Hi. Can anyone recomend some exercises I can do to work my chest using weights without a bench. I have a barbell and some dumbells but no bench, only just started in weights. Would dumbell press on an exercise ball be a good start? I'm working everywhere else, so need to hit the chest aswell. I don't have somewhere to dip at home but would doing sets of dips after training 3 days a week be enough ?? Any help will be appreciated
Well pretty much you can do anything you can do on a bench, with a ball... so flies, pull-overs, presses... could you jury-rig a bench with a stout plank of wood between two (STABLE!!) chairs/other supports?
doing them on a ball is great because it works your core too. you could also do some weighted pushups.
If you have a linoleum or slick wooden floor you could do slide push-ups - get 2 towels and put one under each hand. As you drop down, slide the hands out then squeeze them back in as you press up. Much harder than it sounds and great for the chest. Incidentally why do you just want to work your chest?
Ad McG I don't want to just do my chest, I'm just trying to get an all round workout. Right now, I do military presses, shrugs, curls, tricep extensions, squats and deadlifts. I do some other stuff as well, but am laking in the chest weighted exercise area. Might go with the ball, can hit the chest and core together, which should b good.
Try this This website has some good weight training exercises both with machines and without: http://www.flashmavi.com/weight_training.shtml
You could do Hindu pushups, Atlas pushups, Barbell floor presses (olympic Bars and weights are best for this) Handstand pushups feet on the wall and nose facing floor they are tough! Using the ball is ok but you cant go heavy with the weights you'll kill yourself or others if you lose balance, and I have heard it can hurt when you die lol
You can still do chest flies on the floor. Put your lower arm on the floor in line with your shoulders. Your upper arms (forearms) should have dumbbells raised up. Your elbows at a 90 degee angle. Press dumbells together. keep elbows at a 90 degree angle and create the motion by squeezing your chest. When your barbells are touching you should create a triangle with your elbows and chest. Reverse motion and return to starting position.
Hi All, I would defo go with the ball idea, great bit of kit, takes up very little room, very inexepensive and avove just doing chest exercises their are a wealth of new exercises you can do with it that will help you hit many of your major muscle groups and core. TOM
Planches. In my opinion, it is one of the most useful upper-bodyweight exercise you can do. Better than crunches or any abdominal exercise that requires you to lie on your back, and due to the nature of the exercise it forces you to involve every muscle in your upper body as a stabilizer. A clip I found on google video that may whet your appetite: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvbLSgWMJec"]My Planche Training - YouTube[/ame]
benches are cheap! well, not to subvert the premise here, but you can buy a perfectly serviceable bench over the net for < US $100. You can pick up one that has the rack for a barbell for probably US $125. This is a lot safer than jury rigging one. If there is a used sports equip store near you, you may be able to pick up a used one dirt cheap.
Here in Japan, the cheapest bench I've found would be 200 in your US money. A ball that can take 200 kgs is $18. The ball works just as well, except you have to make sure you have the full range of movement. Remember, balls deflate as you use them, and even a 10 cm deflation makes the difference with my ball between having the upper-arm clearance I need and having my the backs of my upper arms touching the sides of the ball when holding a big weight: if that happens, I'm working my triceps and shoulders more than my chest. You need the full, wide expansion, so pump up your balls!
