There is no need to leave your home to build strength, power, and muscle. Powerlifting and Strongman competitors have trained in their back yards and went on to compete at the world championship level, and you can follow in their footsteps. Using a few simple exercises and focused effort, you can improve not only your strength, but your conditioning as well. Consult your physician before beginning any diet or exercise program.
The Basics of a Home Gym
You need a power rack for safety, as setting the pins in the rack to the proper height for various exercises will ensure that you do not get hurt even while training alone. A barbell with safety collars and plenty of weight, as well as a pair of adjustable dumbbells that fit the same plates you will use on your bar. An adjustable bench will round out your gym. Other than that, you just need stable floor space for your power rack and you are ready to start lifting.
Compound Lifts
Compound lifts are those that work multiple muscle groups of the body, such as the squat which works not only the legs, but the hips and the abdominals as well. Chin-ups and rows work the back, biceps and forearms and the bench press targets the chest, shoulders and triceps. The military press works the shoulders and triceps and recruits most of the muscles of the upper body for stability as well. The deadlift works your upper and lower back, abdominals and legs. At first focus on developing good technique, but work up to the point where you are training with 75 percent of your one-repetition maximum, and work on keeping your rest periods in between sets to no more than 90 seconds. This serves to stimulate your endocrine system to release more testosterone, which is the primary muscle-building hormone.
Training
Train your entire body every workout, but only lift three days a week. You grow stronger and build muscle while you are recovering, not while you are training. Squat first, as this is the most skilled lift, and you do not wish to perform it while you are fatigued, as this will increase your risk of injury. Make sure you do as many sets of chin-ups and rows as you do pressing exercises, not only for balanced physique development, but for balanced shoulder development, which will help protect you from injury. Only deadlift once a week, and if you train on a Monday - Wednesday - Friday schedule, deadlift on Friday so you have an extra day to rest and recover.
Conditioning
On your off days, you can do conditioning work to improve your recovery and increase your tolerance for training volume by doing extra conditioning work. At first just go for a walk, then you can carry light dumbbells to increase the intensity. After you become accustomed to this, you can switch to dragging a weighted sled. Again, there is no need for anything fancy here, take an old tire, put plywood in the bottom, and add weight. Pull the tire with a rope, both forwards and backwards. This is not only excellent work for the legs as well as good cardiovascular work, but it will also increase your ability to recover from your lifting sessions.
References
- "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research" Electromyographic Activity of the Pectoralis Major and Anterior Deltoid Muscles During Three Upper-Body Lifts; Barnett et al.; 2005
- PubMed.gov: Fiziol Cheloveka: Acute Testosterone and Cortisol Responses to High Power Resistance Exercise
- PubMed.gov: European Journal of Applied Physiology: Acute Hormonal and Neuromuscular Responses to Hypertrophy, Strength and Power Type Resistance Exercise
- Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: Biomechanics of the Knee During Closed Kinetic Chain and Open Kinetic Chain Exercises
- PubMed.gov: A Three-Dimensional Biomechanical Analysis of Sumo and Conventional Style Deadlifts
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