Limited Equipment, What Can I Do?

SK09 · 01-27-2009, 09:24 AM

I have limited equipment but do have access to some things. My goal is to get healthier. I am 6'0-6'1 240 lbs. I would like to lose some of my bodyfat but also get stronger.
These are the items available to me:
25 lb dumbbell (want to get a 35 or 45 lb soon)
Endurance machine bike
Basketball court

The routine I've been doing for the last few weeks.
30 mins cardio on bike
10 mins cardio jumping rope
50 pushups
100-130 crunches
30 squats
30 bicep curls
30 forearm curls
30 hammer curls
Shootaround for an hour on the basketball court everyday.

I do this routine 6 days a week. (For the past 3 weeks)
Thoughts? I know that lifting everyday can be bad, but I don't really have the equipment right now to do proper heavy lifting...Also I have not noticed much weightloss (only 5-6 lbs) But I have noticed some muscle development. I began a harder cardio regiment last week so that may mean more weightloss (I hope).

DrBdan · 01-27-2009, 12:16 PM

It's going to be awfully hard to get much stronger if you only have access to 25 lb dumbbells. When you say that you want to get a 35 or 45 lb dumbbell soon do you mean you are going to buy them yourself? If so you should save your money and buy a barbell + weight set instead.

A lot of people recommend Never Gymless, check it out here: RossTraining - Never Gymless

Do you have any place you can do chin-ups? If so, do them instead of all those curls. For squats, try holding something heavy while you squat (e.g. another person, a sandbag)

Read the FAQ in the D&S forum. A good diet will help you lose weight faster than any workout will.

SK09 · 01-27-2009, 12:45 PM

Well you see I'm in college, I have a small dormroom so I can't fit a weight set or much at all in here. Also the college's gym is a small room that only has some machine bikes, which is what I am using for cardio. Its a small town and the only gym out here has a membership fee I just can't afford right now...This is my predicament. Yeah I've checked out the diet forum and I've been on a pretty good diet for a weeks now.

NovemberFoxtrot · 01-27-2009, 12:55 PM

P90X.

Download it and all you need is a doorway pullup bar and some dumbells.

DrBdan · 01-27-2009, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NovemberFoxtrot

P90X.

Acquire it through legal means and all you need is a doorway pullup bar and some dumbells.

I'm sure that's what you meant, right?

Seriously though, from everything that I've heard I would recommend Ross's Never Gymless over P90X. Ross has some free stuff on his website that you can read to get a general idea of what you will get from Never Gymless.

Sohan · 01-27-2009, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SK09

Well you see I'm in college, I have a small dormroom so I can't fit a weight set or much at all in here. Also the college's gym is a small room that only has some machine bikes, which is what I am using for cardio. Its a small town and the only gym out here has a membership fee I just can't afford right now...This is my predicament. Yeah I've checked out the diet forum and I've been on a pretty good diet for a weeks now.

I second Never Gymless. Great book.

At 240, bodyweight exercises may be very helpful in getting your stronger and fitter, since you likely won't be able to do high reps of certain movements. Pistols, pushup variations, even hanging a thick rope or towel from a tree branch and doing pullups will go a long way and can be very challenging. Don't forget about speed running as well. 8 hard 400s twice a week will do you much more good than the cycle for fat loss and conditioning. You're only limited by your creativity.

Cheers.

ktrp · 01-27-2009, 10:02 PM

Pistols would beat squatting. My guess is you can't do one. If you search around, you can find a 'progression' to pistols, based around sort of doing a one leg squat on a chair ... (Basically picture standing with one foot on a chair, and then driving off the chair leg, without using the ground leg).

If you can do a reasonable number of pushups, get your feet up on a chair.

Pullups of some sort would be way better then the curls, since they'd be hitting your back as well.

T_Money_ · 01-27-2009, 10:24 PM

If you've been doing that for the past few weeks, you're not eating too healthy (or at least you're eating too much.) What you listed should easily burn 500 calories at the least so you must be eating more than you were if you're not losing weight.

chino0503 · 01-28-2009, 01:54 AM

Best Medicine Ball Exercises | Middle Management

theres alot more workouts you can do with a medicine ball... just gotta be creative. one of my favorite things to do.

and do those basketball sprints.... you see them nba players do it all the time. does wonders for your cardio

SK09 · 01-28-2009, 12:10 PM

Thanks for all the advice guys. Yeah I really need to get back to sprinting and I should add that into my higher cardio less lifting days.
To the guy about eating, I've been dieting now for 3 weeks. I do six meals a day:
1. Breakfast: 1 Packet oatmeal (with skin milk or water)
2. Snack: orange
3. Lunch: 1 slice of high fiber all wheat bread with 1 tablespoon all natural peanutbutter
4. Snack: salad with 2 slices turkey breast chopped & olive oil
5. Dinner: 2 eggwhites with tuna, tomatoes, onions, & olive oil
6. Snack: Grapefruit
drinks: only water + 1 cup of cranberry juice
This gets mixed up, snacks get substituted with other healthy vegetables/fruits but this is the basis.