How to Lose Weight and Build Muscle at Home

Training at home has its pros and its cons, but for some us it is certainly the only way we have to get and stay fit. It is not the optimal way to train, because we don’t have access to the infrastructure that a regular gym have but we can get away with it, that’s for sure. So, if you want to get fit at home you will need:

• Space: Not too much but you will need some space to place some of the thing you are going to be using and still left enough space to perform the exercises.
• Dumbbells:Basic and obvious, this is along with bodyweight exercises the best piece of equipment for anyone trying to build muscle at home.
• Bench: To perform a good variety of exercises, if it is an adjustable bench, better.
• Mat:You will find very useful to have your floor covered by a good mat when you are doing some exercises, like pushups or burpees. Also if you are going to be doing some HIIT (high intensity interval training) is especially good.
• Machines (optional): If you have a stationary bike or an elliptical machine or a treadmill that is great, it’s not necessary but it can help you.

Don’t try to lose weight and gain muscle at the same time, it is not a very good choice. Instead of that, begin cutting weight first, and when you are ripped, then, start building muscle. That is in my opinion the best approach you can take if you want to have a good body, and it’s also what pro bodybuilders and fitness athletes do.

Cutting weight

You can do whatever weight lifting training you want to do during the weight loss period, but the thing you shouldn’t avoid at all is doing at least 5 sessions of 30 minutes of cardio a week, that is mandatory guys, if you are serious about this. I suggest you some workouts:

• Stationary bike/elliptical machine/treadmill session for 40 minutes at 70-75% maximum heart rate
• Jogging: if you have enough space you can jog for 30-40 minutes, even if you don’t have enough space you can do a stationary jog.

Now, if you are not really comfortable with these types of workouts and/or want to try new better ways to exercise, you can do high intensity interval training (HIIT). I’m not going to talk about it here, there is a lot of information over the internet about this topic, I will just let you know that it’s a more effective way to lose weight, but it’s more intense. Here there are some workouts:

• 12 minutes of: 10 air squats/ 8-10 pushups/ 5-10 burpees/ 20-30 seconds rest and repeat
• 12 minutes of: 10 lunges each leg/ 20-30 high knees each/ 15-20 bicycle crunches each/ rest 20-30 seconds and repeat

I am personally a big fan of HIIT and I think you will love it once you get use to it, and of course once you see how much better the results are compared to regular cardio training.

Building Muscle

With one adjustable bench and some dumbbells you are ready to start your bulking process. You are now already fit so the only goal left is to gain muscle. I propose you the following guidelines to make your own workout.

Day one: chest and biceps

Day two: legs

Day three: shoulders and triceps

Day four: back

Abdominals: as you like 2-3 times/week.

• CHEST: 4 exercises; like bench press, incline bench press, pullover and bench dips or dumbbell flyes

• BICEPS: 2-3 exercises like hammer curls, concentration curls, alternate incline dumbbell curl and bicep curls are very good.

• LEGS: 4-5 exercises and one for calves like Squats, lunges, dead lifts, rear leg raises, calf raises and seated calf rise (one leg with dumbbell)

• SHOULDERS: 3-4 exercises like Arnold dumbbell press, shoulder press, front dumbbell raise, side lateral dumbbell rise and seated bent-over rear deltoid raise.

• TRICEPS: 2-3 exercises like bench dips, one arm triceps extension (dumbbell), lying dumbbell triceps extension, pushups (narrow grip) or seated triceps press.

• BACK: 4-5 exercises like pull-ups, bent over row with two dumbbells, dumbbell incline row and one-arm dumbbell row.

Author bio: This article has been written by Miguel, the webmaster of MuscleProgress.com, he is a very experienced fitness guy and he goes more in depth about this topic and others related to training and nutrition on his Website MuscleProgress.

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