Grow My Muscles

You may have your own reasons for not wanting to use weights to get muscles but for whatever reason, you need to do something different. The best and most effective way to get muscles is by using weights but it isn’t the only way to go about it.

If you decide that you want to work your lower body without using weights, there are some things that you may already be doing that can be done more effectively. There are some bodyweight techniques that have been used by people in many different cultures throughout the world to get muscular legs the size of tree trunks, without ever touching an extra weight.

The key to building muscle is to use progressive muscular resistance where your muscles get resistance from somewhere and the amount of resistance it receives progressively grows. If you are not going to be using weights then you are going to have to rely on your body for that resistance by using the weight that you already have.

There are three exercises to incorporate in your workout that will build your glutes, quads and calves. You can use stair-steps, lunges, and squats.

Stair steps are a great way to develop your legs while getting some aerobic activity.  Either climb stairs in your home, on the beach or in a highrise building. Any stairs will do. You can climb many flights, one flight several times or just step up the first two steps of any stairs at once. As you get fitter, try stepping up three steps at a time. Warm up before stair stepping and go slow at the beginning or you will risk having very stiff legs for the next couple of days. Concentrate on using just the front half of your feet on the steps for added difficulty. If you have a way to make it so that you are having to step higher than the typical 8-10" most steps are, it will make your workout more challenging (two steps at a time for many flights, could be used when one or two steps don’t challenge you any more).

Lunges are a very good way to develop the whole leg. You can do this in one place, walking across the room or along the beach. Stand straight up and take a giant step forward with your front foot taking a deep lunge. Make sure that your lower leg that is taking the lunge does not go past your toes. Do this about 10 times for each leg and work yourself up to about 20-30. You might not want to get too aggressive doing this initially because if you overdo it, you may need some extra help getting out of a chair later on.

There are also a couple different types of squats that you can do to help you get muscles in your legs. The first is called a sissy squat. You need a good strong door with strong door knobs to do this. With your face pointed to the side of the door grab hold of the door knobs. Make sure that your arms are fully extended and your feet are about an arms length from the door and about a shoulder width
apart. Holding on to the door knobs, lower yourself down, bending your knees and stop when the back of your thighs touch your calves. Do this about 10 times at first and then build yourself up to 20-39 as you are able.

There is another kind of squat called a bethaks (transliterated spelling) or a Hindu squat (where it is believed to have originated but has been done in quite a few cultures for centuries). In this exercise you start off with your feet about a shoulder width apart and squat down till your buttocks nearly touches the floor. At your lowest point you lift your heels up off the ground slightly. You then make a jumping movement without leaving the ground. Rise up somewhat rapidly with your arms swinging forward like you would if you were jumping. As soon as you are in an upright position and your arms/hands are touching your chest, lower yourself back down to the squat. Inhale as your arms are swinging forward and exhale as you lower your body. You should be able to do 20-30 when you are just starting off. Do as many as you can. You want to try and work yourself up to 100 at a time. Once you are able to get to 500 at a time you should find yourself in really good shape. (check out the Hindu Squats in the YouTube movie at the start of this post).

There are other exercises that you can do to build up your leg muscles without using weights but these are a good starting point. As said before, using weights is the most efficient way to grow muscles but it can be done without using them and still see great results. One great benefit of working without weights is that it is easy to do damage to your knees with weights. If you have bad knees then these exercises, especially the Hindu squat, will work to rebuild your knees while strengthening your legs and helping you get muscles of significant size.

There’s a site I’ve found that has lots of short movie clips that show you simply, how to do all types of exercise. I love it. Check out Global Health and Fitness for 2 free e-books and more!

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