I am quitting the gym at work and need to work out an equivalent routine using dumbells/barbell only. There are a few exercises that I am not sure how to replicate at home however, so was hoping someone might be able to give me some advice!

I don't have any benches or anything so was hoping to be able to put a routine together using chairs etc instead(!). The problem exercises are:

Chin-ups:
Can I get a bar that attaches to a door frame without ruining it (rented property)? Otherwise, what exercise can I do for my latissimus dorsi in particular?

Pectorals:
I normally use the pec-dec (I don't want full-on man-muscle breasts). Should I cobble together some kind of bench press using dumbells/barbells? I don't think my weights will be that heavy, so maybe butterflies would be better?

Triceps:
I normally use a pull down bar on a resistance machine. Should I try that exercise where you hold the dumbell behind your head and extend your tricep to lift the weight upwards? Never really got on with that one before…

Cheers!

chin-ups: A proper bar will need to be screwed into the door frame but you may be able to cover this up afterwards ? Also make sure the door frame is wide enough… narrow grip chins aren't as effective. Im in a rented property and I use the landing from the stairs for chin-ups, perfect.

pecs: incline press ups using a chair/chest of drawers or something similar to raise your feet up – use wide and narrow grip. This also works triceps. You can always try Indian/Hindu press ups shown here. I think they're brilliant.

http://sanchinsystems.com/dojo/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/image001.gif
http://www.mattfurey.com/hindu_pushups.html

I only use dumbells for shoulder presses 'cause I can't seem to do handstand press ups these days as well I used to.

Kev

Where in the country are you, I've an old bench which has butterfly, and leg curl attachments as well you can have for peanuts if your near Derby.

If not menshealth.co.uk has a wprkout planner, just tick body parts, gym/home, what your aiming for and time you've got to excercise and it comes back with a selection of excercises.

get a swiss ball and use it in place of a bench for dumb bell flys, bench press, cheat row, seated shoulder press, punch crunches and many more besides. much more effective than a bench

Brilliant, lots of useful info. The only other problem is space… in a small house with limited storage space (all taken up by bikes/bike stuff). I like the swiss ball idea. My wife has one but I suspect it is too soft…

Pecs – Wide arm press-ups and flys, varying your angle to the floor for both. If you don't want "full-on man-muscle breasts" then sticking to your press ups and therefore just using your own bodyweight is probably best.

Triceps – Dumbells in the hammer grip, lie on the bench (or floor), point your elbows at the ceiling, straighten your arms. Isolates your triceps like what you were doing previously on the pull down machine. I too hate those over your head ones.

Lats – thats where you are going to struggle without going to the gym

your wifes ball is probably 60cm, you probably need an 80cm one

also get a vew-do balance board for squats and doing some of the dumbell exercises on – plus you can do press ups on one.

swiss ball, dumb bells and balance board = exceptional gym

am i missing something or is that vew-do a plank and a cricket ball?

you're missing something

ok, tc, im aware of a lot of my shortcomings already

still everydays a school day.

Lats can be trained using one arm dumbell rows if you can't find anywhere to do chin-ups. You'll need quite a heavy weight on it though.

Kev

doing the one armed 'cheat' row with the inactive hand on a swiss ball, and rotating the trunk to raise the weight to max height is a good one…

My testosterone level has gone up just reading this. Feel the burn baby

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002GHBRWA/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title

These are great for chin-ups providing you have a solid wall. 2 secs to put up/down.

Chin ups and pull ups will train your lats

For chinups I use a Powerbar

Have stopped doing traditional weights in favour of Clubbells – much more fun and effective.

I recently had 6 months off the bike due to a couple of ops on my foot and did a few weights at home to keep some sort of tone, Ive only got dumbells but there is plenty you can do.

I would usually do in this order all with the same size weight as I can never be arsed changing them around.

Standing shoulder presses 3×10
Standing upright rows 3×10
Flies straight into presses 3×10 of each
Tricep hammers lying on the floor 3x 15
Horizontal rows (lying on bench(or ball)) 3x 15
Horizontal rows (lying on bench) with hands at 90 degrees 3×15

I sometimes do a few batwings with one of those rubber band thingies do finish off.

You can obviously do all kinds of stuff with dumbells depending on the weight of them but this works quite well with one set and no changing of weights.

I do a split using Dumbbells/barbell, bench & ball:

Day 1 Chest:
[list]Bench press
DB Flies
Incline DB press
Incline DB flies
Decline DB press
Declline press ups[/list]
(5 sets of each to failure on each set)

Day 2 Triceps:
[list]BB Skullcrusher
DB Single arm skullcrusher
Dips
Close grip BB Bench press[/list]
(5 sets of each to failure on each set)

Day 3 Biceps/forearms:
[list]Standing DB Hammer curl
Preacher curl
7-7-7 with E-Z bar
Palm raise DB curl
Palm down DB curl[/list]
(3 sets of each to failure on each set)

Day 4 Shoulders:
[list]Seated Shoulder Press
Military Press
Combo Raise
Shrugs
Bent over Lateral Raise
Lateral Raise[/list]
(5 sets of each to failure on each set)

Day 5 Back:
[list]Good Morning (E-Z bar)
Deadlift
Dumbbell Pullover
Bent Over Barbell Row
One Arm Bent Over Dumbbell Row
Chin Up[/list]
(5 sets of each to failure on each set)

I do abs every other couple of days:
[list]Incline Medicine Ball Crunch 3×50
Oblique Raise 3×10 each side
Swiss Ball Crunch 3×50
Leg Combo Raise 3x10x5
Plank 3×1 min
Swiss Ball Rollout 3×20[/list]

With a bit of thought you can get a very effective workout without using any equipment other than yourself. For Pecs and triceps do press-ups, search on the internet but there are so many variations you can target slightly different muscles, work on power or strength etc. Legs single leg pistol squats (very good for your core muscles which are will help riding no end.) If you have a very strong core you can do squats standing on a stability ball or a slightly easier variation would be doing them on a wobble board. If you get a stability ball you can do back extensions (sort of like a reverse situp) by lying on your front on the ball with your feet on the floor and raising your head. A chin up bar would be dead useful as like press-ups there are many variations of this which are all very good for your upper back (quick google search will reveal all.) If getting one is defiantly off then your local park might have a structure that you could use suitably for chin ups and probably a bench which you could use for tricep dips you could then incorporate these along with some press-ups into circuit training by running to each "station" performing the exercise and carrying on.

Iain

a lot has been said but to clarify you can get pull up bars which dont screw to the wall infact these tend to be better as they offer a wider grip than one which are limited to your door space. just focus on your lats when using chin up almost as if your pulling your elbows in toward your waist…
and a gym ball is a must you may struggle at first but with practice it creates results i use a ball instead of a bench by choice, i can now lift 40kg db shoulder press whilst kneeling on the ball..
then i would try buying or making a squat rack another must in my book. i made one with two buckets of concrete with 3 pieces of wood cemented in them rising vertically the middle one being slighty smaller etc

Wow, checked back on this thread after a day or so and I wasn't expecting all these useful replies, thanks! Does that JML bar fit to the door frame with no drilling etc.? If so, it looks perfect.

I used to have a bar that fitted across the door frame just by pressure – it created cracks in the walls so maybe not a good idea to use one of them. I have barbell, dumbells and bench and can do everything except heavy legs but I don't want to do that now anyway. Bent over rowing with a barbell is a great back exercise; do stiff legged for the hams – need to stand on something though.