The Best Way To Get Strong - No Equipment Needed!

If you want to get strong, then you need to use weight or resistance. This doesn’t mean buying lots of equipment because your wonderful body provides the best weight and resistance going. It’s also totally free!

A common misconception is that using body weight for resistance is just something for beginners who are not ready for the heavy weights. What people don’t realise is that strength training using body weight provides the best way to get all your muscles working together, in the right way. This in turn ensures you aren’t over working certain regions, making you more prone to injury or pain. It also improves the way your brain connects with your body, and over time, makes you much more adaptable and able to progress in a safer way.

During lockdown, body weight resistance exercise found a resurgence by default. The demand for gym equipment went through the roof, so much so, you couldn’t get any, leaving good, old fashioned body weight as your back up! It’s now really caught on.

Why People Get in Trouble with Strength Training

Body weight training for beginners is far less daunting than being faced with a pile of dumbbells or weight rack! You also won’t be tripping over them at home or end up using them as expensive door stops! Using body weight to start off is a GOOD thing. It allows you to get resilient with the right movement pattern, over the full range of movement, before adding extra load.

It's common for people to hurt themselves when they start weight training because they go straight to lifting weights;

• without the right movement pattern
• not using the right co-ordination of muscles
• working at the wrong speed
• working through a limited range of movement

That’s why working on body weight exercise first, gets you started quickly and in the right way to progress to the actual weights, once you are efficient with spot on technique.

Play the long game, as with most things in life. If you start too hard and too fast, the chances are you will end up hurting yourself, or aggravate aches and pains. You can read more about how to avoid injury while strength triaing here.

Key Principles to Start With

When starting with body weight strengthening, first try this;

1. Start by working within your available, pain free, range of movement. For a squat, get strong in a smaller range first, before progressing to the full deep squat. This is useful if you get sore knees or are very weak. Use this time to get the technique right everywhere (not just your knees). Once you’ve built some base line strength, resilience, and technique, then progress to the bigger range movement.

2. Consider your speed. Move at a steady pace when learning. Not too fast, not too slow, just right, as baby bear would say! To progress, slow the movement down or add a pause at the bottom or top of the movement to make it harder.

3. Reduce the amount of body weight to make things easier. This may sound tricky but use this example to understand how. Take a press up. Many can't do those well over the full range of movement. So, instead of starting on the floor, start by doing a wall press up. Once you can move through the full range with correct technique here, progress to doing a press up leaning on a table. You’ve increased load by changing how gravity is acting on your arms and body. Again, build resilience, strength, and technique here before heading to the floor for the full thing.

4. Get to know your body and what the movement feels like. Starting with lower weight body resistance means you will get familiar with how the movement feels, and what muscles should be working together. Developing this mind body connection is key. When you progress to add further load it will be easier to know you are doing the right movement and working in the right way. You want to avoid those sneaky compensations that cause injury, so the more aware you are the better.

Types of Resistance Training for Your Muscles

In clinic we encourage strength to initially be built with isometric exercises. This simply put, is a type of exercise that holds the body in one position. The muscles are contracted and under tension but do not change length as you hold the position. Isometric exercises stress the muscles, triggering improvements in strength.

Some research suggests this type of exercise is not as effective at building muscle size compared with exercises where you move. However, these “static, hold” exercises put less strain on your joints, which can be helpful for those recovering from injury. Isometric exercises are a great start point to get everything working together, in the right way, avoiding overworking certain muscle groups.

Progressing to Weight Training

When you’re ready you can then safely and effectively progress to actually moving! For example, a static leg bracing exercise becomes a squat. Or a wall plank becomes a wall press up.

The big thing to consider with strength training is; What is your end goal?

If you are interested in more general performance, toning, enhancing your ability to move and feel good, then body weight training is perfect for you.

On the other hand, if you want bulging biceps, maximum strength possible, and power lifter status, then it’s time for weight training.

Your limitation with using body weight training resistance for strength is that you will ultimately be limited by your own weight. Even if you do master a clap push-up (show off!), you are still only lifting your own body. By progressing to using weights, you can continue to progress and increase the load you can tolerate lifting.

Resistance Bands

If your needing extra stimulation, resistance bands can be a great tool. Resistance bands are relatively inexpensive, portable, and easy to store, making them great additions to your toolbox. They provide increased resistance throughout the whole movement of the exercise, encouraging muscle growth. While using bands isn't necessarily better than using weights, the tension you get from working with a band is different than using a dumbbell or bodyweight alone. This means your muscles get challenged in a new way.

Whether you're currently lifting weights or not, resistance bands deserve a spot in your workouts since they are simple and effective tools to work your muscles in new ways. The more adaptable you are with how you use your body, the more resilient it will be. Just doing Pilates won’t give you the same resilience as adding additional strength training to your fitness regime.

Other Things to Consider

Progressing by using weights can be much easier to measure. To increase the difficulty of an exercise, you just add a different weight. If you lift more weight today than you did six months ago, you are stronger. It’s that simple!

Body weight training is less clear cut. If we use a press up example a one-armed push-up is more difficult than one with both hands, but the level of difficulty between the two is difficult to quantify. You cannot progress from a standard wall press to a full push-up by just lifting your feet off the ground. There will be a period where no progress is made as you are learning the new skill.

Always focus on good form, breathing, and not letting momentum take over. You can constantly challenge yourself and progress with changes to body position, and tempo. Weights or bands can be used to increase resistance / tension as you start getting stronger. If you don’t progress, you won’t get stronger. It’s that simple. Muscles are stimulated to get stronger by doing something that is really hard. If it doesn’t feel hard then you may not be using enough weight.

Finally

Don’t forget why YOU’RE trying to get strong. Strength isn’t just about being able to lift heavy things, it impacts way, WAY more than that. As we talked about before, the physical and mental health benefits are vast. You’d be daft not to start or add specific strength training to your weekly schedule. In face you should prioritise it if you want to live and longer, stronger, happier, and healthier life.

It will help you stay moving and free from aches and pains. No matter where you are starting from and your current strength or lack of it, strength training is crucial for you to do.

Regardless of your goal, whether it’s being able to walk up a flight of stairs, get on and off the floor, or to run a marathon, strength training can be adapted to suit all of you. The great news is that your body is the best tool ever and constantly at your disposal! So please, please, take care of it by using it, and training it to be and stay strong.

With love

Abbie

**Special OFFER**

If you’ve noticed you’ve been getting weaker recently and want to do something about it, we have a special Discovery Visit with Abbie, just for you. It’s a great opportunity for you to discuss your worries and concerns about your strength and identify what can be done to reverse the aging process. It isn’t too late to do something about it, no matter what your age! Simply call on 01548 852355 or email [email protected] and request a Strength Discovery Visit with Abbie. We’ve got you!

P.S. If you'd like to join classes to help get you strong, call 01548 852355 or email [email protected] to find out how to join. You can find out class timetable here.