Hi, this is my first post and I'll start off by saying that these forums are awesome. I've been lurking for a while and I've learned so much about nutrition and exercise. Thanks for that.

My problem is this: at the moment, money is pretty tight. I'm in college without access to a gym and gym membership here is so expensive that I can't afford it. I also can't afford to buy weights. (Just so you see I'm not exaggerating: I have to get by on 400$ a month, excluding the rent for my room, but including everything else. Due to my schedule and class workload, I can't get a job right now.) This is, obviously, a problem.

I live about 30 minutes from campus by foot and I walk there and back 4-5 days a week. This gives me my cardio exercise.

Finally, my question: will bodyweight exercises help prevent muscle loss? At the moment, I'm not trying to gain muscle (since I'm cutting, this would be hard to do anyway), just trying not to lose too much of the muscle I already have (which, admittedly, is not that much).

I realize my situation is not ideal, but at the moment there's nothing I can do about it.

Here's my stats, by the way:
height: 5'8.5
weight: 170.5 lbs
age: 21
gender: female

Thanks in advance for any tips/advice you can give me.

P.S. If this post belongs in the Beginners forum, I apologize. I thought since I'm female and most of the advice here is geared toward men, I'd post here and ask for help :).

Go to flea markets and yard sales. Exercise equipment is a very common impulse buy, and it often takes up a lot of space, therefore it is very common to find people trying to get rid of it. I picked up a barbell with 80 pounds on it for $10.

In my opinion, all you REALLY need is a pair of dumbbells. When my job sends me on the road, I bring two 40 pound dumbbells with me. I have been away from home for three months at a time, and had no visible reduction in muscle.

In my opinion, body weight exercises won't cut it. There is an online-book somewhere (you have to pay for it, but a friend of mine showed his copy to me) that is a 100% body-weight exercises, and the guy was in pretty good shape, but generally speaking, weights will give you much better results.

Finally, my question: will bodyweight exercises help prevent muscle loss?

They sure can.

Pushups, pullups or inverted rows, and one leg work (lunges, pistol squats, etc.)

If you have a stairway, or even just a stable block you can do step-ups. Got a knapsack for your books? Load the knapsack and do step-ups.

This will help maintain your muscle when you can't get any weights.

If you have a stairway, or even just a stable block you can do step-ups. Got a knapsack for your books? Load the knapsack and do step-ups.

That's a great idea!

I have a 12 lb. medicine ball with handles that I can use for a fairly complete workout: squats, one-arm cleans, stand-ups, etc. You won't be pushing huge weight, but you can do enough sets and reps to stay strong. You can also make a medicine ball quite cheaply with an inexpensive basketball, sand, and duct tape.

Thanks a lot for the replies, this is great to hear. :) I'll look into the medicine ball option and I'll see whether I might be able to get cheap weights someplace, but I doubt it. Where I live, flea markets and yard sales aren't done often, if at all.

The only other thing I'd like to know is how often to train each body part. Should I do these exercises more often than I would do them if I were using weights? I don't want to cut recovery time short.

Thanks again for all the help, I appreciate it.

Actually bodyweight ex's WILL cut it to some degree. Ever notice how people who do pushups on a regular basis of voluminous magnitude have fairly buff-looking triceps and upper torsoes?

Ditto for bodyweight squats. But there are usually plenty of items around a residence that can be used to add extra weight to a BW squat.

Like holding a full water jug with a handle in each hand.

Or fill up a back-pack with weighted objects and then do stair climbs.

If you've got two kitchen chairs or the like, you're good to go on dips.
And you can weight these with the backpack too.

From two-legged squats move up to single-leg pistol squats or speedskater squats which can also be weighted fairly easily.

You can also weight a pushup fairly easily. Again the backpack while your doing them. Also try elevating your feet later on.

bodyweight exercises are good. weight is weight, no matter where it is coming from. A healthy dose of pull ups, chin- ups, push ups, squats, traveling lunges will get you going. Also, like someone has mentioned loading a backpack is a great way to add some weight. Another website that I frequent quite a bit is www.rossboxing.com

It is not just a boxing website. Ross has written several training books and makes a lot of his own equipment for CHEAP! Anyway, one of his books that would give you TONS of ideas is "infinite Intensity." This one will keep you busy for years. I own it. I would look at his website, see some of his training videos and read some of his training articles and possibly visit the forum.

He is also putting out another book in about a month or so called "Never Gymless." Things you can do when you don't have a gym, or are on the road etc. Anyway... I totally recommend you look into the website. :gl:

Check out my little project (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=26760). My estimate that my equipment (Fitness Ball, 15, 20, & 25 lb dumbells) is going to cost me about $140 dollars. I don't know what your level of fitness is, but if you may not need weights that heavy. You could use bottles or jugs full of water as "weights". If you save $5 a week you'll have enough for a fitness ball in a month or so.

Fittv (if you get it) has a show called "housecalls" they tend to use things they find around people houses to create workouts for them.

Good Luck!

-- Jeremy

Hi, this is my first post and I'll start off by saying that these forums are awesome. I've been lurking for a while and I've learned so much about nutrition and exercise. Thanks for that.

My problem is this: at the moment, money is pretty tight. I'm in college without access to a gym and gym membership here is so expensive that I can't afford it. I also can't afford to buy weights. (Just so you see I'm not exaggerating: I have to get by on 400$ a month, excluding the rent for my room, but including everything else. Due to my schedule and class workload, I can't get a job right now.) This is, obviously, a problem.

I live about 30 minutes from campus by foot and I walk there and back 4-5 days a week. This gives me my cardio exercise.

Finally, my question: will bodyweight exercises help prevent muscle loss? At the moment, I'm not trying to gain muscle (since I'm cutting, this would be hard to do anyway), just trying not to lose too much of the muscle I already have (which, admittedly, is not that much).

I realize my situation is not ideal, but at the moment there's nothing I can do about it.

Here's my stats, by the way:
height: 5'8.5
weight: 170.5 lbs
age: 21
gender: female

Thanks in advance for any tips/advice you can give me.

P.S. If this post belongs in the Beginners forum, I apologize. I thought since I'm female and most of the advice here is geared toward men, I'd post here and ask for help :).

If you're gonna work with bodyweight exercises, will this help?

http://www.statesa.com/gettingfit/5bx.php

Good call Lawrence....the Airforce also wrote one for women called 10BX.

My brother and I did 5BX for about a year in our mid-teens and we got pretty good results.

The deal with 5BX is you have to increase the amount of an ex you can do in one or 2 minutes.

For example, pushups. You might start at a level where you are doing 10 pushups in a minute. As you progress you up the number until say the max you can do is 50 pushups a minute,

Each ex has a one or 2 minute time frame.

They change-up the ex's at different levels.

The entire routine takes 10 minutes or less basically.

It's a very good program if you have little time to train or no equipment.

Thanks again for the replies :).

If you're gonna work with bodyweight exercises, will this help?

http://www.statesa.com/gettingfit/5bx.php

I took a look around that site and came across this (http://www.statesa.com/gettingfit/beginner.php) as well. It looks similar to what I've been doing, but there's a routine behind it and you adapt it for difficulty as you go along, which I wasn't sure how to do. I think this will get me started. Many thanks!

I'm still working on my diet, specifically my calorie intake. I've been eating clean, 1500-1600 kcal a day, but haven't been losing any scale weight for about a month. I know scale weight isn't that important, but while I have noticed a difference in the way my clothes fit since I started, I don't feel that they've been getting any looser for a while. I'll try going down to 1300 for a few days, but that seems awfully low to me. It's not that I get hungry, I'm just worried about muscle loss and I don't want to destroy my metabolism. Perhaps I've just hit a plateau. Lower cal intake might break it. Just have to wait and see, I guess.

I might have to come back and ask for a diet critique soon ;).

I'm still working on my diet, specifically my calorie intake. I've been eating clean, 1500-1600 kcal a day, but haven't been losing any scale weight for about a month. I know scale weight isn't that important, but while I have noticed a difference in the way my clothes fit since I started, I don't feel that they've been getting any looser for a while. I'll try going down to 1300 for a few days, but that seems awfully low to me. It's not that I get hungry, I'm just worried about muscle loss and I don't want to destroy my metabolism. Perhaps I've just hit a plateau. Lower cal intake might break it. Just have to wait and see, I guess.

I might have to come back and ask for a diet critique soon ;).

As long as your clothes are not getting tighter, try uping your calories instead of reducing them. By reducing them, you'll run the risk of slipping into starvation mode.

As you become more fit, your body requires more fuel to maintain the muscle mass you have. The increase doesn't have to be big, try 300-500 calories more and see what happens over the course of a couple of weeks.

As long as your clothes are not getting tighter, try uping your calories instead of reducing them. By reducing them, you'll run the risk of slipping into starvation mode.

Yeah, that's what I'm worried about.

As you become more fit, your body requires more fuel to maintain the muscle mass you have. The increase doesn't have to be big, try 300-500 calories more and see what happens over the course of a couple of weeks.

I do about 50 minutes of LISS a day, 4 - 5 days a week, just by walking to campus at a relatively brisk pace. My heart rate is between 145 and 160.

Beyond that, I do bodyweight exercises like the ones described above, but I haven't been very consistent with them, because I had no routine and no plan.

I don't know if my activity level warrants more or less calories in order to lose fat. So I figured I'd try lowering my calories for a week or a week and a half and see what happens, then slowly up them again. If nothing happens, I'll up them as well. Does this sound reasonable?

Thanks for the advice! :)

Sounds good to me. :)

Well, today I tried the circuit training (http://www.statesa.com/gettingfit/beginner.php) I linked to above for the first time. It felt great, took me about 15 minutes to complete and it also got my heart pumping. The best part was that it also targets the muscles in my back, which up until now had been a body part I'd been neglecting. I feel that I've found something I'll stick with, because it's quick, enjoyable and well suited for me. Thanks so much for recommending that site, Lawrence.

As for my diet, I've decided to up my calories right away. 1300 a day just cannot be good for me, so starting today my calorie intake per day is 1700.

A journal would probably me the more appropriate place to post this, but I know that I'm not going to update it frequently, so it seems like a waste.

As for my diet, I've decided to up my calories right away. 1300 a day just cannot be good for me

Gah! No, it can't. Based on your stats your BMR is 1619 (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/). 1700's a very good number for you for aggressive fat-loss and muscle preservation.

If you wanted, you could probably ask John to move this thread into the Journal section and re-title it. He's a champ when it comes to helping people out like that.

I wish you all the best progress!

M@

Keeping a journal shouldn't be considered a waste of space.

Although I don't keep one here, I do have one. Sometimes it seems like all I do is rant on it, but it helps to clear the garbage out of my head and forces me to realise things that may not be working in my favor that I may not have "seen" just by thinking about them.

The advantage to keeping one here is that if you get stuck, there is always somebody around to give you a boost, kick in the butt when one is warranted or moral support when you're having an off day.

Another option if you're interested is Ian King's Death by Bodyweight (http://www.t-nation.com/portal_includes/articles/2002/237death2.html).

Another option if you're interested is Ian King's Death by Bodyweight (http://www.t-nation.com/portal_includes/articles/2002/237death2.html).

Cool link! Thanks Kino!