Introduction
Home workouts are amazing, but you may think it is thought to build muscle without any weights from home. Well, that’s not true! There are some great exercises you can do to build muscle with household items! In this article we are going to go over our 3 favourite exercises you can do at home with easy to find items that will not only be simple but also add a whole to your home workouts. So get ready to Build muscle with Household Items.
ISO Plate Holds
ISO plate holds at great to get the blood into the chest! Great burn out exercises! Now you may think you need a weighted plate to perform this exercise, and while it is better to do it weighted. You can do it with anything flat. Dinner plate, books or game cases. Books are good because it’s a great way to add weight.
Press the object between your hand and hold your arms out in front of you straight. Squeeze your chest and press your hands together. Add a hold at the top of the movement to make the exercise harder
How would we use these? I love to do them after Press-ups. Super setting press-ups with IOS holds is a great way to burn out the chest and get a huge pump. Adding more volume to a set by adding a hold/squeeze exercise after a push exercise with. Such a simple addition to Build muscle with Household Items!
Body Row
Body rows are a great way to work the upper back from home. Simple set up, but hugely effective!
Set up a pole/bar across two chairs or two tables. Lay down under it and perform a row. Squeeze the upper back. If you need to make it harder, hold the movement when you are at the top!
Obviously, you will need a bar that is strong enough to hold your body weight, and a surface tall enough so you can get a full stretch. Make sure the surface you are performing this exercise on is level and secure.
A great way to use this exercise is in a ladder set. Start off by performing 1 rep, have a 15-30 second rest (depending on how advance you are) then do 2 reps, having a rest, then 3 reps and continue like that until you get to 10 reps. This is a great way to build volume with low weight.
Lateral Raises
Lateral raises are great for many reasons, they are a great way to build the shoulders, you can use almost anything to do them with and you don’t need much weight either. They are a low weight exercise so you are sure to be able to use something around the house that you can grip and use to do lateral raises and Build muscle with Household Items. I have used everything but a great one is fill a carrier bag up with food tins. Simple weight!
You perform this exercise as you would at the gym, Only difference is instead of a dumbbell or kettlebell you will have your makeshift weight. As with the exercises above, adding hold into the rep will take the intensity up and allow you to get more out of the exercise. Also if you are using a form of adjustable weight, you will be able to drop sets to really bring up the volume and burn! Everyone loves a drop set!
Conclusion
There are plenty of exercises you can do at home to Build muscle with Household Items, and I am sure that while reading this you have thought of a few you can do. Don’t be afraid to experiment with weights and equipment while at home. Something will spring to mind! If something does spring to mind let us know over on our Instagram and we might do a follow-up post.
Remember if you are looking for some amazing home workouts be sure to check out our free app here. Contains loads of exercises and workouts, Plus loads of other features to help you with your fitness journey! Download the free application here.
Written by Kieran Blacker
Kieran is the CEO and Founder of Sets & Reps. He decided to make an application that helped people get a gym workout when not at the gym. He designed, Coded and built the application himself.