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When you have no gym nearby, check out these excellent home workout exercises that will have you building muscle like the bodybuilding pros!

While it may be hard for well-off, bodybuilders to imagine, not everybody has a gym membership and many who do cannot always get to the gym. After all, gym memberships are an extra some people cut out of the budget when they’re low on money. And even if you can easily afford a membership, there are going to be times such as vacation, work or holidays where there is no gym around and you need some good home workout exercises.

Whatever the case may be, it’s important to have some good home workout exercises in mind so you can build muscle even when fancy equipment isn’t an option. This being said, let’s get into some muscle-building home workout exercises that don’t involve weights, along with sample no-gym workouts you can do virtually anywhere.

Home Workout Upper Body Exercises

Angle Pushups - Everybody and their brother knows about doing pushups to build the chest and shoulders. But if you’re looking to hit other areas of your chest, you can do pushups at various angles. For example, if you want to work the upper chest more, put your feet up on a couch (you should be at a downward angle) and complete the pushup. On the other hand, if you want to work the lower area of the pecs, place some books under your hands with your feet still on the floor, then do the pushups.

Lateral/Front Shoulder Raises - Shoulder raises can be done with any grip-able, near-equally weighted objects such as buckets of water, potato sacks, milk cartons, or bags filled with items. To do lateral raises, lift the objects out to the sides, then back down; for front shoulder raises, just lift the objects out in front of your body.

Bicep Curls - Before you put the milk cartons or water buckets down, you might want to launch into some bicep curls. There isn’t anything revolutionary to discuss here, but you should pull back your pinkie while doing the curls to work the actual biceps more than your Cephalic vein.

Neck Raises - If you want to get the maximum out of this exercise, you should lay on your stomach on a long surface so only your head is off the end. Then you take an object and hold it on the back of your neck; once you are set, raise your head up and down to work the neck. You can also switch laying positions to work other parts of your neck.

Tricep Dips - This is a classic exercise that people do even when they are in the gym. To do these dips, you should use a couch or chair seat to put your hands on while you’re in the sitting position. Keeping your hands on the seat, move your butt off of the furniture and lower yourself with legs out in front; push yourself back up to complete the rep, and don‘t sit down in the seat until the set is over. These are somewhat strenuous for a non-gym workout, but most people should be able to handle at least 10 reps in a set.

Hand Stand Pushups - Those who are athletically inclined, and can handle the blood rushing to their heads should try working the shoulders with hand stand pushups. To perform these, do a hand stand with your feet against the wall (you’ll probably need to walk up the wall with your hands on the ground), and do upside down military presses.

Home Workout Leg Exercises

Free-standing Squats - To perform free-standing squats, either put your arms to the sides or hold them out in front, then squat down in a regular manner. Also, be sure you’re going completely parallel and doing at least 30 reps per set with free-standing squats since no weight is involved.

Calve Raises - Just like many of the upper body exercises, you can put milk cartons in each hand - or anything else weighted - to do calve raises. Since you probably won’t have as much weight in your hands as with dumbbells, you can get an extra workout by standing on a step to do the cave raises.

Split Squats - These squats do a great job at isolating each leg. To do split squats, put one leg behind you on a chair or wall; the higher the leg is, the more intense your squat will be. The last step involves lowering your body towards the ground, and then back up while keeping the body as straight as possible. Do 10-15 reps on one leg, and switch to the other leg for another set.

Wide Stance Squats - While wide stance squats are pretty common, you can add a variation with the non-gym version. To do this, you hold an object between your legs, then squat down with a wide stance. You should be able to start with 10 reps in the beginning, then increase from there.

Lunges - To work both the quads and hamstrings, you can do some lunges with objects in your hands. You may need to get creative to find items that will actually work your legs beyond just the normal range of motion.

Home Workout Back Exercises

Hip Bridge - Start by laying on your back with your feet flat on the floor and the knees bent. From here, lift your butt up in the air until there’s a straight line from your shoulders to knees. If you want to make this exercise even harder, you can lift one leg straight up in the air before lifting your butt.

Reverse Situps - Put your feet under the edge of a couch, lay on your stomach, and put your hands behind the head. From here, you need to raise your body up as far as possible to work your abs. Be careful though because this exercise is not only strenuous, but it can also put extra strain on your back.

Deadlift - In addition to working numerous back muscles, you can also gain a lot of benefits for your legs, shoulders and hips by doing deadlifts. The only problem with doing these away from the gym is finding a heavy enough weight to make non-gym deadlifts worth your while. This being said, you might need to fill up a suitcase with items or look for another heavy, but lift-able object.

Rows - Grab a filled bag or a suitcase with both hands, then bend your knees slightly and lean over. While in position, pull the object up towards your ribs and back down again; repeat until you’ve done 10-15 reps.

Home Workout Abdominal and Oblique Exercises

Rotation Twists - Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, and hold a filled bag or suitcase to your chest. Next, twist from side-to-side while trying to maximize the full range of motion in your obliques.

Static Crunches - A simple variation of the regular crunch, you do crunches and hold your position for 20-30 seconds at the top. If you can’t hold the position for this long, you can always start at 5-10 seconds, then work up from there.

Leg Raises - Laying flat on your back, raise the legs up in the air so your body is at a 90-degree angle; then lower your legs back into starting position. This may seem like a bit of an aerobics exercise, but it definitely works your abs.

Static V-Situps - The basics of this exercise is easy since you merely need to create a V-shape with your arms and legs; the twist is when you hold this position for 20-30 seconds. As mentioned with the crunches, it’s important to work your way up if you can’t hold the position for 20-30 seconds.

Home Workout 1 (Chest, Triceps, Abs)

Angle Pushups: 4 sets of 15-25 reps
Tricep Dips: 3 sets of 10-15 reps
Rotation Twists: 2 sets of 20-30 reps
Static Crunches: 3 sets of 10 reps
Leg Raises: 2 sets of 10-15 reps (or) Static V-Situps: 2 sets of 10 reps

Home Workout 2 (Shoulders, Biceps, Back)

Hand Stand Pushups: 3 sets of 10-12 reps (or) Lateral/Front Shoulder Raises: 3 sets of 10-15 reps
Bicep Curls: 3 sets of 10-15 reps
Hip Bridge: 3 sets of 15-20 reps (or) Rows: 3 sets of 10-15 reps
Deadlift: 2 sets of 10-12 reps (or) Reverse Situps: 2 sets of 8-12 reps

Home Workout 3 (Legs, Neck)

Free-standing Squats: 3 sets of 20-30 reps (or) Lunges: 3 sets of 10-15 reps
Split Squats: 2 sets of 10-15 reps (or) Wide Stance Squats: 2 sets of 10-15 reps
Calve Raises: 3 sets of 20-30 reps

Neck Raises: 3 sets of 10-12 reps (2 sets if doing 4-way neck)

Be sure to checkout this article on Outdoor Cardio Workouts - The Top 10 Best Outdoor Cardio Exercises for Your Workout.

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