A weight bench can be a relatively expensive investment. If you want to work out at home but aren't ready to sink a few hundred dollars into a good bench, several alternatives are available to you. Whether you're doing bench step-ups, chest presses or dips you can use either common household items or inexpensive fitness equipment to replace your bench. If you use household items, always check the sturdiness of the item before you perform an exercise on it.
Step 1
Purchase a stability ball. A stability ball can replace a bench for chest presses, seated overhead presses and supported rows. You can also do crunches, preacher curls, wall squats and a whole selection of exercises with a stability ball. Purchase a burst-resistant ball and note the weight capacity of the ball before you use it with heavy weights.
Step 2
Use a sturdy chair. Place your hands on the edge of the chair with your legs extended in front of you. Perform dips for your triceps. Perform step-ups and incline push-ups with a chair. Test it for sturdiness before standing on it.
Step 3
Grab the kitchen stool and do lunge step-ups and box jumps. You can also use a stool for dips and decline push-ups. Make sure the stool is stationary and won't slide from underneath you.
Step 4
Use indoor or outdoor stairs. On stairs you can perform incline push-ups, lunge step-ups, dips and box jumps.
Step 5
Use the floor. For chest presses, if you don't have a stability ball, you can do them on the floor. This will limit your range of motion slightly, but you can still get a good chest workout.
Things You'll Need
- Chair
- Stability ball
- Stool
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