The ancient Greeks didn’t have gyms or fitness centers, yet they left behind images of buff bodies we still see today as representations of the ideal physique. With or without equipment, you can build a muscular body from your head to your toe while enjoying the privacy of your own home. The key to home workouts that build muscle is using the correct loads and volumes.
Step 1
Choose and obtain your exercise equipment. Choose dumbbells, kettlebells, resistance bands, a chinup bar, medicine ball, jump rope and an ab wheel.
Step 2
Write a list of exercises and the order in which you will do them each workout. Include biceps curls, triceps extensions, chest flies and presses, arm raises, dumbbell rows and kickbacks, chinups, pullups and dips to work your upper body. Include squats, lunges, calf raises and deadlifts to work your legs. Work your core with crunches that move you side to side and forward and back. Use your stairs, a jump rope, running in place, jumping jacks, butt kicks and burpees, along with bodyweight exercises you perform quickly, to create cardio workouts.
Step 3
Learn the correct technique for the exercises you have chosen to maximize the benefit you get from performing them and reduce your chance of injury.
Step 4
Create a weekly workout schedule that works your legs, hips, buttocks, core, arms, chest, back and shoulders. Create cardio workouts that help burn calories and promote weight loss to help create muscle definition.
Step 5
Create a monthly workout schedule that changes your workout every two weeks to prevent muscle adaptation to your exercises and a plateau in your results.
Step 6
Warm up to start each workout. Swing your arms, jog in place, and do jumping jacks and butt kicks at a moderate intensity for five minutes.
Step 7
Perform exercises using the maximum weight you can lift or do bodyweight exercises slowly to create muscle-building workouts. Perform five repetitions of an exercise if you use weights, and three to five sets of each exercise before you change exercises.Perform one set of non-weighted exercises to failure before taking a break and repeating.
Step 8
Use muscular effort for downlifts and uplifts. Don’t drop after raising yourself by allowing gravity to lower you. Don’t use momentum to propel you upward by “bouncing” up after a downlift. Pause between uplifts and downlifts.
Step 9
Perform exercises at 40 percent to 70 percent of your maximum intensity for cardio workouts, recommends fitness expert Fabio Comana, writing at the website of the American Council on Exercise. Do 10 to 25 repetitions and then take 15 to 30 seconds to recover before starting another exercise. Alternatively, perform an exercise for one minute and then take a one-minute break before starting the next exercise.
Step 10
Write down the number of reps you perform during each set of an exercise to track your progress. Aim to increase the number of reps you perform and the weight you use each week.
Step 11
Rest at least 24 hours between workouts to allow your muscles to recover and rebuild. Alternate workouts for the upper and lower body.
Tips and Warnings
- Cool down with easy arm and leg movements for several minutes at the end of each workout to prevent muscle stiffness and soreness. Stretch after your cool down to improve flexibility.
Things You'll Need
- Dumbbells
- Kettlebell
- Resistance bands
- Chinup bar
- Medicine ball
- Jump rope
- Ab wheel
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