I'm in shape. Round is a shape, isn't it?

April 16, 2008 9:18 PM

What are some exercises I can do to build upper body strength and lose some weight/inches off my waistline? Difficulty: small room, next to no fitness equipment.

With the weather starting to warm up again, I've been bitten by the exercise bug; I want to get myself back into some kind of shape. I just turned 23; I'm 5'6" and weigh about 160 pounds. Up until about a year and a half ago, I weighed closer to 145 pounds; the extra 15 came about because of laziness or apathy on my part. With those extras pounds, my stomach has gotten bigger--I don't have a gut, but I fear I'll develop one if I don't do something to combat it.

For the past couple weeks, I've been doing push-ups and stomach crunches every night before I go to bed. I can definitely feel them working, but I'd like to expand my routine a bit. The tricky part of this is that I don't have a lot of room to work out; I do my exercises in my bedroom before bed (college student, living at home), and I'd like to find some other exercises that I can do in a relatively small space that won't shake the floors and wake the rest of my family up. So jumping jacks are out. I have a pair of 8lb dumbbells that I'll do things like bicep curls and tricep extensions with, but I don't have a weight bench or anything like that. Joining a gym isn't really an answer either, as I don't have the money to pay for a membership or the time to devote to it right now.

Does anyone have any suggestions for things I can add to my routine? Bonus points if you have any exercises I can do on my own to work my oblique muscles; mine used to be pretty toned, but they've fallen off more than just about anything else.

posted by phaded to health & fitness (20 comments total)

prisoner squats
posted by dawdle at 9:24 PM on April 16, 2008

sorry didn't see you wanted to emphasize UPPER BODY.

in that case get a bar and do chinups, and pullups...
posted by dawdle at 10:04 PM on April 16, 2008

You say you are doing push-ups, which is great. You can get a lot of mileage from them, as they work many of the major upper-body muscle groups. Try varying your push-ups: do declines by putting your feet up on the bed or a chair, or elevate one hand on a stack of books while doing pushups (being sure to alternate and give both arms a change to be elevated). Check out these push-up variations--I especially like Spiderman push-ups, and you can do them decline too, for a very challenging but effective workout.

If you really want to get in shape, you're going to have to do more than just a few pushups and situps. Try concentrating on big exercises that work major muscle groups--squats, lunges, and deadlifts. I don't know that you'll get huge results from lifting 8lb dumbbells, but even adding this small amount of resistance to your squats can help.

Do you have an inflated exercise ball? They can be had at Target for pretty cheap, and you can do lots of great core exercises with them. Try holding plank position with your hands on the ball, or your legs on the ball, or doing jackknifes on the ball, or pushups with hands or legs on the ball...you get the idea. It's a cheap piece of equipment that has a million uses.
posted by Bella Sebastian at 10:57 PM on April 16, 2008

Shovelglove!

Hooping is also great, not just for cardio but for toning your abs. It's fun, too.
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 11:12 PM on April 16, 2008

Seconding the pullup bar. They are pretty cheap, and as long as you aren't too tall (or train yourself to duck your head) it can provide a great addition to your in-room workout routine. Even better if you build a habit of doing a few pullups every time you go through the door. You can also hang on the bar and do various leg lifts, which can hit those obliques.

Additionally, if your ceiling is high enough, look into handstand pushups. Those, together with lateral raises of your dumbells (and various pullups) will hit your shoulders.

Last, you should note the point above to focus on more than just the upper body. Of course that is the most fun, but there is a reason we force ourselves to rotate in other days once in a while, especially if you're worried about the gut. Lunges don't take much space, but the best would be doing Tabata routines with squats. If you are unfamiliar with any of the above terms, google is your friend.

I know I said last, but two more critical points. Don't forget diet, the most important factor towards keeping off that gut, and establishing a solid, regular routine.

Good luck and stick with it. Gyms are nice, but you'll be amazed at what you can do with your little room and dedication.
posted by Bun at 11:27 PM on April 16, 2008

Thirding the pull-ups and not just focusing on the upper body.

There's not a whole lot you can get out of 8-lb dumbbells. It's worthwhile to invest in one dumbbell that's between 20 and 40 pounds, depending on how strong you are right now, and doing dumbbell clean and presses. Those definitely hit the upper body but will get your legs, too. Lay out a folded blanket in front of you when you do these so you can put the dumbbell down without bothering the family.

About keeping the weight down, you might want to consider running outside. Try doing twenty minutes a day. Don't worry about how fast you go or how far you get. It's not upper body, but it'll burn fat.
posted by ignignokt at 11:57 PM on April 16, 2008

Seconding the suggestion to go running, or at least walking, outside. All of these weight-related exercises, including pushups and pullups, are more likely to increase your weight by building muscle, than to cut those 15 pounds you want to lose. They don't burn a huge amount of calories. You need to add some kind of aerobic activity that burns calories, and of course you need to watch what you eat, basically by avoiding "empty calories." If you don't want to run outside, run-in-place inside. Work up to at least 20 minutes at a pace that induces sweat. Then do whatever weight-related work you want. The aerobic warmup, besides burning calories, will reduce the chances of injuring yourself with the weight work.
posted by beagle at 5:21 AM on April 17, 2008

I love the shovelglove. It's really made a difference in my body and it's really easy and pretty darn cheap.
posted by sully75 at 6:20 AM on April 17, 2008

Surprised nobody mentioned dips, which can be done with nothing more than a chair and somewhere to prop up your legs.

To look for more options, I'd recommend searching google for "travel workout" or "hotel room workout". There's a lot of stuff written up out there for people who spend all their time in hotels; functionally, you've got the same requirements. 15 Minute Travel Workout is one, Exercises for the Hotel Room is another.
posted by inigo2 at 6:35 AM on April 17, 2008

For exercise involving dumbbells, Powerblocks are pretty nice. The adjustable stacking/locking system gives a good mix of not taking up the space of multiple dumbbells of different weights, and the benefit of being able to increase the weight when 8 or 12 or whatever pounds starts feeling easy.

Dumbbell exercises.
posted by Drastic at 6:46 AM on April 17, 2008

Pushup
Elevated Pushup
Diamond Puship
Clapping Pushup
Handstand Pushup w/ your back against a wall
Pullup
L-Pullups (Quads at 90degrees to torso)
Air Squats (Crossfit.com is the authority on air squats)
Back Extensions (Lay on belley with hands straight out and flex your spinal erectors so that your hands and feet both lift 1' off the ground...repeat)
Box Jumps (both legs, one leg, one leg and dumbbell etc..)
Dips
Burpees
Jump Rope
Kettleball swings (I have used dumbells instead of the kettleball in the past just fine)

Go visit crossfit.com
Google 'Body Weight Exercises'

And FYI: The best exercises you can do:
Squats, Deadlifts, Cleaning/Snatching, and Pullups
posted by yoyoceramic at 6:58 AM on April 17, 2008

I agree with everyone who's said that some aerobic exercise is going to be important if you're looking to drop some pounds. It'll do wonders for your mood and energy level, too.

I don't have any specific oblique exercise suggestions (maybe Russian Twists?) but let me instead suggest these two books my Men's Health: The Abs Diet and the Home Workout Bible. The title of the first one is kind of intentionally misleading: it preys on your desire to look fit and avoid a gut to fiendishly trick you into very healthy eating and doing some smart workouts. That said, having followed its advice, I can actually see my actual abs, which is kind of cool, I guess. If I recall correctly, a fair number of the exercises are ones that don't require any special gear.

The Home Workout Bible has a pretty decent selection of body-weight-only exercises and exercises you can do with stuff around the house. However, it makes no bones about the fact that if you get even a little serious about working out you'll probably going to want to get some dumbbells at the very least. I used some like these plus with the cheapest weight bench I could find at Academy for a couple of years and that setup suited me just fine for the most part.
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas at 6:59 AM on April 17, 2008

Oh, last thing. The workouts in the Abs Diet book put a surprising amount of emphasis on lower body exercsie, the reasoning being: the more muscle you have the more calories you naturally burn, and there are more big muscles (and therefore more opportunity for muscle growth) in your lower body than anywhere else. I think there's some debate about that first claim, but it worked well for me.

Seriously, pick up a copy of that book. It sounds like it would work well for you and I bet you can find it used for next to nothing.
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas at 7:09 AM on April 17, 2008

I work out in very similar circumstances. Here's the routine I've devised for myself:

1) 5 minutes of stretches (see also breezeway's comment here).

2) 5 minutes of warmup (arm circles, lying-on-your-back-bicycling-your-legs-thing)

3) Bodyweight exercises. Currently I do four sets of the following:
- 20 press-ups
- 20 basic crunches
- 20 reverse curls
- 20 second plank hold
- 20 hyper-extensions
- 5 pull ups
- 20 squats
I mix this up with other exercises from here and try and add 1 or 2 reps every week (I started off with 5 reps of each and 1 pull up - I've been going for a good few months now).

4) Horse stance for a few minutes. While in this stance, I use hand grips and also do some slow punches with light weights. Then as many chin-ups as I can do, and some hanging leg raises if not completely knackered by this stage..

5) Bullworker exercises. Most home exercise equipment is just landfill-in-waiting, but the Bullworker is (IMHO) genuinely worthwhile, and works well for my circumstances.

6) Free weight exercises. Easily adjustable dumb-bells are useful as you can't use the same weight for every exercise. Those dumb-bell clean and presses linked above seem like a bad idea; each to their own, but I think you're better off using much lighter weights and very slow, controlled movement. The way the guy in the video is jerking and straining... seems like a great way to tear something and fuck yourself up.

Steps 4, 5 or 6 may get left out, depending on how much time I've got, or how tired I am. My chin-up bar is just a very simple one screwed into a doorway, but it's an invaluable part of my workout - as others have said, chin-ups/pull-ups are the best upper-body exercises you can do.

Hope that helps - it's given me pretty good results.
posted by boosh at 7:20 AM on April 17, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

USMC's Daily 16. The exercises do not require any equipment and the program has proven results.
posted by calumet43 at 7:51 AM on April 17, 2008

Get a kettlebell.
posted by tiburon at 8:19 AM on April 17, 2008

Burpees
posted by kaizen at 8:23 AM on April 17, 2008

Never Gymless, by Ross Enamait is perfect for you. It has loads of exercises you can do at home with no equipment. Get it from the library (inter-library loan).
posted by keith0718 at 9:58 AM on April 17, 2008

The 'Power Wheel' they're selling on this site supports a variety of exercises. I've got a cheap version that's essentially a lawn mower wheel with handles, that's a great upper body + abs workout.
posted by altcountryman at 2:27 PM on April 17, 2008

Man, there are some great suggestions in this thread. Thank you all. :)
posted by phaded at 8:02 PM on April 17, 2008