Body building without weight lifting

ad · Brown Belt

i dont want to do weight lifting, with my young age and dangerous side effects
so i stood by the usual press-ups and crunches, but they didnt really help me in really molding that built shape for my stomach, chest and arms, i do crunches for the stomach, press ups for the chest and punch pag for the arms, i have been doin it for at least a year now every day but there hasnt been much improvement
is weight lifting the only way to give me the body i want???

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Brown Sash Hsing I/Lau Gar Kung Fu
Brown Belt San Shou
17 yr old
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Chan84 · White Belt

if you want to look like jean-claudde -van-damme then yeah ur gonna hav to hit the gym. once you hit 16 it is pretty safe to usethe gym but do it under supervision by someone who knows wot they r doin. I started just after my 16th and took it slowly to begin. with a healthy, diet plenty of protien, and a good training regieme u will see great results within a few months. Also training everyday isnt wise. even without extra weight your body is still under stress. it needs time to repair. try training one day, rest the next, and split ur training up as well, e.g arms monday, chest tuesday..... and really pound the muscle till you cant egg out anymore reps. hope this helps.

chh · Orange Belt

Hey Ad, have you ever come across this book Dynamic Strength by Harry Wong? I picked it up a few months ago and haven't done anything with it yet, but it may be of interest to you. The exercises he describes are supposed to provide all the benefits of weight training without any weights or other equipment, with much less risk. It's a very cheap book, too (well geez, try to order it through a real bookstore--the cover price is 6.95 US, used ones are going on Amazon for 10+ and new ones for way more than that, it's not even out of print).

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0865680132/

Withers M.A.A. · Brown Belt

To gain mass you need to lift weights... bottom line. At 15 I wouldn't recommend lifting any weights unless you are doing light weight and high reps. This won't make you bigger but will help get you cut. when you are around 18 then hit the heavier weights to bulk up. Be patient.

Pete

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Jack · Black Belt

ad, if you go over to http://www.bodybuilding.com/forum and ask there what they think about weight training at your age, you will see the majority consensus is that it is ok. I can't remember all of the arguments for why a lot of the rumoured risks are myths and how weight lifting can actually be beneficial for young people, but if you ask on the forums there I'm sure you'll get an informed response.

If you want, try getting some pushup bars. They allow a greater range of movement and so manage to hit the chest more. Also if you don't want to lift weights per ce, try weighting your back and doing pushups etc. like that.

Also - have you tried pullups? They are great for building size and functional strength in the biceps, lats, and back. You can pick up a chin up bar which will fit in your doorway for about 5 or 6 pounds.

Good luck!

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ad · Brown Belt

thnx for the info
i feel that i will not really hit the weight until i reach around sixteen, and then take it easy from then on

chh- i have come across a book called scientific stretching by tom kurz, which goes in excess of £30 pounds which is around 50 dollars
, quite pricy but i havent come across harry wong, might look into that, thnx for the advice

_________________
Brown Sash Hsing I/Lau Gar Kung Fu
Brown Belt San Shou
17 yr old
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KickChick · Black Belt

Using weights and machines is the fastest most efficient way to gain size and strength.
But you can achieve muscle growth when doing your strength training exercises.
You need to work on how you perform your pushups/pressups, crunches etc. What is the most efficient and result producing way to do them and build muscle or maintain muscle you already have?

Flex the muscles you are working first, get them good and tired and then do your exercise... Pre-fatiguing them.
For example flex your chest or triceps muscles as hard as you can, then quickly do a set of push-ups. It's a lot harder and produces much better results.
Another technique is to reduce the rest time between exercises, let's say you start with 60 seconds after a while cut it down to 45 then 30, then 15, etc. How about no rest between sets, a whole cycle of calisthenics all done nonstop that makes it way more intense.

Now for chin-ups, go until the muscles are really tired or even to total failure wait only a few seconds and then do another set. How many reps did you do on your second set? Only 4 or 5 I bet, that's about what you'd do if you were doing some heavy pull-downs. You should see some growth from this style. Make it even more intense by increasing the reps on the first set and by decreasing the rest time before the second set, this is using the Rest-Pause method without weights.

Try slow-Motion training taking a full 12 seconds for the positive phase and 6 seconds for the negative phase of each rep. Don't lock out in the top position and don't rest in the bottom position, change smoothly from the positive to the negative. This is using slow continuous tension, how many chin-ups can you do this way? Not many I bet, it's pretty intense.
How about using dynamic tension which is flexing the muscles hard while also moving, we use a form of this in our martial arts to increase punching power. Do your push-ups nice and slow while flexing hard your pectorals, shoulders, triceps, biceps and even your lats and forearms. When doing chin-ups flex hard your lats, shoulders, biceps, triceps and even chest and forearms. Do deep knee bends and flex hard your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, hips and even calves. Keep the tension hard and steady, it will take some practice to do it all together, but you'll get incredible pump and muscle growth.

How about using only one limb at a time, like doing one legged squats, one arm chin-ups, one arm push-ups, etc.. It takes some balance but it definitely makes it harder and puts on more muscle.

Oh and I've mentioned Kurz's book here a kazillion times! It's really for flexibility training and not bodybuilding. I love the book and highly advise everyone to check it out! $50???? Only 18.95 here....
http://www.stadion.com/stretch.html
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[ This Message was edited by: KickChick on 2002-06-05 15:31 ]

ckdstudent · Green Belt

There are other ways to build mass, just not necessarily as dramatic or instantly effective. If you want big, bulging muscles then weights are probably the way to go. If you want an average build with muscles like stone then there are other ways.

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Pil Sung
Jimmy B

ad · Brown Belt

thnx for the advice kickchick, you really helped me out
the price for the tom kurz book you said sounds reasonable, but is it possible to get it sent to the uk???

_________________
Brown Sash Hsing I/Lau Gar Kung Fu
Brown Belt San Shou
17 yr old
http://www.selfdefencehelp.co.uk

KickChick · Black Belt

you're very welcome ad ... there is no bottom line when it comes to working out the body .... it is a complex machine therefore there are a variety of different ways to achieve muscle and work the existing muscles by toning and defining.
Incorporate the same procedures in your bag workouts/resistance training too!
Not sure about delivery to UK ... I believe they do.... but would it cost another $30 to ship it? ... go to site and find out!

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