Building Leg & Chest/Arm strenth

hitchen92
hitchen92 Posts: 264
edited May 2009 in Health, fitness & training
Looking for some exercises to boost my leg strength, plus some additional chest/arm training without any fancy equipment or gym memberships. All's I have is dumbells!

Comments

  • pdid
    pdid Posts: 1,065
    Use Press-ups, Chin-ups and Squats as a basis, add weight with a rucksack or weight belt. Obviously with squats you can hold the dumbbells

    Then pick a few of these:

    http://www.dumbbell-exercise.com/dumbbell-exercises.htm

    It is easier if you have access to a bench but not necessary.
    Commie Meta 5
    Rock Lobster
  • Surf-Matt
    Surf-Matt Posts: 5,952
    Hitchen - do high intensity press ups!

    My upper body workout uses 2 x 10kg dumbells, a pull up bar, two stout chairs and a swiss ball and seems to do a good job - it's more for maintenance than strength building as I did all that years ago. You need to really push it to build strength.

    I do (2x a week, also cycle 10 miles a day, run 5 miles twice a week and surf a lot)

    Heavy punch bag - 5 mins

    Skip - a few mins

    LEGS

    Lunges (10kg in each hand) x 20

    Single legs squats (10kg x 2) x 10

    Calf raises (10kg x 2) x 50

    CHEST

    Press ups - 20 clapping ones, 45 with each hand on a (2x) chair and feet on a swiss ball, 20 with each hand on a dumbell (makes it more intense).

    BACK

    Pull ups - 20 off a pull up bar

    Bent over rows (single hand both sides) - 20kg weight x 20

    SHOULDERS

    Hand stand press ups against a wall x 10

    Shoulder raises (10kg in each hand) x 20

    TRICEPS

    Chinese press ups (evil!) x 10

    French presses (10kg) - 20 each arm

    BICEPS

    Curls (10kg each hand) x 30

    Concentration curls (15kg) x 20

    ABS

    80 crunches

    50 sit ups on a swiss ball.
  • The Northern Monkey
    The Northern Monkey Posts: 19,174
    i've "borrowed" a PDF strength training book from uni if you want it.
    It has a great set of photos and good descriptions of exercises for chest, arms, back, stomach legs etc and shows in detail how they should be performed and what exact muscle groups you're working.
    Apparently its one of the best.

    PM me your email and i'll send it over. (anyone else that wants it then do the same).

    B
    Santa Cruz Butcher
  • numptyfish
    numptyfish Posts: 62
    http://www.bodyweightculture.com/

    http://www.rosstraining.com/

    couple of sites that may help you out. No fancy equipment needed. Look out for "Ideaman" on the Bodyweight forum. 60 odd year old inspiration.
  • Noel PT
    Noel PT Posts: 627
    Mate to improve your riding .......ride!

    Weight training has its advantages but to be honest if you only have dumbells and arent really interested in getting alot of weight to improve strength. Then find a selection of climbs and use them! The reason I say this is that light dumbells arent going to help with strength progression all that much.

    The steeper the climb the more strength you will need, the idea behind strength training is to get as many muscle fibers to fire at once. So get to the bottom of the hill pick a gear that you can manage and climb it as fast as you can. Then slowly roll back down the hill. Give yourself 2-3mins rest and do it again each time using the biggest gear that you can manage. Slowly find steeper and longer hills and higher gears mate. Train like a cyclist not a body builder.

    Anyway mate I hope this helped. If you are prepared to spend a bit of money, say about 150 squid then I would suggest getting yourself a TRX suspension trainer. It is the cutting edge of training at the moment and is a fantastic tool. I use it with nearly all my clients.

    http://www.fitnessanywhere.com/

    Good luck
    www.ttspersonaltraining.co.uk

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