Strength Training Without Weights

The usual image of strength training is a sweating heavyweight hoisting massive barbells, but if you aren't attracted to pumping iron, you don't need to. You don't need any iron whatsoever in your home exercise equipment. At minimum, you need your own body weight. Beyond that, a few pieces of plastic will help.

The human body provides considerable variety with its variously weighted limbs and its joints which give a near limitless number of movement options. You can get as much strength training as you want just by repeatedly moving your own body. But to move your body with comfort and safety, you should purchase a good workout mat. Padding makes most of the prone and seated activity a lot more comfortable. Look for a mat that's at least 3/8 inch thick. The thin yoga mats may be convenient to roll up and stick under your arm for transport, but they are not thick enough to pad your body adequately.

There are many on-line resources for "body only" strength exercise routines. Be sure to examine the certifications of the provider. You can find as many video clips as you want from certified physical trainers and physical therapists. If something hurts--you know the contrast between working muscles and real pain--stop! Strength training should not create pain.

You're likely to get tired just working with your own body, and boredom could lead you to stop working out. At this point, you might want to spend a few dollars in some resistance bands or tubes. They come in a rainbow of colors, indicating their resistance. You can pull them between two limbs, or attach one end to a door. They greatly increase the variety of your workouts, and the allow you to go on increasing the resistance to match your increasing strength. The bands gain in strength as the shade gets darker. This means you can go a very long way in reaching your strength training targets with just these light, economical, easily stored bands. You can find them at any decent sporting goods store or online. Hang them on light plastic hooks to avoid tangles.

A fitness ball makes a final, inexpensive piece of home exercise equipment. Choose one that permits you sit on it with flat feet. A fitness ball accentuates your body-only exercises. You will be amazed at the increased difficulty of a push-up started with your feet on an unstable round surface. Your core stability and your balance will both be drastically challenged, and improved.

A buying tip: get the ball with a pump, extra plugs (in case you damage one trying to re-inflate a flat ball) and the training booklet or DVD. These extras will make life with your fitness ball a challenge--not an aggravation. A bicycle pump with a ball needle is not a replacement.

"Pumping Plastic!" just doesn't have the prestige carried by "pumping iron." But it is just as effective, much less costly, and much less space-consuming than iron for your home exercise equipment.

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