Building muscle is an indispensable portion of the bodybuilding regime. It can make you look jacked, more dominant, and an essential part of weight loss.
Hence, both categorized members can benefit equally from building muscle. With gyms being closed and members forced to work out at home, it is crucial to know which exercises can help maximize your gains.
Here are the top 10 home exercises to build muscle without weights.
Top 10 Home Exercises to Build Muscle without Weights
1. Pushups
The standard pushup always tops the list of building muscle exercises at home. It’s because it targets more than just your chest.
Your shoulders, arms, back, and core is engaged. Place your hands in front of you, shoulder-width apart, and lift your body, forming a straight plank.
Slowly bend your elbows, making sure they’re tucked in, and steadily drop your chest to the floor, making sure they don’t touch.
In the same motion, move your body upwards to your starting position, and that’s one rep done. Perform this exercise twice a week with four sets of 15 reps for good gains.
2. Diamond Pushup
The pushups come in many variations, targeting different groups but overall aiming at building muscle in the upper body.
Place your hands together on the floor, making a diamond shape with your index fingers, and thumbs joined, leaving space in between.
Slowly lower your body down and, with a push, raise it back to the starting position. This pushup mostly targets the triceps and the upper chest. Perform three sets of 20 for a good workout.
3. Wide Grip Pushups
Wide grip pushup is another very popular pushup. The position is the same as a standard pushup, except the hands are placed more than the shoulder width to stretch the chest.
The reps are the same as the standard pushups. This exercise primarily trains the middle section of the chest, shoulder, lats, and triceps. 4 sets of 15 reps should do great.
4. Incline Pushup
For this exercise, you’ll require a bench, or it can be performed on the sofa or bed, as long as it is not too high.
Again, the position for this exercise is the same as the standard pushup, except that the hands will be placed on the floor, shoulder-width apart, and the feet will be placed on top of the bed, sofa, or exercise bench.
Hence, the body will make an inclined slope. This exercise targets the lower portion of the chest, building muscle to give the overall chest a chiseled look.
Incline pushups also work on the back, shoulder, arms, and core. Three sets of 15 reps is an ample amount of exercise.
5. Pike Pushup
This pushup is slightly different from the rest as it targets the shoulders rather than the chest. To perform this exercise, go into the same position as the standard pushup.
Lift your torso towards the ceiling so that you are forming an upside ‘V’ with your body. To make a proper shape, you’ll need to bring your feet slightly forward.
Remember to keep your legs straight at all times. Once you are in the position, bend your elbows to perform a rep, and gradually lift yourself.
Do not flare your elbows; keep them tucked in at all times. Depending on your fitness level, perform three sets of 10-15 for building muscle.
6. Spiderman Pushup
The name of this pushup says it all. You’ll be mimicking the crawling motion of Spiderman during this exercise. Place yourself in the same position as the standard pushup.
In this exercise, while you are going down, bend your right leg and bring the knees to the elbows. When your body is lowered to the ground, your knee should also be touching or close to your elbow.
Then raise yourself and bring your knee back to the starting position. Perform this same motion with the left leg. This will complete one rep.
This exercise targets the chest, shoulders, back, core and obliques. Perform four sets of 15 reps for good results.
7. Pull-ups
Pull-up exercises will require a bar or something that you can hang yourself. If not, then the top of an open door can also work.
If you’re using a door, open it; place a thick towel on it to prevent hand damage. Grab firmly to the top and lift yourself, then gradually come down to complete one rep.
This exercise is phenomenal for the lats, the upper back, forearms, triceps, and biceps. Perform four sets of 15-20 to achieve extreme muscle buildup.
8. Tricep Dips
Individuals on a wide scale presume that big arms are made by exercising the bicep, whereas it’s the triceps that contribute 70% to the shape and thickness of the arms.
Perform this exercise on a bench or a sturdy and solid chair. Face the opposite way of the bed, and grab on to the bed, chair, or bench behind, keeping your hands at shoulder width.
Extend your legs in front of you and bend your arms, lowering your upper body, keeping lowering yourself until your arms have made a 90-degree angle with each other.
Then lift them back up to complete one rep. Perform five sets of 10-12 for optimal results.
9. Lunges
While we’ve been focusing on the upper body, let’s also divert our attention to building muscle in the lower body. Lunges are an amazing exercise for quads, hamstrings, calves, and glutes. To perform this exercise:
- Stand straight.
- Take a step forward with your right leg, keeping your left in the same position, and bend your right leg.
- As you bend your right leg to a 90-degree angle, bend your left leg so that your knee is very close to the ground.
- Perform the same motion with the other leg to complete one rep.
- Do four sets of 20 reps to give a nice legs workout.
10. Squats
Squats are another beneficial and basic exercise to work out the whole upper leg and also the calves. To perform the exercise, stand straight with legs shoulder width.
You can extend your arms straight in front of you, or you can cross them on your chest, whichever is suitable and can provide more support.
Bend your knees, lower your torso to the ground, stop when you have fully lowered, and then bring yourself to the starting position.
While performing squats, make sure to keep your back straight and not jolt out your torso so much. If it helps, you can grab on the edge of an open door and then perform squats to prevent falling back.
Perform four sets of 20 to achieve quality results.
Conclusion
These top 10 home exercises to build muscle listed are suitable for males and females and individuals of any fitness level. Muscle building is not possibly made by performing a single exercise.
A best home workout program to build muscle would consist of small reps and each muscle group exercise on alternate days, such as the first three exercises on one day and the next three the next day.
An essential point of muscle building is to eat enough protein and also to give your muscles rest.