Making Gains Without a Gym

We are all in the same boat during the pandemic, welcome to making gains without a gym AKA in-home training. From keeping your gains to just giving you the information to do a quality in-home workout we have you covered, heck you might enjoy it so much you’ll become an in-home exerciser. If not at least you’re covered for the days you can’t make it out to the gym. 

Workout At Home

I’m going to state that COVID-19 sucks, now that we have some agreement lets get on with this.  Upperbody & core training is easy to do at home, lower body is an entirely different story. I used to be a mobile in-home trainer and I had to get creative, but I also had some lightweight equipment. Resistance bands are your best friend and are not overly expensive. A door pullup bar + resistance bands can give you alot of variation – furthermore office water jugs, the big ones are great training tools when dumbbells are in short supply or just not heavy enough.

Upper Body 
  • Push-ups
  • Incline push-ups (feet on stairs) 
  • Decline push-ups
  • Narrow & Wide push-ups
  • Push-ups from knees
  • Banded push-ups  
  • Chair – Couch – Coffee Table – standard dips
  • Feet elevated dips
  • Feet elevated with weight on lap dips
  • Door fram pull-ups
  • Band assisted pull ups
  • Door frame chin-ups
  • Door frame backpack weighted pull-ups / chin-ups
  • Water jug curls
  • Resistance band curls
Overhead pressing
  • Handstand push-ups
  • Resistance band over head press
  • Water jug over head press
  • Elevated pike press (feet on chair) 
Row Variations 
  • Doorway rows
  • Under table rows
  • Backpack weighted rows
  • Water jug single arm rows
  • Resistance band rows
Other Upper Body
  • Water jug chest flys
  • Resistance band tricep pull downs
  • Water jug side lateral arm raises 
  • Resistance band pull aparts
  • Water jug front lateral arm raises
  • Resistance band straight arm lat pulldowns
  • Water jug pullover
  • lower body exercises
  • Bodyweight squats
  • Squats with water jugs
  • Lunges 
  • Reverse lunges
  • Split squats
  • Pistol squats 
  • Donkey kicks
  • Frog jumps
  • Double leg hip thrust – glute bridges 
  • Single leg hip thrust – glute bridges
  • Step-ups (stairs) 
  • Dead lifts with water jugs
  • RDL with water jugs

Abdominal exercises

  • Sit-ups
  • Leg-ups
  • Crunches
  • Jackknife crunches 
  • Plank 
  • Walking plank
  • Flutter kicks
  • Russian twists
  • Twisting crunches 
  • Cross toe touches 
  • Bicycle crunches 
  • Hanging leg raises

You are now armed with the knowledge to go ahead with making gains without a gym! Below is a handy chart, pick 2 or 3 workouts from each column and get a sweat on in the comfort of your own home, and the best part is, your shower is right over there. How perfect is that. Having a fully decked out home gym is a luxury, not a necessity to get a good workout in. 

Date: 
CoreUpper bodyLower Body









Written By – Derek Frohlich

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