingers and thumbs. The most I've been able to do is using only the index finger and thumb, although I cant do many, around 10 or so. To potentially make it easier, do whatever warm-ups then spread legs as if doing the splits but don't do them fully. Make sure you can still lean down to have elbows and the forearms rest on the ground. Do push-ups on fingers or normal push-ups.
- General boxer push-ups. For this, go into normal push-up position and simply go on knuckles rather than open palms. I rarely do open palms, I do only on knuckles or fingers. Doing it on the knuckles strengthens your wrists more than doing them on open palms. You can be fancier by pushing up off the ground, clapping once then land.
- Put legs higher than the rest of the body, such as on a chair.
- Go into a crab position either with legs higher than body or on the same floor level. From there, bend your elbows as though it were a push-up.

For other stuff, you could use a skipping rope, find heavy items, such as fill paint cans with rocks.

If you could get your hands on just a set of dumb-bells, that could help you out a lot. At home, that's what I use along with a punching bag, muay thai pads, TKD kicking pads, etc... .

[BDF]

Originally Posted by The Man And XX Master

Omitting sugar would make it much harder to tone up. You need to take sugar as well as large amounts of protein. That said, don't go only on a meat-carb diet, you need to keep eating a healthy diet but add on extra protein.

Push-ups and sit-ups do help, although I'd recommend you look online for different types you could do because they don't all work the same muscle areas. Some of the push-ups I do are as follows:
- go into normal push-up position, make hands into fists and place fists side-by-side. Move down slowly and hold for a few seconds then go back up. I'm not sure on the name for this one.
- go into normal push-up position, extend arms farther and use only fingers and thumbs. Alternatively, you don't extend arms out but go only on fingers and thumbs. The most I've been able to do is using only the index finger and thumb, although I cant do many, around 10 or so. To potentially make it easier, do whatever warm-ups then spread legs as if doing the splits but don't do them fully. Make sure you can still lean down to have elbows and the forearms rest on the ground. Do push-ups on fingers or normal push-ups.
- General boxer push-ups. For this, go into normal push-up position and simply go on knuckles rather than open palms. I rarely do open palms, I do only on knuckles or fingers. Doing it on the knuckles strengthens your wrists more than doing them on open palms. You can be fancier by pushing up off the ground, clapping once then land.
- Put legs higher than the rest of the body, such as on a chair.
- Go into a crab position either with legs higher than body or on the same floor level. From there, bend your elbows as though it were a push-up.

For other stuff, you could use a skipping rope, find heavy items, such as fill paint cans with rocks.

If you could get your hands on just a set of dumb-bells, that could help you out a lot. At home, that's what I use along with a punching bag, muay thai pads, TKD kicking pads, etc... .

Some of those things you listed to do with push-ups I doubt are for beginners. Clap-boxer push-ups are dangerous unless you've been building up to them for a while, they could break your knuckles/wrists. I know 'cos one of my friends tried copying me and that's exactly what happened to him. He was always bragging he's stronger than me and then tried to prove it that way lol. He also collapsed under his own weight after breaking his left wrist and hit his face really hard on the floor.

If you're gonna start off with boxer push-ups, do them on a softer surface at first, like a carpet. To be honest though, I've never seen a girl be able to do boxer push-ups... not saying that it's not possible I just haven't seen it.

But being practical... a lot of people can't even do one normal pushup on their palms when they first start off. So to start out, I recommend you do inclined pushups. That is... keep both your legs on the ground, and do push-ups off a table or a chair or something. Place it against the wall first to make sure it doesn't move.

You could also do push-ups taking some of the weight off your arms by leaning on your knees when you're doing them, but those are not as effective because they don't work your stomach muscles at all (but they're easier).

[Frosty]

Why don't you have access to weight equipment? You're not going to go far doing a few bodyweight exercises in your bedroom.

[OMFG!You'reActuallySmart!]

Originally Posted by BDF

Some of those things you listed to do with push-ups I doubt are for beginners. Clap-boxer push-ups are dangerous unless you've been building up to them for a while, they could break your knuckles/wrists. I know 'cos one of my friends tried copying me and that's exactly what happened to him. He was always bragging he's stronger than me and then tried to prove it that way lol. He also collapsed under his own weight after breaking his left wrist and hit his face really hard on the floor.

If you're gonna start off with boxer push-ups, do them on a softer surface at first, like a carpet. To be honest though, I've never seen a girl be able to do boxer push-ups... not saying that it's not possible I just haven't seen it.

But being practical... a lot of people can't even do one normal pushup on their palms when they first start off. So to start out, I recommend you do inclined pushups. That is... keep both your legs on the ground, and do push-ups off a table or a chair or something. Place it against the wall first to make sure it doesn't move.

You could also do push-ups taking some of the weight off your arms by leaning on your knees when you're doing them, but those are not as effective because they don't work your stomach muscles at all (but they're easier).

True, the clap boxer push-ups aren't for beginners but it's something the OP could try. I use push-ups on the knuckles not just because both wrists are strengthened but my right wrist is much more damaged than my left one (as well as more muscular) I usually wear a metal-plated wrist support. It's uncomfortable to do push-ups on the palms, quickly becomes painful and the wrist loses strength, sometimes leading to more damage. When I do push-ups on the knuckles, there is no pain nor discomfort in either wrist.

I've never heard of the method you suggested of elevating the hands but when I think about it, it makes sense.

I've seen only one lady do boxer push-ups, then again, she's been training in kick-boxing for years along with some weight-training and currently is an instructor for high-aerobic classes. She's the only woman I've met in-person whom I can compliment as being built like a brick shithouse.

[Justin Bieber]

To start off, I'd go with power walking up and down hills for ~60 minutes.
Then use weights for your arms (5 pound weights or just heavy stuff)
Try doing things like: arms in front, raise them from in front of you to your boob area keeping your elbows locked. Then put your arms to your sides and raise them up to be in like with your shoulders. Repeat each 10-20 times. You can do this with water bottles or something.

Then try doing some ab work outs. Katrina provided this great quick ab workout: http://www.facebook.com/video/video....11435772233973

Good luck!

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by Tubby Custard

To start off, I'd go with power walking up and down hills for ~60 minutes.
Then use weights for your arms (5 pound weights or just heavy stuff)
Try doing things like: arms in front, raise them from in front of you to your boob area keeping your elbows locked. Then put your arms to your sides and raise them up to be in like with your shoulders. Repeat each 10-20 times. You can do this with water bottles or something.

Why is it that women are so fixated on training the shoulders and arms to the exclusion of lifts that will actually make them look way better like squats and deadlifts? Is it because of some notion of spot reduction? Because the only source most women have is, beyond dumb women's fitness mags, male friends/bfs/brothers who invariably do nothing but curls? Because they want to feel like they're doing something without actually working hard the way they would with compounds?

Serious question.

[Justin Bieber]

The power walking helps with the legs and then having a few exercises for the arms/shoulders and then abs will help for a more complete work out in my mind.

Sure, add in some squats and lunges if you'd like. I'm not AGAINST anything, I was just putting out some suggestions

[Choose]

If you seriously do not have access to weights, as suggested you could do situps, pushups, pullups, bodyweight squats, plyometrics along with a good diet as a good base. Make sure to implement cardio too.

That being said, getting some cheap workout equipment off of craigslist would be a good idea. Barbell, weights, squat rack, bench, maybe a mat for deadlifts and BOOM! Muscle everywhere provided you do the main compound lifts with correct form and the correct rest/ diet.