How to Gain Upper Body Muscle Without Weights

12 Ways to Build Muscle WITHOUT Lifting Weights

Updated: May 27, 2021 Fitness, Yoga and Meditation

Lifting weights isn't for everyone, however if you want to find ways to stay fit and build muscle you might feel like it's the only option.

Thankfully there are many other ways you can consider, including a number that require very little exertion.

Take a look below at our breakdown of 12 ways to build muscle without lifting weights:

1. Bodyweight Exercises

Bodyweight exercises can be particularly effective for muscle building.

They're defined as exercises that use your own body weight to provide resistance, which can help to increase your strength.

Push Ups and Pull Ups

Push ups and pull ups are great if you want to build muscle in your upper body.

Fitness writers are keen to highlight that it's essential that you complete high repetitions at an 
"appropriate difficulty level".

They explain that muscle growth is best achieved when performing between six and 12 repetitions, using 67-85% of the maximum resistance you can manage.

Squats

If you want to build your leg muscles, then you need to start squatting!

It's the ideal exercise for muscle growth in the hamstrings, quadriceps and calves.

But squats don't just give your legs a great workout.

Health publication, The Active Times, describe how squats create an anabolic environment within the body.

This environment promotes muscle building throughout the whole body, generating muscle mass.

Dips

Dips can help you get those killer arms you're looking for!

Body transformation coach and insta-star, Charlie Johnson, explained in Men's Health:

Dips are an excellent movement to build size, strength and power into the triceps…some variation of dips within a training programme is a wise idea if you're looking to develop this muscle group and improve your pressing strength.

Sit Ups and Crunches

Crunches give your abdominal muscles an intense workout, strengthening your core and helping you get that toned, muscular look.

Sit ups are a multi-muscle exercise not just building your abdominal muscles, but also other groups in your chest, hip flexors, neck and lower back.

Did you know?

By building more muscle, you can burn more fat.

Muscle cells are more metabolically active than fat cells, meaning they burn calories even while you're resting.[1]

3. Swimming

Swimming is often recommended as a low impact form of exercise that's kind to your joints.

Despite it perhaps not being as strenuous as lifting weights, you can gain muscle mass.

Athletic training and nutrition magazine, STACK, comment that you only need to look at Olympic swimmers if you're wondering whether swimming can build muscle!

They do add however that you won't develop muscle as quickly as you would by using free weights.

5. Eat More Protein

Eating more protein is another way you can encourage muscle growth without heading to the weight rack.

Great sources of protein include chicken, turkey, eggs, lentils and tofu.

The amino acids that make up protein act as the building blocks for muscle tissue, helping you to both build and maintain lean muscles.[2]

6. Resistance Training

Resistance training commonly involves using elasticated bands during bodyweight exercises.

If there's a particular area you want to build muscle, resistance training can be the ideal technique as it allows you to target specific muscle groups.

A systematic review of all the research around resistance training and muscle hypertrophy reached the same conclusion:

Resistance training should be used by people looking to maximise muscle growth.

This form of exercise is also used during physical therapy for people recovering from an injury, as a gentler way to rebuild muscle strength.

7. Suspension Training

With suspension training you use ropes or straps to suspend your body, effectively working against your own body weight.

If you're struggling with back pain, then this style of exercise can be an effective treatment.

In an article, published in the Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, four different suspension training systems were put to the test to see their impact on muscles.

All four systems scored higher in terms of creating muscle activity, than the floor version of the exercise.

Watch below as fitness guru and founder of the Red Delta Project, Matt Schifferle, demonstrates how to build muscle using a suspension training system:

Aerobic exercise like running is thought to build muscle by inhibiting proteins that interfere with muscle growth and decreasing muscle protein breakdown (MPB).

However, he warns you need be to careful how long your run lasts!

On the other hand, long-distance running can significantly increase MPB and thus hinder muscle growth.

9. Cycling

Cycling is a good way to stay in shape, but you might be surprised to read that cycling is also great for building muscle.

That's down to the resistance element of the sport.

Working against an opposing force builds muscle, and in cycling that of course means your calves, quads, hamstrings and glutes.

12. Improve Your Posture

Sitting up straight must be one of the easiest ways to generate muscle growth!

Just take a look at the benefits and you'll see that core strength and good posture go hand in hand.

If you practice good posture you'll build core strength, and vice versa.

An article published in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science highlighted how correct posture increases abdominal muscle activity, helping you to develop a stronger core.

If you're looking for ways to supercharge your workout, then have you discovered percussion massage yet?

Read this article that breaks down 10 benefits of the treatment, including enhancing your sporting performance!

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How to Gain Upper Body Muscle Without Weights

Source: https://www.thegoodbody.com/how-to-build-muscle-without-lifting-weights/

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