In today’s world, people are not physically active as they used to be. Many people have moved away from the gym with a high demand for convenience and societal pressures such as work or family obligations.
That doesn’t’ mean you can’t build muscle mass anymore! There are multiple effective methods of building muscle without a gym.
Building muscle is no easy task. Even with years of experience and a strong understanding of the body, it’s still challenging to keep your muscles building through time.
Here are some practical tips that can help you build muscle without going to the gym:
- The frequency principle – Train 4 days per week at 80% intensity
- Preworkout – Stationary bike, rowing machine, or jump rope for 15 minutes before every workout
- No cardio on rest days – Keep your cardio to a minimum on rest days
- More protein – Consume 1.5g/kg of total body weight in the form of whey and casein powder daily
Let’s dive in deeper!
How does the body build muscle?
To build muscle, you must first understand how the body builds muscle. The muscles are loaded with enough tension by performing specific exercises that cause cellular and molecular responses, leading to increased muscular gains. Metabolic stress causes a burning sensation when lifting heavy weights or doing other types of exercise such as sprinting or jumping on a box for high reps. This metabolic stress allows for hormonal, cell growth factor reactions, and more!
The body builds muscle mass primarily through exercise, including mechanical tension, metabolic stress, and microtrauma. Training is typically done by lifting weights or using resistance.
The bodybuilder uses the muscles in their way and gets stronger, but it is not necessary to go to a gym. However, you should train with resistance as often as possible because this can lead to muscle growth.
The body builds muscle as a result of microtrauma. Microtrauma is not always the result of mechanical tension, but new moves and exercise can also cause it.
One of the ways that you can build muscle is by increasing anabolic hormone release, which leads to cell swelling and growth factors. When this occurs, it causes microtrauma in the body—mainly through resistance training. The body repairs damage from these small tears and starts building new muscles without going through a gym or doing more intense exercises like running or dancing.
Bodyweight exercises to build muscle
To build muscle, you need to focus on doing bodyweight exercises. These are the best way to build muscle without a gym membership and for people who don’t have access to weights or machines. Bodyweight squats, push-ups, and lunges are recommended because they’re easy to do anywhere at any time and will give your muscles a good workout while not causing any joint pain.
The isometric hold is the icing on the cake of these bodyweight exercises as it allows you to work every one of your muscles without any risk of injury.
Moreover, the body will utilize the exercises in this routine without any additional explosive component.
To get bulkier muscles and a bigger physique, you need to combine these exercises with other types of movements like jumping or squatting.
These methods are essential for muscle growth as they increase strength and power that is much more impactful than traditional ones.
Resistance Training
Resistance training is a type of exercise that focuses on building muscle. The increase in muscle mass achieved through resistance training allows you to target specific muscle groups and build strength.
There are many resistance training methods, including barbells, dumbbells, machines, cables, and weight stacks.
The systematic review found that you should use resistance training to create muscle hypertrophy and recover from physical therapy. Resistance creates sufficient tension on the target muscles that are being worked out, which leads to building the size and strength of those muscles.
Not only does resistance training help individuals build muscle, but it also provides a full-body workout that ensures you’re getting the most out of your time. The best part is that many inexpensive and easy-to-use pieces of equipment are available for purchase on Amazon or at sporting goods stores.
Some workouts can be made more effective with cheap gym equipment such as adjustable DBs and TRX-like devices. It would be best to have these pieces to make resistance training more straightforward and more beneficial overall.
Pull-Ups
Pull-ups are considered the best upper body exercise, and it is an excellent way to build muscle and a good starting point while avoiding the gym and expensive weights. Pull-ups and chin-ups are essential exercises for both novice athletes and advanced athletes, so they should not be discounted altogether.
They can help increase your biceps quickly, and they’re easy to do at home or in the office. You only need a barbell with an overhand grip for this exercise, which is very versatile because you can use it as part of any routine that calls for upper body strength training exercises like chest presses and rows.
A pull-up is a back exercise used to strengthen your upper and middle back muscles. To perform it, you grab onto something overhead with an overhand grip (palms facing away from you) and then lift yourself until your chin passes the bar or rings before slowly lowering yourself down.
A chin-up is performed by grasping something hanging above shoulder level using an underhand grip (meaning palms facing each other). The difference between these two exercises comes in how they are executed.
A chin-up is performed with an underhand grip, which means that you have to pull yourself up by using your biceps. A pull-up is performed with an overhand grip and uses the muscles in your back, making it an excellent exercise for people looking to build muscle mass or tone their arms.
You should perform both exercises slowly with control for maximum effectiveness. A negative is an excellent way to build strength for your next attempt at either exercise.
A muscle-up is an advanced variation of pull-ups that builds strength across a more extensive range of motion by twisting from one arm into another during each rep, which places almost no strain on your shoulders.
EMS
Electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) is a medical technique that has been proven to work by stimulating the body’s motor nerves. EMS machines deliver electrical impulses through electrodes placed on the skin or muscles, and these impulses induce muscle contractions. The three most common methods of EMS are:
- TENS machine
- Electrical Muscle Stimulator
- PEMF
A study in Russia found that athletes who received EMS treatment saw strength improvements of between 30% and 40%. The World Academy of Science, Engineering, and Technology came to similar conclusions as to the Russian study, discovering that strength and muscle size increased.
EMS is a practice that has recently gained significant popularity in the sporting world. Some athletes use it to stay on top of their game when recovering from injuries. In contrast, others see it as an effective way to reduce the risk of injuries for those training intensely and prone to overuse problems such as tendonitis or Achilles issues.
Swimming
Swimming is a low-impact form of exercise that is often recommended for people recovering from injuries and seeking to build muscle. Interestingly, this exercise can also be used as a complementary therapy for those with arthritis or other joint conditions.
It does not require as much weightlifting and provides other benefits such as cardiovascular health, strength, flexibility, and core stability.
Furthermore, swimmers can develop muscle mass quickly because they swim constantly, and their muscles use a lot of energy. Additionally, swimming is an accessible sport for people with disabilities due to its being done in water instead of on land.
Dips
Dips are a relatively effortless form of resistance training that can help to build muscle. They involve supporting your body with both hands on the ground and bending at the waist to raise your torso while keeping it close to the floor. This type of exercise helps you target a specific region of muscle, which will allow for more significant results when using other methods such as weights or machines.
Additionally, dips are one of the best ways to build muscle without a gym. Dips can be done with your full extension and will work for those looking to get killer arms. It is an effective way to build size in the triceps and strength as well because it takes advantage of concentric contraction exercises that help strengthen muscles while at the same time improving flexibility.
Crunches
Crunches are a fantastic way to build muscle mass in and around your waist. They don’t require any equipment. They’re easy to do, and you can do them while doing other exercises such as cycling or running. They’re more effective than traditional sit-ups because these crunches focus on strengthening the abdominal muscles rather than just the lower back.
You need to start with 5-10 crunches a day to build muscle. You can increase this amount every day and make it more dynamic by changing the way you do them – for example: get on your knees instead of standing up or use an exercise ball in place of a chair!
Muscle, unlike fat, is metabolically active and will burn calories while resting. Therefore it’s crucial to build muscle even when the goal is weight loss because you’ll increase your metabolic rate, which can help in long-term weight control.
Sit-ups are a multi-muscle exercise that builds not only your abdominal muscles but also other groups of muscles such as the chest and lower back, along with neck flexors.
Eat More Protein
Protein is vital for building and maintaining lean muscles. Eating more protein will encourage your body to build muscle mass, leading to better health in the long run.
Furthermore, protein is the building block of muscle tissue that breaks down with weight lifting and HIIT workouts. Protein can be found in many healthy sources like chicken, turkey, eggs, lentils, and tofu. It’s a powerful tool for bodybuilders because it helps build muscles without shedding fat or restricting food intake.
When you exercise, your body repairs damaged muscle fibers with new protein strands, and they become stronger and sometimes bigger.
Furthermore, a high proportion of extra calories should come from foods containing protein because they give you the necessary amino acids needed for building muscle mass when combined with other nutrients like carbohydrates and fats. However, it’s not as simple as protein equals muscle.
An adult male’s average amount of protein is 87.4g per day. For women, 66.6g – far more than the NHS recommendation of 55.5g for men and 45g for women, depending on body size and physical exertion level.
Suspension Training
Suspension training is one of the most effective methods of building muscle.
Suspension training is a type of physical therapy that seeks to reduce stress on joints and muscles. It should be used by people looking to maximize muscle growth, but it can also repair the damage done from overuse or injury. Suspension training involves holding your body weight with pulleys to increase strength and build up muscle mass while reducing the risk for joint injuries.
You can use it to build muscles in any area, from arms and legs to abs, back, chest, and shoulders.
Cycling
Cycling is one of the most popular exercises for building muscle, and it benefits from the resistance element of the sport. The other benefit to cycling is that it can be done anywhere and at any time, resulting in a high success rate in producing results.
The calves, quads, and hamstrings are built by cycling, and it can be done on the bike or using an elliptical trainer.
The glutes should also be supplemented with a leg curl machine to build more muscle mass and strength without doing any other exercise that is not already mentioned here. These exercises will help you gain muscle quickly, allowing you to become stronger throughout your entire body structure while minimizing potential injuries from lifting weights incorrectly.
Push-ups
Push-ups are an effective way to build muscles in the upper body and train all of the muscle groups that make up the upper body. You can also improve them by leaning on a wall, door, or floor and doing push-ups at an angle. Push-ups increase the arm muscles, which gives a complete exercise that engages the chest, shoulders, triceps, and core. There are many different variations for beginners and advanced athletes. They engage your body in a straight line by squeezing the glutes and bracing yourself as if somebody will punch you in the stomach.
They can be done with the feet on a wall or incline and progress from basic push-ups to diamond and one-armed push-up variations. Push-ups can also be added to any workout routine without much difficulty, as they don’t require equipment that would make it difficult for someone who doesn’t have access to a gym membership.
Squats
Squats are the master of all exercises, and if you want to build your lower back strength, start squatting! It is an excellent workout for muscle growth in the hamstrings, quadriceps, and calves.
The primary benefit of performing regular squats is creating an anabolic environment within the body. This allows for a greater number of muscle fibers to be recruited and subsequently build more muscle mass without spending hours in the gym every day or hiring expensive personal trainers.
To start, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and put your arms out straight or behind your head. Next is the descent into squatting by pushing back on one’s hips and bending at the knees until there is a total knee bend. The chest must stay up during this movement to remain neutral when done correctly; otherwise, you will end up rounding forward too much, which could lead to injury.
Squat down as low as you can, and then explode back up to the starting position by driving through your heels.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are plenty of exercises that you can do at your home or out in the wild in good weather. You don’t need to have a gym membership to start a healthier path in your life, so begin exercising slowly, and you’ll achieve excellent results in no time!
Feel free to offer additional suggestions down in the comments, and maybe I’ll update this article if I find any good ones 🙂
