Hey everyone, so here’s the thing, I am a 20 year old guy, spend most of my time in my house doing nothing and I am really,really skinny, not extremely, but more than the average, so anyway I got sick of it and I decided to start some exercises, youtube is filled with billions of 10 minute exercises with no weights, so why not, better than to just sit and lose already non existing muscle…, but the problem is that most videos I found are specific, for example ,only for abs, , for this or that and many are ,for burning fat, , but I don’t have any fat, so I need something that combines 1.abs 2.arms and 3.upper body (chest,etc.) and 4. with no or minimal weights (gyms are expensive where I live and I am not exactly rich…), so yeah, I only want some noticeable muscles, nothing too much, just enough to not be the weakest guy in a group of 100 other guys that also don’t excercise, any good videos I should try? Thanks in advance.
Moved from GQ to IMHO.
samclem, moderator
There’s lots of stuff you can do to build mass at home and without much equipment. Push ups are great for chest, and you can do great upper body building with a pull up bar you rig in a doorway (it does shoulders, lats, and even arms). You can get legs to respond with squats but you’ll need some weight. I’d invest in a cheap pair of dumbells, I got a pair of adjustable ones from kmart last year for $22. They’re great for biceps.
That said, at 20 you have an opportunity to really develop and sculpt an amazing body. I’d look around and find a gym at some point. Gyms have it all right at your fingertips, they’re social places where you’ll meet people, and really at 20 you should make working out a habit you love that will keep you fit and healthy for the rest of your life. Good luck getting started.
Maybe look at You Are Your Own Gym - there is a book, and a mobile app.
Consider a general PT routine including the usual push-ups, jumping-jacks, high knees, 6 inches to the four count. Pretty much all the stuff we hated during gym class. As you get better/fitter increase the number of reps of each and thus also the time.
You can even make your own dumbbells out of old milk jugs with different weights based on if filled with water, sand, or concrete. Plenty enough for doing Turkish getups for example which hits your all over body needs.
If you get past regular bodyweight squats you can start a pistol squat progression.
And probably nothing beats old fashioned burpees as part of an all over work out in one exercise.
If you are aiming to build mass you do need to make sure you eat enough high quality food too.
Pull ups are the king of upper body exercises! Pull ups beat the bench press any day of the week!
For youtube videos, I’d recommend yoga. Static postures will improve your flexibility, more active routines where you cycle through a half-dozen poses over and over again will improve stamina and muscle tone. No real equipment required, unless you like you rug (or it’s too slippery), or you have hardwood floors, in which case you’ll want a yoga mat. Target has them for reasonably cheap, and you can probably pick up on even cheaper on Craigslist (now that it’s a month past New Year’s Resolutions).
You’re 20-years old and you want to exercise in your house for 10 minutes to a video?
Honestly? That would be great if you were 70, given where you are I would encourage you to redefine your ambitions.
Hey, ya gotta start somewhere. Never startle your body… it only has a few ways of reacting, and they’re generally unpleasant.
Enter The Kettlebell - Pavel Tsatsouline
You can start with one cheap kettlebell from Walmart – I’d say 12kg for you from your description. Lots of youtube videos or splurge and get the Pavel book or DVD.
Like I say, he’s 20. His body can deal with plenty.
They really hit opposite muscle groups and neither is enough to be king by itself. One is a push and the other a pull.
How about this for a basic starting plan -
Day one, a mix of sets of pull-ups, push-ups, burpees, turkish get ups and squats.
Day two yoga.
Repeat.
The key on the day one part of the cycle Jake is to be steadily progressive. Take pull-ups. At the start you might need to jump up and just slowly lower yourself down. Then you might be able to do a few. At some point you might work on progressions to doing them one armed or while wearing a backpack. Just keep ramping it up as you get stronger. Push-ups also can be made easier by doing the kneeling style ones or harder both by doing more and by doing clapping ones, or one armed progressions, or a host of other variations.
Ten minutes of a full out work out each day is fine. At some point if you want more strangth gains you will likely invest a bit more time but start where you are … and make progress each week.
You may want to try resistance exercises with bands or tubes. Those are cheap and you can toss them into a drawer when you’re finished.
Exercise with tubes There are colors of tubes to indicate resistance. You can sometimes buy a set cheaply.
Resistance bands are flat rather than tubes but operate on the same principle.
You won’t get hyper-muscular from this, but since you’re beginning to exercise, it’s a cheap and good technique to use.
Many, many videos on Amazon with pre-packaged programs.
I have to say, I’ve used them for over 20 years, the only problems I’ve ever had was when I let one slip out of my hand. And that’s only happened twice. Maybe Reid was exercising with one of those exercise band pieces of equipment? The bands I’m talking about wouldn’t do that. They’re made of silicon.
Walk.
Carry light weights after a while.
When those get easy up the weight.
You may not become Charles Atlas,but it’ll help
If you really want to get stronger and/or bigger checkout Stronglifts. You’re 20, if you want to develop a solid body, that’s the route to go.
Failing that, try something like Convict Conditioning or the websites of Al Kavadlo and Ross Enamait. They specialize in calisthenics and home based workouts.
Weights while walking is not really ideal for anyone.
I really don’t think walking or doing anything with light hand weights (which the OP doesn’t have) would be a good use of time for a young man in his 20s who is trying to gain muscle. Not saying that walking isn’t good exercise (I do it!) but it’s not really a good fit for the OP.
You’re skinny and young, you need to lift weights. Full body barbell exercises, no machines. Start light, add a little weight every workout, three times a week. Squat every workout. Deadlift twice a week, chinups once. Alternate press and bench. Increase the weight on each exercise, every workout (5-10lb at first, 2.5-5lbs after a couple of weeks). Eat lots of protein. You’ll be impressively strong in no time.
The reason you need weights is because you need to stress your body to cause an adaptation. Nothing you can do without weights will cause a large enough stimulus to make your body change. Cough up $20/month for a gym, save for a one time expense of around $500 to buy your own set of weights and a barbell off Craigslist, or start running and resign to being skinny for the foreseeable future. There really is no other option. Kettlebells and dumbells aren’t incrementally loadable and will only work for so long. Barbells let you increase the weight forever, at whatever tiny increments you require.
In the meantime, bodyweight exercises like pushups, chinups and dips are free and will improve your strength for a short period of time (until the stimulus wears off).
Burpees, walking, resistance bands, yoga, none of that will do anything but get you up, out of the chair and burning some calories. Being active and not sedentary is great, though I suggest finding a hobby that you enjoy more than burpees to fill that role (skateboarding, hiking, swimming, biking, whatever). But it doesn’t sound like your problem is “not burning enough calories”, your problem is “not having enough muscle”. In that case, the only answer is weight training. If you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way.
Go here: http://startingstrength.com