10 Ways to Get Stronger and Build Muscle Without Weights

Public service announcement: You can build strength and lean muscle without going to the gym, buying expensive home exercise equipment or even lifting weights

Just about anyone can benefit from body-weight exercises. Even world-class athletes like Olympic gymnasts use them as a primary way to build strength without equipment. The weight of your own body provides plenty of resistance to progress your fitness level and build muscle.

Read on to learn how to get stronger and build muscle without weights. You can thank your own body weight later.

Pull-ups are one of the best exercises you can do to strengthen your upper body: back, biceps, triceps, shoulders, core and even grip. Want a home pull-up bar that won't wreck your walls? Check out the Perfect Fitness Portable Pull-Up Bar (Amazon.com; $34.99).

Air (aka body-weight) squats and their many variations target your quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, calves and core muscles.

Some lifters add a heavy barbell to increase the intensity of their squats, but it's not the only way to do so. Slow down your movements, add a pause at the bottom or try setting up on a single leg for an additional challenge.

When trying to build muscle without weights, plyometrics are your friend. When strength training without a gym, these explosive, powerful movements can build muscle by putting an intense demand on your body, according to The American Council on Exercise.

Athletes who need to run fast or jump high often use plyometrics to build explosive strength. While plyos aren't for exercise newbies, experienced body-weight exercisers can try moves like jump squats, plyo push-ups and star jumps to get stronger without weights.

One of the most common ways to build core strength at home without equipment, planks target your entire midsection, including your obliques and lower back. They can also work your shoulders and hips.

Go beyond the conventional push-up and try a push-up trio of push-ups, decline push-ups and close-grip push-ups to build strength throughout your upper body.

Begin with one set of 10 push-ups for general upper-body conditioning. Next, do 10 decline push-ups to hit your shoulders. Create a decline by propping your feet on a short stool. Finally, do 10 close-grip push-ups to focus on your triceps. Repeat the rotation as many times as possible with good, comfortable form.

When learning how to get stronger without weights, take advantage of the high-plank/push-up position. While you are down in it, add in a few sets of mountain climbers to work your lower abs and hip flexors.

Standing calf raises are an effective exercise to sculpt strong calf muscles. You can perform these standing on the floor or, for a fuller range of motion, on the edge of a step. (Just hold onto the railing for balance.)

Nope, you don't need a dumbbell to do triceps extension. Build the muscle group with this overhead version. FYI, it's safer on your shoulder than triceps dips.

If your chair starts to scoot around, set it up against a wall. That'll hold it still.

An alternative to adding weight to increase the difficulty of your body-weight exercises is to switch to using only one limb on each exercise. Some examples are the one-arm push-up, one-arm pull-up, single-leg calf raise and shrimp squat. Use these variations to build strength more quickly, one side at a time.

One of the best ways to stick with any workout plan is to make it fun. So, add in a few old-school kid's exercises from your elementary P.E. days, like bear crawls and crab walks. Getting creative and mixing things up is one way to add new stimulus to your training and help you get stronger with no weights needed.