How to do Strength Training without Weights

How to do strength training without weights is a frequently asked question, for various reasons.

Three things that come to my mind

you associate weights with big muscles
you don’t have access to weights
you have seen and followed recent trends of bodyweight training and have seen some of the amazing things some people have put up online and want to do that yourself

In this video and article, I want to explain the basics of strength training and how weights relate to the basic idea of strength training. discusses how to start strength training.

I discuss how to start strength training.

How to start strength training without weights
Which other training modes can be selected
How to start strength training with bodyweight
How to select appropriate progressions to increase intensity with bodyweight resistance
When to look for additional resistance to ensure progression and strength training success

Before we start discussing how to start strength training without weight, let’s have a look at a definition of strength and strength training.

What is strength and strength training

Strength can be defined as the ability to exert force in order to overcome resistance. Consequently, strength training trains the ability to exert force to overcome resistance.

What is a strength training mode

There are multiple strength training modes you can use to train the ability to exert force in order to overcome resistance, weights or free weights are just one strength training mode. Other training modes include machines, bands or even the own bodyweight.

I have discussed the idea of training with different training modes and not necessarily using free weight in the article

How to do Strength Training at Home

How do I start strength training without weight

If you are just starting out with strength training and your goal is to become stronger, you can start with bodyweight exercises, as they usually offer sufficient resistance in the beginning. And once you started there are progressions of bodyweight exercises, that will ensure you can train progressively (it’s important that training is progressive for continuous improvement, I have written about the basic principle behind training progressions and about the overload principle in the article The Fundamentals of Strength Training).

I have outlined how to start strength training and the considerations to reap the benefits from your strength training in the articles

In my opinion, if you want to avoid using free weights, the main challenge will be, that you will get to a point, where it is very difficult to find exercises or progressions of a bodyweight exercise that will give sufficient stimulus for further adaptations. At this moment you probably need to consider implementing external resistance into your strength training routine. Free weights are just one strength training mode you can implement, not the only one, but certainly, one of the most effective strength training mode if you want to become stronger.

As an applied example, with two of my young female track cyclists, we recently did a challenge just for the heck of it., one set of single leg squats on a box for as many repetitions as they could.

The challenge was, one set of single leg squats on a box for as many repetitions as they could, only using their bodyweight.

Keep in mind, both were not able to do 1 single leg squat when they started out. The result was, one did 45 repetitions and one did 27 repetitions.

In retrospect, I believe they stopped the set because they got bored rather than couldn’t do it anymore.

What I want to say with this short story, at some moment you probably need to consider implementing external resistance into your strength training routine. Free weights are just one strength training mode you can implement, not the only one, but certainly, one of the most effective strength training mode if you want to become stronger.

Concluding How to do Strength Training without Weights

The choice for not using weights for strength training can be manifold. However, there are different training modes that allow you to train the physical quality strength.

The main challenge over time will be to find strength training modes that will give you sufficient resistance to reap the benefits from your strength training efforts.