Strength training with no equipment

You can get strong with nothing but your body and the floor. The trick is the same as with weights: keep making the work harder. With no plates to add, you do it by changing the exercise.

The exercises

• Push-upChest
• Pike push-upFront delts
• Doorway towel rowUpper back, Lats
• Bodyweight squatQuads, Glutes
• Split squatQuads, Glutes
• Single-leg Romanian deadliftHamstrings, Glutes
• Glute bridgeGlutes
• PlankAbs
• Side plankObliques
• Dead bugAbs

Make it harder as you go

When you can do about 15 to 20 good reps, move up a level:

• Push: wall push-up → push-up → feet-up push-up → lean-forward push-up.
• Legs: bodyweight squat → split squat → shrimp squat → one-leg squat.
• Hinge: glute bridge → single-leg Romanian deadlift → Nordic curl.
• Pull: a doorway towel row, and a pull-up bar if you can fit one.

A simple plan

Three days a week, full body: one push, one pull, one squat, one hinge and one core exercise, three sets each, stopping one or two reps short of failure. Slow lowering (three seconds down) makes easy reps count for more.

Tip: Pulling is the weak spot of bodyweight training. If you can, get a pull-up bar or a set of rings: they unlock pull-ups, chin-ups and rows.

A full plan from your bodyweight

Liftsmith's "Bodyweight" gym builds complete workouts for every major muscle with no equipment at all, and the bodyweight skills program walks each movement up a ladder of harder steps as you hit your reps.