How can I exercise thoroughly without equipment?

March 22, 2009 6:58 AM

Can anyone point me to information on exercising with extremely limited resources?

I've had a look over the Net, and over previous questions, but I'm having difficulty finding information on exercising without equipment or a large area. I'm thinking prison exercises, (as the only equipment I have is a single 5kg dumb-bell that's not much use except for doing hundreds of reps), but a lot of the prison-exercise advice I've been directed to tends to necessitate buying a book. Any simplistic instructions on basic aerobic exercises would also be appreciated.

posted by malusmoriendumest to health & fitness (14 comments total)

Calisthenics. Also consider the Squat-Thrust
posted by Comrade_robot at 7:04 AM on March 22

The Hacker's Diet has an exercise regime called the fitness ladder. "The general outlines for this program were derived from the Royal Canadian Air Force “5BX” exercise program for men." It doesn't require any equipment at all besides possibly an exercise mat or carpeted floor.

As a bonus it was developed by John Walker of Autodesk fame
posted by Mitheral at 7:12 AM on March 22 [2 favorites]

You might want to try burpees. Check this out.
posted by Midnight Rambler at 7:12 AM on March 22 [1 favorite]

Here's a great list of bodyweight exercises (pdf). Some require a little equipment (like a place to do pull-ups) but there are plenty of things you can do with none at all.
posted by Zonker at 7:32 AM on March 22

I have a quality flat bench and barbells. You can do so much with them.
posted by Ironmouth at 7:51 AM on March 22

It's been mentioned here before, but One Hundred Pushups has worked great for me. It looks like they've now launched Two hundred situps, which I'm planning on adding as well.
posted by swngnmonk at 8:28 AM on March 22 [1 favorite]

Run. All you need is a pair of lace up shoes with soft soles. Open the door, step outside, and start to trot. If you feel a need to build up muscle, take the 5kg dumbbell with you.
posted by birdwatcher at 8:42 AM on March 22

Here's something that came up on popurls a few weeks back. How to Get Bruce Lee Like Strength Without Ever Going to a Gym.
posted by cashman at 9:01 AM on March 22

The only limited resource that's a big problem is time.

Bodyweight exercises for strength (yeah, yeah, you're eventually limited in terms of raw strength gains, but just keep working on those one-armed chinups and cross that bridge when you come to it), running or cycling (for example) for cardio/aerobic, yoga or tai chi (for example) for balance and core strength. If you specifically crave big bulgy muscles, get a bench, a bar and some weights (available cheap in classified ads, Craigslist, garage sales, etc.) (maybe add a dip station while you're at it, though those are easy to improvise), and add some deadlifts and squats and presses and whatnot.

Or try Internet favorites like kettleballs, Crossfit, Shovelglove, 100 Pushups, Couch-to-5k... wow, I never realized how many of these there are.
posted by box at 9:15 AM on March 22

Simplefit
posted by notyou at 11:08 AM on March 22

5BX
posted by rglasmann at 12:35 PM on March 22

I'd recommend ShovelGlove, but I swear I messed with my joints with all the extremely high impact jerking around, but I still use the sledge hammer as a freeweight and do curls with it.
posted by MesoFilter at 8:49 PM on March 22

The burpee looks like a modified squat thrust, which is something the Marines used to do & will get you in insanely good shape. The burpee looks good, though I may not add in the jump because my knees aren't so good.

The 100 pushups thing looks good, I'm definitely gonna give that a go.
posted by MesoFilter at 8:59 PM on March 22

Thanks for all the answers- some great leads to follow up. I probably should have emphasised further that no equipment was an option, so benches, barbells and so on are definitely out. A lot of the links look brilliant, so thanks again!
posted by malusmoriendumest at 8:58 PM on March 23