Weight Training Without Weights
A little over a month ago I wrote a post here called 'Geek to Freak... its on!' on my attempts to start a new weight program based on a similarly named blog post from Tim Ferris which itself is based on something called The Colorado Experiment.
In summary, the program involves (in my case at least) substituting a 4 - 6 sessions per week, 4 exercises by 3 sets program (12 overall sets per session) with 2 sessions per week, 8 exercises by '1' set program. This substantially lower number of overall sets per week will supposedly produce 'better' results than a regular weights program through a focus on the following (in summary... the full program is shown in my previous post on this topic.) - Chose enough exercises to ensure you cover all major muscles.- Perform each exercise only once to failure. Rest at least 3 mins between exercises.
- Perform each repetition 5 seconds up, 5 seconds down (very slowly.)
- Focus on multi-joint exercises (such as overhead press and dips.)
- Exercise less frequently as you increase strength and size. Despite only being on this program a matter of weeks, it appears to be working. At the very least at this early stage... I haven't lost any muscle size despite exercising substantially less times per week 'and' less frequently. One small problem though... I am currently OS for business. Normally when I travel, I ensure 2 things before I leave... that the airline knows to serve me vegetarian food... and the hotel I will be staying at either has a gym or is close to one. No such luck on this leg of the trip. The Villa Resort I'm staying at in Tacloban, Philippines has no fitness centre and the nearest town, 30 mins away by car, doesn't have a supermarket or hotel... let alone a fitness centre/gym. The challenge then was how to maintain my fitness program without access to a gym... or for that matter without access to gym equipment. I came up with the following program using objects and/or my surroundings... exercises that could be reproduced just about anywhere. In order to exercise the main muscle groups, I have produced a short program of 7 exercises, covering... shoulders, chest, upper back, arms (biceps and triceps), stomach and legs. Allowing for the 3 minutes rest between each exercise, the program took around 30 mins. N.B. I should point out before proceeding that the following program may not suit everybody and that you should seek professional advice (doctor/personal trainer) before considering doing all or part of the program yourself.
(I had attached start/end position images for each of the 7 exercises below, 14 pics, however as I had to upload this post via Webmail... Posterous has clustered the images into 1 file, now at the base of this post, and I can't separate them and place them against their appropriate exercises. Damn.)
1. Push Up (Chest.)
Start with your body in the extended position (as shown in the image above), legs together, toes touching the ground. Arms should be almost straight with fingers pointing forwards and your wrists in such a position that your forearm stays at 90 degrees to the ground at all times throughout the exercise. Body should be straight throughout the entire exercise, no arching of the back or bending of the knees. Take 5 seconds to move from the starting position to a point close to the ground (not touching) and then take another 5 seconds to return to the original position. Importantly, there is no resting between each upward/downward movement... and no 'sudden' movement when changing direction. Repeat to fail... that is do as many push ups as shown above until you are unable to do anymore. For me, and I am around 90 KG's, this is around 10. 2. Shoulder Press (Shoulders.) For this exercise I found a solid wooden stool that I'm guessing weighed around 10 - 15 KG's (possibly heavier... hard to tell.) The key here was to choose something not as heavy as I would normally lift at a gym... but light enough that I could get around 10 rep's in for the set. I aimed for around 50% - 80% of the weight I would have used for a regular shoulder exercise. Start with the chair placed above your head, biceps horizontal, forearms perpendicular to your biceps (90 degrees.) As with the push ups above, move slowly... 5 seconds lifting up, 5 seconds returning to the original position. No stopping and no sudden movement between pushing up and down. Repeat to fail. Footnote: Have given some thought to alternatives that would suit should a suitably weighted chair not be available. 2 x 2 Litre water bottles filled with sand/dirt might do the trick... although using these would likely take more reps to complete the exercise (as they wouldn't weigh as much as a chair.) Another object you could substitute for a chair, appropriate if you are traveling like me, would be a small piece of luggage (about the size you would use for 'carry on') and fill it appropriately for your chosen weight. 3. Still Squat (Legs.) This one is a lot easier to explain... but ended up being one of the more painful, in a good way... :) Simply stand against a solid wall or door. Ensure you are around a third of a meter (or 1 foot for my US friends) from the wall/door. Crouch down such that the bottom half of your legs are perpendicular to the ground and the top half is horizontal (or 90 degrees to the bottom half.) Your back should be resting firmly against the wall/door. Hold this position for as long as you can. Simple. 4. Sit Ups (Stomach.) Using the same chair from the above-mentioned 'Shoulder Press' exercise, I laid on the ground with my legs placed over the chair. The starting position had my entire back and head touching the ground and my legs positioned such that my thighs were at a right angle to my stomach and my lower legs were parallel to the ground (resting on the top of the chair.) To begin, place your hands to the side or your head (not behind your head) and lift your upper body up slowly, as close to your knees as you can. Without stopping, return to the starting position... 'stopping' just before you touch the ground... and repeat. 5 seconds up, no break, 5 seconds down, no break... and so on. Repeat to fail. 5. Biceps Curl (Arms 1.) Using the same chair from the previous Shoulder Press (Anchor?) and Sit Ups (Anchor?) exercises... start with the chair placed in front of you... with your forearms 90 degrees to your biceps. Lift the chair up slowly... as far as you can, ensuring your elbows remain in the same position throughout the entire exercise. 5 seconds up, 5 seconds down... with no stopping between up and down... and no 'swinging' of the body or sudden movements (ideally only the elbow through the forearms area should be moving.) Repeat to fail. 6. Triceps Dip (Arms 2.) Again using the same chair from the exercises above, start facing away from the chair with your hands placed on the top front edge of the chair, facing forward and around your body width apart (that is your thumbs should be aligned with the edges of your hips.) Place your feet around half a meter (approx. 1 foot, 8 inches) forward from the chair. Your arms should be almost straight with your upper body vertical and your thighs horizontal to the ground. Slowly move your upper body down towards the ground, stopping before you touch the ground. Using your triceps, push up to return to the starting position. 5 seconds up, 5 seconds down... no breaks. Repeat to fail. 7. Pull Ups (Upper Back.) I knew before I set out creating this 'on the road' weights program that finding an appropriate and suitable exercise for my upper back would be a challenge. Luckily the Villa I am staying in has a double door, opening outwards from the middle. Now importantly these doors were very solid (strong) so able to carry my weight and by using the trusty chair from the earlier exercises, I was able to fix the open doors into position by wedging the chair in the middle between them. The size of the chair ended up being a perfect fit, leaving the doors ajar around the width of my shoulders (slightly further.) Kneel (or crouch) on the chair between the doors... and place both wrist on the top of each door close to the edge where the 2 doors meet when closed. Starting position for me had me lifting myself up from the chair (from the kneeling on the chair) such that the the top of my head was slightly above the level of my fingers. Lower your body slowly to a point where your knees are almost touching the chair and your arms are reasonably well extended.5 seconds down, 5 seconds up... no stopping... repeat to fail.
Since completing this particular exercise, I have given thought to some alternatives. I'm sure that most places I will stay at when OS... or for that matter even where I live in Australia... wont have a double door... let alone one strong enough to support my weight. Earlier today I experimented with a new upper back exercise using a standard hotel bathroom towel and an outdoor pole (the one visible in some of the images within this post) strong enough to support my weight. For this exercise I stand facing the pole with my toes touching the base of the pole. Next I wrap the towel around the pole, firmly holding the ends of the separately in my wrists. Starting position... I slowly lower myself till my arms are fully extended with my body straight... and about 45 degrees to the pole and ground. I then slowly pulled my body up to a point where my chest touched my wrists... then lowered myself down slowly to the starting position. 5 seconds up, 5 seconds down. Continue to fail. I haven't actually done this exercise in full as yet... will do so tomorrow and provide an update on its effectiveness as well as any other additions/changes I might make to the program. And speaking of additions/changes. If anyone has any ideas as to how I could improve the above exercises effectiveness... or even some alternatives... please add your thoughts to the comments section below. Am particularly keen to find alternatives for the Shoulder Press and Biceps exercises as I lucked out on the chair I have here at the Villa Resort. Not only is it the perfect weight... the flat panel legs (2 legs, not 4) are a good fit both for 'grip' on the Shoulder Press and for 'control' on the Biceps Curls (impossible to move the elbows during the exercise.) Am unlikely to find something similar on my next trip OS... should I need to. Maybe I could use several full water bottles bound together in plastic shopping bags. Mmmmmmmmm...
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