Building muscle does more than raise your self-confidence. It enables you to perform daily tasks with more efficiency and it also contributes to weight loss and physical maintenance. According to the University of Michigan Health System, 3 lbs. of added muscle will burn more than 600 extra calories every week. If you do not want to invest in gym equipment or join a gym, you are in luck when it comes to building muscle.
Body Weight
Gym equipment consists of free weights and machines. These tools are effective at building muscle, but they are not necessary. Simply put, muscles grow when they are acted upon with resistance. It doesn't matter where this resistance comes from. If you do not have gym equipment, for example, use the weight of your body for resistance.
Types of Exercises
All of the major muscles in your body can be worked without gym equipment -- provided you do the right exercises. Push-ups for example, work your chest, shoulders and triceps. Exercises like this that work more than one muscle at a time are called compound exercises, according to Health and Nutrition Tips. Because of this high muscle recrutiment, push-ups are good exercises to add to your workouts. You can also perform decline push-ups with your feet elevated on a chair and incline push-ups with your hands on a chair for variations. Dips, squats, lunges, bicycle crunches, alternating arm and leg raises and v-ups are other body weight exercises.
Execution of Good Form
When you are using your body weight for exercises, it is vital to execute proper form to get the best results. The goal of a basic push-up, for example, is to move in a steady, even motion. Begin by lying on your stomach with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and your feet together behind you. Steadily push yourself off the floor until your arms are fully extended. Raise your hips and tighten your abs to keep your back straight. Slowly lower your chest down to within a fist-width of the floor, push back up and repeat.
Addition of Resistance
Although you may not have dumbbells, barbells and weight plates at your disposal, you do have household items. Water jugs, laundry detergent, backpacks filled with thick books and socks filled with change all make good resistance with your exercises. During a squat exercise, for example, you can wear a weighted backpack and hold two full gallon water jugs at your sides to increase the resistance. The jugs alone add 8 lbs. of resistance each.
Pull-Ups at Home
Pull-ups work your entire upper body, including your abs. When you are at home, you may not have access to a pull-up bar, but you can use an open beam or edge of a deck as an alternative. If you have open floor joists in your basement, invest in a pair of c-clamps. Securely fasten them to one joist approximately shoulder-width apart and grasp onto them to do pull-ups.
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