Anyone train with dumbells in their apartment?

Go to a boxing gym or mma gym. They are usually less crowded and have a full set of heavy weights.

The classes will help you get in shape too. It'll also let you meet people and give you a reason to show up on cold, rainy morning when the bed is ohhhhhhhhh so warm.
 


SirFappy said:
Get yourself an olympic barbell. I have a powercage in my garage and have up to 140kg and am nearly at the point that I need more weight.

Your exercises depend on your goals. I want to be "built" so I eat almost my bodyweight in protein and do the three most important compund lifts: Squat, deadlift and bench. Always go deep, don't be one of those gym-fools who do half/quarter depth reps.

Sign up to Fitocracy it's an incredible place. Imagine a social media site with access to thousands of like minded people. The motivation I've received from it is amazing. You get points and levels on your progress, incredible reward.

Look up Starting Strength - it's an excellent place to start.
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^ If you're going to take any of the advice in this thread, listen to him.

Failing that, post the question on a strength training forum where they know what they're talking about. Half the answers in this thread make me want to cry.

P90X is a marketing fad. There's more efficient ways to train.

If you hate the ghetto wannabe bad-asses in your gym, go first thing in the morning. I train at 7am and I'm one of the only people in there.

Went from being 210lbs at ~5'9, virtually no muscle to ~170lbs, benching ~220lbs, squatting 310lbs and deadlifting ~415lbs.. It's one of the best things I've done for myself.

I wasted about 2 years before training properly doing random crap much alike most the advice given in this thread, but it wasn't until I started doing stronglifts 5x5 (similar to starting strength) and subsequently madcow that I begun making good progress. If you want to train then do it properly, rather than spinning your wheels in search of a "burn" or "Insanity Crazy Max Fat Burning Level".

If you want to lose a bit of weight, then increase the protein in your diet, cut the cals a bit and do strength training, maybe throw in a day or two's cardio.

You won't become a huge ripped guy either, especially not overnight, it takes tons of hard work. Efficient strength training is the quickest way to get to whatever your goal may be from a relatively untrained position. Whether that's losing a bit of fat, or gaining muscle mass.
 
I work out in the house with:

Dumbells
Kettle ball
Inflated exercise ball

There are literally thousands of exercises you can do without a bench or a gym. I use [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Mens-Health-15-Minute-Workouts-Body/dp/1609617355"]Amazon.com: The Men's Health Big Book of 15-Minute Workouts: A Leaner, Stronger Body--in 15 Minutes a Day! (9781609617356): Selene Yeager, Men's Health Editors of: Books[/ame] for exercise and variation ideas.
 
Chianti said:
I don't want lift weights with a bar, or buy a bench - there isn't enough room
in my apartment and I've got to be considerate about the noise too.
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Some gyms in my area offer "executive" type membership (double the price probably) but you have access to personal training private area with no people like you want. Or just hire a professional trainer at a private small studio and just do 1 on 1 training? Good luck and congrats on your weight loss.
 
Get a job hanging sheetrock.

I was always too soar to think about a gym when I worked construction.

Swinging 5/8" sheetrock over your head works lots of muscles.
 
You won't lose any weight with dumbells.

I have some dumbells at home and I use them about 2x or 3x a week mainly for my arms (deltoids, biceps, tricpes, forearms). It does work if you're looking to "define" your arms and build up a little bit of muscle, but like others said, you need real equipment if you want to train seriously. Doing squats and bench press for example will require you to either hit the gym or buy a bench and bar with a couple plates.
 
+kettle bells. If you just want to look bigger go to a gym and work on equipment. If you want muscles where it counts, do a kettle bell workout. Or look at the training routines of MMA fighters. That shit they do isn't to make them look good. Their training builds muscles where it counts.
 
erifdekciw said:
+kettle bells. If you just want to look bigger go to a gym and work on equipment. If you want muscles where it counts, do a kettle bell workout. Or look at the training routines of MMA fighters. That shit they do isn't to make them look good. Their training builds muscles where it counts.
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What does that even me?

"If you want muscles where it counts", then you should do the major compound exercises: the squat, deadlift, benchpress, press & row.

To do those, you need gym equipment. A kettle ball is not heavy enough to build up the big muscles like your quads, lower back etc.
 
If you look on craigslist you will see people basically giving away weights(they've bought them and never use them, so they just want to get rid of them). If you get some bars, and some plate weights you could really get a nice workout.
 
mituozo said:
What does that even me?

"If you want muscles where it counts", then you should do the major compound exercises: the squat, deadlift, benchpress, press & row.

To do those, you need gym equipment. A kettle ball is not heavy enough to build up the big muscles like your quads, lower back etc.
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I'm not saying a kettle bell will do everything. I'm saying it will help build muscles in all the places you need them. Most gym equipment only builds muscles in certain areas. If you use something like a kettle bell you don't have to use so many different machines just to target different muscles.

Using a kettle bell targets a lot of areas and your actually working out a wide range of muscles at the same time. It's a better workout. Put a big body builder guy against a MMA fighter and have them fight for 10 minutes and that big body builder would be gas'd out after 5 minutes.

It makes you looks good, but you won't have the conditioning of someone who did more full body workouts like they do with MMA. That's why you rarely see big beefy guys in MMA.

But of course Its all what you want OP. I don't think sitting in a gym and working on machines is the best way to workout. We weren't built to do that. Go to an MMA gym and do their kind of workouts.
 
Haven't read the replies but...

Go to a gym, nobody cares about you there, just go, seriously just do it. I was scared too, but just go it's not a big deal.

Also starting strength.
 
mituozo said:
If you want to train seriously you need to train with a bar, and do the big compounds (bench/deadlift/squat/overhead press) at a bare minimum.
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While I do agree, just to offer an alternative view my best mate gained 15kg of lean muscle in a period of about 18 months using nothing but ONE adjustable dumbbell in his house. For example he bench pressed by lying on the floor and using one arm at a time. He didn't do any big compound movements and had great aesthetic results.
 
any training is better then none at all.
Arnold used to pull on the wires in his basement when his parents wouldnt let him at a gym.
 
mituozo said:
^ If you're going to take any of the advice in this thread, listen to him.

Failing that, post the question on a strength training forum where they know what they're talking about. Half the answers in this thread make me want to cry.

P90X is a marketing fad. There's more efficient ways to train.

If you hate the ghetto wannabe bad-asses in your gym, go first thing in the morning. I train at 7am and I'm one of the only people in there.

Went from being 210lbs at ~5'9, virtually no muscle to ~170lbs, benching ~220lbs, squatting 310lbs and deadlifting ~415lbs.. It's one of the best things I've done for myself.

I wasted about 2 years before training properly doing random crap much alike most the advice given in this thread, but it wasn't until I started doing stronglifts 5x5 (similar to starting strength) and subsequently madcow that I begun making good progress. If you want to train then do it properly, rather than spinning your wheels in search of a "burn" or "Insanity Crazy Max Fat Burning Level".

If you want to lose a bit of weight, then increase the protein in your diet, cut the cals a bit and do strength training, maybe throw in a day or two's cardio.

You won't become a huge ripped guy either, especially not overnight, it takes tons of hard work. Efficient strength training is the quickest way to get to whatever your goal may be from a relatively untrained position. Whether that's losing a bit of fat, or gaining muscle mass.
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FINALLY someone who gets it.

All this hurr durr bicep curls doesn't do shit. Listen to this guy.

All you need is a power rack or half rack like another guy mentioned above.
 
erifdekciw said:
I'm not saying a kettle bell will do everything. I'm saying it will help build muscles in all the places you need them. Most gym equipment only builds muscles in certain areas. If you use something like a kettle bell you don't have to use so many different machines just to target different muscles.

Using a kettle bell targets a lot of areas and your actually working out a wide range of muscles at the same time. It's a better workout. Put a big body builder guy against a MMA fighter and have them fight for 10 minutes and that big body builder would be gas'd out after 5 minutes.

It makes you looks good, but you won't have the conditioning of someone who did more full body workouts like they do with MMA. That's why you rarely see big beefy guys in MMA.

But of course Its all what you want OP. I don't think sitting in a gym and working on machines is the best way to workout. We weren't built to do that. Go to an MMA gym and do their kind of workouts.
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Whatever you do, ignore this guy.
 
OP, a bench and a rack is ideal, but it doesn't sound like you want to go that route, so yes, you absolutely can reach your goals with just dumbbells but you're going to have to get heavier ones than you were planning on. Really you don't even have to get dumbbells, and for you they may do more harm than good bc you'll probably just end up doing curls in the mirror once or twice a week.

Start with doing push ups with your feet elevated on your couch or bed or whatever. If you can do 3 sets of 20 easily then fill a backpack with something, anything, frozen meat.. Doesn't matter. Do the elevated push ups with additional weight to the point where your 15 rep is VERY difficult. You can then find ways to add weight to make it so that 10 reps becomes very difficult.

Then do one legged squats leaning up against a wall for legs.

Build up to where you can do handstand push ups leaning against a wall for shoulders. You prolly won't be able to do this for a while but when you can they kill ur shoulders.

Finally get you one of those pull up bars that mount in a door way for back and bis. Do as many as u can. If you can't do any, then support urself with ur feet ina chair, but don't cheat too much...u still need to make urself work. Eventually u need to ditch the chair altogether.

I've done this exact thing when it was my only option, and u can get a hella good wrkout if done right. Really tho it's a big pain in the ass, and it's much easier go to the gym or buy a proper setup.

Good luck bro.
 
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