After deciding to build muscle at home with a body weight workout without using weights the first thing you need to do is create a plan. You will want a specific time and place that you are going to work out and the order of exercises included. It certainly can be done but it needs to be done at least three times a week where you are training the whole body.

Body Weight Workout for Muscle Gain at Home

Exercise to Failure

The workout that you start with needs to be something that you can achieve a point of failure with. Whether it is going to be with your upper body or lower body you are going to be doing an intense workout which will be training the body part to the maximum.

Body Part Splits

What that means is that when you select a specific body-part that you are going to train like back then you need to make sure that you are doing nothing else. Start with a chinning bar which you can reach by either jumping up to or stretching on your toes to reach.

Select Sets and Reps

It is important that you select sets and reps that you can do in a way that are progressive and that you are able to quickly reach a point of failure. You should be able to train your whole body within 45 minutes without stopping. That includes your abs and calves as well as legs, chest and shoulders.

It is a good idea to start with your weakest body-part for example your legs. One could start with a combination of lunges or split squats that you can superset with squats which you can do with full range making sure that you go past the point of parallel before you go back to the standing position.

Time Under Tension

It is important to make sure that you are always keeping constant tension and never lock-out on your legs when squatting or your arms when doing your chest. Always concentrate on maximum time under tension (TUT) with your own bodyweight. Using things like plyometrics and dynamic tension are vital.

If you are unsure on how to use these techniques then you should take a bit of time to make sure that you know exactly how to use these systems and static tension exercises. It will ensure that you are going to always get stronger and be able to constantly increase your sets and reps.

Bodyweight Exercise Equipment

There are always additions that can be added when doing only bodyweight exercises at home. For example you can add rings to your pull up bar by simply adding rope or TRX straps are very versatile and easy to store. The same can be said for increasing the stress on your legs by simply adding a block and changing the angle of stress.

The addition of including unilateral lifts like single leg squats as well as one arm pull-ups, or even one arm push-ups are just a few additions that can be added to increase the resistance to intensity of your body weight workout. The option of looking for additional external resistance is also a consideration. You can use house hold items like milk jugs or large bags full of any heavy items like bottles or chains.

The Bodyweight Workout

Start with these sample exercises:

Lunges

Squats

Wide grip pull-up

Close-grip chins

Push-ups

Dips

You can select various ways of doing your sets and reps as explained above but keep in mind that training with intensity for 45 minutes or less has proven to be the most effective way to get results.