Walking lunge with barbells is a great exercise to include in any routine you adopt
I would recommend you first start with some type of enjoyable exercise initially before going into a strength program. This will help develop proper exercise habits and a strong core that is necessary for strength work. Look into group classes such a judo, kick boxing, BodyPump, etc. Many people find these classes fun in their own right and aren’t doing it just as exercise. By finding something you enjoy, you’ll be more likely to go regularly. By going to group classes, you’ll have a support network who can offer advice and guidance as to technique and whatever.
Although you can do a strength program on your own, the nature of the exercise is a bit more challenging for a newbie. There are more technical details you have to get correct (how much weight? how many reps? how much rest? etc). By first starting with some type of group class, you’ll develop some overall strength and be better able to start a weightlifting program later. And who knows, you may find the class provides the benefits you want and there’s no need to try anything different.
For something specific, I would say to try a BodyPump class. It’s a group class which uses weights. It’s a great way to build a strong core and muscle endurance. You won’t get big, puffy muscles, but you will gain a lot of strength. To find classes near you, go to the Les Mills site, click on the ‘Find a Class’ link, and search for BodyPump classes near you. Many gyms, such as Golds and 24 Hour Fitness, offer BodyPump classes.
Get P90X or P90X3 (the workouts are shorter 30 mins each).
try to avoid the crazy Beachbody people
The kid specifically specified no or minimal weights. You may see the cost of a basic barbell set up as not too much but to him it is.
Amazingly there is more than one way to not only reach his goal of “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” but well beyond.
filmore, you too. The op does not want to spend the money or the time on a class. He made it clear that he is looking to spend little or no money and does not want to invest too much time either. With that as the request why suggest things that clearly do not fit his criteria?
Because there is a misconception that is very common and which the OP may share. That going to the gym is for really bulking up; if you just want to tone up a bit, you should either just do cardio, or just lift fairly light weights.
When of course cardio, or lifting weights light enough for you to throw around, are unlikely to do much at all for a long time (you may lose some fat but you won’t gain a lot of muscle). Better to do conventional weightlifting which will slightly tone you up in no time at all (with proper form).
The point about the OP not having much cash though has been somewhat overlooked. I would say to the OP, from experience, that it’s a bit of a false economy. Trying to find alternatives to the gym or buying weights will cost you so much time that it’s just not worth it unless you’re absolutely dirt-poor.
All different gyms have different prices. I think 24 Hour Fitness is $25-30/month. I guess it’s up to each person if they think that’s a lot of money. As for time, a class is about an hour, and you’d probably need to go 2-3 times per week. Again, it’s up to each person to decide if that’s a lot of time or not.
The advantage of going to a gym is that the exercise will likely be much more effective. Of course you can get a great workout on your own, but that will have a lot to do with how well the person understands how to exercise and how motivated they are. For a random newbie, I would tend to think that joining an exercise program will tend to produce better results than them working out on their own.
JakeRS, one difficulty with asking the internet for a workout plan is that everyone has their own idea of what a good workout is. Even if they’re all good, you’ll hear about all of them at the same time and it may be confusing. It’s not that it’s bad advice, but that you’re not getting consistent advice. It’s like asking 100 bakers how to make an apple pie. Each one has their own technique which produces great results, but that doesn’t mean you can mix and match to also get great results.
Sorry to beat the dead horse, but answering this op with join a gym and take a class, or do barbell exercises, is posters answering someone who asked for an apple pie recipe with how make lemon meringue and how to make fudge brownies and why apple pie is just not a real dessert. Both lemon merengue and brownies are also wonderful desserts (although when people say fudge brownies are the only dessert to eat they are being silly), but they are not what was requested.
DrCube for example is not only ignoring what the op is asking for but is completely wrong when he states that body weight exercises can only work “for a short period of time (until the stimulus wears off)” Body weight exercises can be extremely progressive, providing more than adequate stimulus to any level of strength from virtually none to extremely powerful. Does it replicate exactly the same strength that lifting heavy the dead lift and the back squat does? No. But neither do those replicate the strength required for being able to do pistol squats, or hand stand push ups, or muscle ups, or flags. Neither is “better” per se and both body weight and barbell paths can provide plenty of progression to keep enough stimulus for a long long time, to go from where our op is, to where he wants to get to, and as much farther beyond as he decides he wants to go.
He does not want weights (or minimal ones only) and he does not want to join a gym. Work with that people.
Well it’s beating a dead horse if you don’t engage with what people are actually saying to you. Yes, I know what the OP said. And I just specifically explained why I talked about the gym and/or buying weights anyway.
Man, my advice to follow some Yoga videos on YouTube is starting to look pretty good…
Of the cheap ways to get started, one of the best is to get workout videos from your library. They’re free!!! It’s like having your own personal trainer. You’ll get a complete, coherent workout–all you have to do is follow along. Look for ones which focus on total body strength or core work rather than aerobics.
If you need weights or equipment, checkout craigslist. You can get great workout equipment for little to no cost. And some if it is in practically brand-new shape 
I would discourage you from picking individual exercises from youtube videos or whatever. As a newbie, you should follow a single workout plan for a while until you get the hang of it. Like, if you were making a pie, you should follow a few recipes first to get the hang of it before trying to mix-and-match your own. Following videos, joining a class, etc are like following exercise recipes. After you do them for a while, you won’t need a recipe anymore and can make up your own.
If you don’t mind looking really skinny, don’t assume other people do. Some of us actually prefer someone really skinny . . . but of course it’s your call, not mine. It’s just very sad, watching someone spend half his life trying to become something he’s not.
Fwiw, I really think the best thing for this guy is swimming, but (a) it will involve leaving the house and (b) it will involve money.
It’s shocking, I know.
feller, you’re 20-years old: Get out there!
My kid’s teacher gave writing a haiku as an assignment. My kid wrote a few lines in iambic pentameter and then when questioned explained that he thought iambic pentameter rules over haiku so he ignored the assignment. Guess what grade he got? (Okay, never really happened. You got me.)
Besides you are simply wrong. It is simply not a true statement that one will only waste time if one does not go to a gym or use weights. Nor is it true that doing basic body weight exercises to the degree to make substantial strength and overall fitness progress from an unfit base requires mastery of lots of technical details that have to be gotten just right, as filmore states. They are goofy claims.
My statement about technical details was specifically with regard to weightlifting exercises. To build muscle in a significant way, you need to work the muscle in a specific way to cause it to get bigger. Some exercises may make you stronger, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll add any muscle mass. You can make the existing muscle more efficient and look toner, but it may be essentially the same size it was before. If you want there to be more muscle mass, you need to workout in specific ways to cause the muscle to add mass.
If all you want to do is get in better shape or lose some weight, then the technical details aren’t as important. As long as you’re doing some sort of activity, your muscles will become toner and you’ll burn more calories.
That’s why I think it’s more challenging for an exercise newbie to start with weightlifting. They need to workout in a specific zone to get the right results. Too little weight and they won’t bulk up. Too much weight and they’ll get injured. The number of reps and sets can’t just be random. A well motivated newbie can figure it out, but they have to do their homework to get it right.
Meanwhile, in IMHO, you’re going to get people addressing the elephant in the room. I don’t know why this is such a big problem for you.
If I started a thread “A girl just rejected me. How can I win her over?” I would expect many of the responses will say I should just get over her, and work on presenting myself better next time etc etc. This is a perfectly reasonable and useful part of a discussion.
Never stated this and don’t think this.
What I said was, you would waste (i.e. use) a lot of time finding cheap alternatives to just the free weights at your local gym. You would have to be seriously poor for your time to be so cheap.
All you gym mavens and exercise gurus ever manage to do is to frighten the noobs. Nice going. OP’ll probably never leave his house again.
Yes people: if someone says they “spend most of [their] time in [their] house doing nothing”, and you tell them they should go out and do something, you’ll just scare them into spending most of their time in their house, doing nothing.
Pretty much exactly right QuickSilver.
Mijin - maybe your point would hold if wanting to start doing something as opposed to nothing was an unhealthy thing to do and only all-out as fast as you can get as big and as strong as you can makes sense as a goal, otherwise do nothing at all. And yeah I know some of the SS crowd are all about that “lift heavy or go home” crap.
But while the advice to someone to not bother thinking about winning the girl back is probably defensible, telling someone that the goal of doing something rather than nothing is not worth it is not. It is in fact extremely ignorant. And if you don’t think that is what you saying you need to reread your posts.
What we do actually know about exercise is that doing something, even a little, is huge. The difference in strength, in muscular hypertrophy, in cardiovascular fitness, in overall health measures, all have the biggest impact with the first bits done and with diminishing marginal returns the more you invest.
Ten minutes a day of overall strength and conditioning with some intensity, inclusive of some progressive resistance work (be it with weights or bodyweight based) is a huge step up from nothing and will result in visible and measurable results. Adding in the time to go to the gym and quadruple the time spent exercising in a 40 minute class (together now up to 8 times as much time probably), and the cost of the gym membership and the class, and you do not get 8 times as much progress or progress 8 times as fast. Not four times as much or as fast. Not twice as much or as fast. Somewhere less than that. If time is really valuable then optimizing return on its investment is key: the greatest return is in the first ten minutes a day exercising spent.
Yeah, answering someone who is asking how to best make that most important first ten minutes investment in as cost effective and best return of a way as possible with essentially don’t bother, the only thing to do is to invest more time energy and money then you are currently wanting or prepared to do, is a response that is not only unhelpful to the op’s request but wrong and of harm.
I can guarantee that many very simple programs would give very significant results in a ten minutes a day, and learning to do pull-ups, push-ups, burpees, Turkish get ups, and body weight squats, does not “waste (i.e. use) a lot of time.” For the amount of time and money a huge ROI. Make enough progress and you need to spend a little time learning how to modify them to keep the progressive challenge going, but lots on line about body weight progressions to very challenging levels for those who get to that point. Or maybe by then he’ll be hooked and invest in a weight set or in a gym membership. Fine if he does and fine if he does not.
When someone is doing nothing and is interested in doing something the best you can do is to encourage and help them take that first most important and usually most intimidating step. Not spend to join a gym that they then never or rarely go to. (The vast majority of new gym members).
I was being somewhat hyperbolic with my comment and calling attention to the fact that the OP hasn’t returned to this thread while everyone else has burned some respectable (theoretical) calories with all this exercise routine advice. The real issue is probably more fundamental (complex?) than giving the noob some good exercise routines.
Poe’s law strikes again. 
DSeid is nailing it here. The OP isn’t looking to get as big and strong as he possibly can – he want’s to do a little something to enhance his physical condition.
I repeat my recommendation of a not too heavy kettlebell and the Pavel Tsatsouline DVD “Enter the Kettlebell”. Less than 10 minutes a day doing some kettlebell swings and a couple other basic moves and in three weeks the guy is going to catch sight of himself in a mirror and go “WTF? I have muscles.” In four to six weeks he may start thinking about getting a slightly heavier kettlebell.