Strength training without equipment: a how-to

The answer is a resounding yes! But there are a few caveats. First of all, building muscle quickly is possible, but it all depends on what you define as "quickly". You may start to see results in the first few weeks, but for any real changes, you'll generally have to wait around 3 months. Rome wasn't built in a day! The more long-term your training routine, the more long-lasting and healthy the results will be for your body.

Using your bodyweight to build muscle is possible, but only up to a certain point. If your goal is to really bulk up, then training without equipment has its limits. Past a certain level, you'll start to plateau. To stimulate your body to grow more muscle, you'll need to change the way you train and include exercises with weights.

Here are some tips to optimise your equipment-free strength workouts and see results:

➡ Follow a suitable training programme: Following a strength training programme will show you where you're going, give you a framework to follow, and also motivate you! It'll also help you to establish more of a routine for your workouts.

➡ Eat a healthy diet: This is your fuel. It's what supplies the energy your body needs to do your strength workouts and to feed your muscles so that they can rebuild your muscle fibres. For the most visible results, opt for a varied, balanced diet that you enjoy, with as few processed foods as possible. You've no doubt heard people talking about the importance of protein in athletes' diets. Protein plays a vital role in building your muscles, so make sure to eat enough of it, regardless of whether it's of animal or plant origin. Your daily protein needs will vary depending on who you are and the type of physical activity you do each day.

➡ Train regularly: Training regularly and frequently is one of the secrets to getting fitter and seeing results. If you train every day for a week but then only do one workout in the next three weeks, that's not exactly what you'd call regular! Obviously, you're fully entitled to skip a session here and there or take a week's holiday where you don't exercise at all. It's not going to make a huge difference to your results. The important thing is to train regularly over the long term and to maintain a balanced diet.

➡ Adapt your routine: Once you've established your equipment-free training routine, how can you continue to get fitter with just your bodyweight? You can change the size of the movement by doing a harder version of the exercise with a broader range of motion. You can also increase the length of each exercise to increase the amount of time that your muscles are put under tension.

It's hard to pick just one, so we're going to give you two! One for the upper body and one for the lower body:

➡ Press-ups (or push-ups): They're one of the first things that springs to mind when you think of strength training using bodyweight. The great thing about press-ups is that there are so many variants you can do! From press-ups on your knees to diamond press-ups, clap press-ups and even incline press-ups, there's no excuse for getting bored. The exercise mainly works your pectoral muscles, your deltoids and your triceps, but also engages your core.

➡ Squats: This polyarticular exercise is also a must in every strength workout. It's incredibly good for building lower-body muscle, but also engages your core and your back muscles while boosting your flexibility. It's an all-in-one exercise with many variants, including sumo squats, pulse squats, air squats, jump squats and split squats.

➡ Press-ups: Place your hands on the floor, just underneath your shoulders, about shoulder-width apart. Stick your legs out straight behind you (classic press-ups can also be done on your knees to make the movement easier if you're a beginner). Bend your arms to lower your chest towards the ground. Then come back up to the starting position. Your elbows should stay close to your body, at approximately 45°. Squeeze your entire body to stay strong.

➡ Chair dips: Sit on the edge of a chair and place your hands either side of your hips. Your feet should be resting on the ground, with your legs slightly bent. Push into your hands to lift your body off the chair so that your bum is hanging in the air just in front of it. Lower yourself until your triceps are parallel to the ground, then push yourself back up into the starting position. Inhale on the way down, and exhale on the way back up.

➡ The TW: Lie on your stomach. Place your arms out to the side so that you form a T shape. Lift them off the ground, then bend your elbows so that your arms form a W shape. Hold the "letter" for 10 seconds, then relax.

➡ Shoulder-tap planks: Get into plank position with your hands shoulder-width apart. Hold the position as you touch your shoulder with the opposite hand. Alternate sides.

Simple, quick, effective: these 5 no-equipment exercises inspired by the Lafay method will become your go-to strength workout!

Romain, our strength-training specialist, guides you through this equipment-free workout three times a week, with one day of rest between sessions.

How to structure your workout
For each exercise, do:
➡ 30 seconds of effort
➡ 30 seconds of rest before moving on to the next exercise.
Number of reps:  5 rounds in total.

Coach's tip: "During your 30 seconds of effort, try to be as energetic as possible and do as many reps as you can".

The 5 exercises:
Exercise 1:  wall sits
Exercise 2: triceps press-ups against a wall
Exercise 3: oblique crunches
Exercise 4:  single-leg sumo squats
Exercise 5: wide press-ups.

Remember to warm up before getting started. The warm-up is an integral part of any workout and is really important. Here's a standard warm-up that you can adapt to suit your preferences. 

➡1 minute of gentle skipping
➡ 30 seconds of high-knee running
➡ Core: 30 seconds of front and side plank

Goal: to strengthen your obliques (abs).

How to do it:
- Lie on your back
- bend your knees and tip your legs to the left.
- place your hands behind your ears
- then slowly and gently lift your chest off the floor as high as possible.
- Return to the starting position and repeat.

Keep it safe:
keep your eyes on a fixed point ahead of you.

Tip: don't use your hands to pull your head forwards.

Goal: to strengthen your pecs!

How to do it:
- place your hands flat on the ground, wider than shoulder-width apart, with your fingers spread out and pointing forwards.
- your feet should be hip-width apart. Squeeze your core and straighten your arms to lift your body.
- your body and head should be in a straight line.
- lower your body to the ground by bending your elbows and then return to the starting position by straightening your arms.
Repeat the movement.

Breathing:
Inhale while descending to the ground. Exhale when you reach the top.

Keep it safe:
Keep your body aligned and squeeze your abs throughout the exercise. Control the movement and lower yourself very slowly.