Daily tip #18| Do you really need a gym?

I see a lot of people using the excuse 'I don't have a gym near/ can't afford a membership' for not working out. This is just plain lazyness, I thought everyone knew you didn't need to have a gym to get ripped, in fact, I don't suggest going to a gym until you've been exercise for atleast a year an a half on your own.


So, maybe you really don't need to go to a gym? Can you do handstand push-ups? Okay, can you do one-handed push ups? Only a few right? What about handstand clap-push-ups? Then why are you not working on those, and instead using weights for money, when you have the necessary weight for free!?

I'll cover a few basic exercises which people underestimate.

If you can do 50 squats and lunges, do you think you've mastered it? You're still far from that. Let me give you some variations you could try.. Sumo squat, one leg squat, front lunge, back lunge, plyometric lunge, walking lunge, jump squat, and there's more. Let's say you can do 50 of those. What about in a row? What about with a 40 lbs backpack? I bet you'd only do 10. Work on it!

So you've got your legs workout sorted, now, the upper body.. Pull ups. This is solely the best exercise for developing core, and upper body strenght. Can only do 4? Don't do 4, do three sets of 2 ( split your max into half ) with a maximum rest of 1 minute. Do this six days a week. If you can't even do 2, hold onto the bar, quickly jump up and hold yourself at the top, VERY slowly lowering yourself down until your arms are extended (8-12 seconds) you'll feel what's it like to workout, so why spend money on weights? You could also do a pyramid set of pull ups. The way you do it is: 1p - 30 seconds - 2p - 30 seconds - 3p - 40 seconds - 4p - 50 seconds -... And on, and on, and on, until you can't do anymore (p = pull up). And yes, you have to do the pull ups all over again, on the first set you do one, rest, on the second you do two, rest, on the third you do three, rest.. What if.. You're feeling confident with your pull-ups. Get your school bag/backpack and pack all your books in it, or maybe fit as many 2 litre bottles filled with water as you can, you could also use bricks if you're not worried about getting the backpack a little dusty. It'll be pull-ups all over again.. Even a little weight added onto you can greatly decrease your max. Work on until you get back up to 10-12, then add more weight. You see what I'm doing? You'll build loads of strenght.



If you can do more than 8 reps of something, you're not developing strenght anymore, you're developing your endurance. Anything up until 8 will develop strenght. I do not recommend going too heavy with additional weights though (nothing to knock you back down under 4 reps).


You can combine all of these into one day. If you don't have time, or want to go further faster, you should do them through-out the day. For example, going through a hallway and you see a pipe? Knock out 10 pull ups ( you don't have to do your max everytime ) just make sure you're building the number of pull ups/push-ups/crunches you did throughout the day. Sitting on the computer? Randomly run out of the room and do a few sets. This'll help you build up strenght and endurance faster. You'll feel way better through out the day too, don't believe so?

I need some suggestions about my style of writing, I'm not sure if I'm laying out my experience and thoughts in a short enough manner, what do you think about the quality?

So there you go, after reading this, do you really need a gym? With proper nutrition and adding weight to these exercises, you can go very far and get ripped, basically spending no money on a gym. I suggest you only start going to a gym after you've been doing these for ATLEAST a year.

Always remember - it's better to cheat a day or two off than quit.

And as always (from now on)!

Drink atleast 3litres of water, sleep properly, and don't make common mistakes. Happy exercising for free!

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