4 Proven Ways to Build Muscle Minus Heavy Weights

Are you stuck at home with light weights or nothing to train with? You might think it’s impossible to carry on with muscle building and resistance training away from the gym.  Of course, you are dead wrong because muscle building isn’t all about lifting heavy dumbbells.

With most gyms closed and probably no dumbbell around you, building real muscle with light weights or nothing comes down to your resolve and exercise technique. It has been proven  that the right exercise combinations and consistency, are vital to building muscle strength and achieving a perfect physique.

Here are five tried and tested ways to build real muscle without heavy weights:

1.    Do Higher Reps with Light/Medium Weights

With no heavy weights around, your alternative training program should involve doing higher or ultra-high reps with light weight if you have them around. It might take a bit longer to complete a session and probably hurt a little more, but it works. Doing higher reps means lifting for longer and more frequently with shorter breaks.

Higher rep muscle building programs typically take double or triple the time and cycles you would take on heavy weights. For instance, if you were doing 15 reps on heavy weights, you can try to do 30 reps on light weights or 25 on medium weights. Higher rep programs need a lot of commitment and resilience from you to give you the results you need.

2.    Vary Your Reps with Each Session

If you are stuck with light or medium weights when you are used to heavy weights at the gyms, you should try new lifting and body movements for better results. With the extra weight gone, you can introduce additional movements such as doing pulses on one leg or doing burpees in between sessions. The idea is to use as much energy and burn as much fat as you would with heavier weights.

3.    Improve Your Motion Range with Large Movements

Lighter weights allow you to be more flexible with body limb movements with each motion. It’s a proven fact that larger motion range equals better muscle elasticity and also strengthens your joints. Look at the way you previously lifted heavy weights or how someone else does it and improve your motion range by a factor of two or more. For instance, do full squats if you were previously doing half squats due to dead weight.

4.    Resistance Training with Physical Exercises

Contrary to what many people believe, resistance training isn’t just about lifting weights. Proper resistance training involves some weight lifting combined with intensive physical exercise such as sit-ups, burpees, push-ups, crunches, body squats, among others.

Some experts might argue that gaining the ability to lift your body puts a halt to muscle building with weight exercises. However, there is not much evidence to that effect, but lots of evidence exists showing that intensive physical training does indeed impact muscle growth

All in all, building muscle without heavy weights is possible with a bit more effort and technique. It all comes down to your resolve and how far you want to go with your training program.

[avatar user=”PaulWallace” /]About Paul Wallace Personal trainer of 15 plus years and creator of FT-Fit one of Glasgow’s largest fitness classes