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I'm in the same boat. I was lifting heavy at the gym, now I'm limited to kettlebells and can't even do pull ups. We'll be fine once this is over and we can get

I'm in the same boat. I was lifting heavy at the gym, now I'm limited to kettlebells and can't even do pull ups. We'll be fine once this is over and we can get back to our old routines.

tayo42 6y ago
Yeah sucks though to have it disrupted. My yoga is getting pretty good though
laumars 6y ago
Is there nothing around that you can use as makeshift weights? When I was at high school and couldn’t afford a gym membership I used a bunch of old telephone directories as makeshift weights. It wasn’t ideal but it worked for a few months until I got my first job. Pull ups are one of the easier problems to solve at home. You can get bars for your doorway that extend out like stair gates. Or if you have a fat enough door frame and strong enough fingers you could pull up directly from the frame (I used to do this too). Obviously you know your situation better than I do so I’m not meaning any of the above to sound preachy. I also get that proper equipment makes a world of difference and using improper equipment can add an element of risk.
- kaitai 6y ago
  I don't have telephone directories anymore, and I certainly don't have 200 lbs of them in easily graspable form... hand weights are fine but kettlebells are better than those, and neither is at all the same as a barbell.
  - laumars 6y ago
    Yeah, 200 lbs would be pretty dangerous to attempt with DIY solutions I’d imagine.
    - arbitrary_name 6y ago
      My college house mate built his own Olympic lifting setup in his tiny bedroom. Slept at the foot of it.
- wenc 6y ago
  It’s hard to lift without equipment - nothing around the house concentrates that amount of weight into something liftable. Pull up bars mostly work the back muscles but don’t provide enough isolation to work the biceps. I have however seen a video recommending bicep curls where your arms pull against a towel folded across your foot, which pushes in the other direction. By locking the elbows, isolation is achieved and your leg which has larger muscles than your arms provides the counterweight. It’s not ideal but it’s better than nothing.
dredmorbius 6y ago
You can do KB rows, which are part of the pull-up ROM and musculature. A strap/webbing system might help for pulls, if you have a suitably high attachment point.

I'm in the same boat. I was lifting heavy at the gym, now I'm limited to kettlebells and can't even do pull ups. We'll be fine once this is over and we can get back to our old routines.

tayo42 6y ago

Yeah sucks though to have it disrupted. My yoga is getting pretty good though

laumars 6y ago

Is there nothing around that you can use as makeshift weights? When I was at high school and couldn’t afford a gym membership I used a bunch of old telephone directories as makeshift weights. It wasn’t ideal but it worked for a few months until I got my first job. Pull ups are one of the easier problems to solve at home. You can get bars for your doorway that extend out like stair gates. Or if you have a fat enough door frame and strong enough fingers you could pull up directly from the frame (I used to do this too). Obviously you know your situation better than I do so I’m not meaning any of the above to sound preachy. I also get that proper equipment makes a world of difference and using improper equipment can add an element of risk.

kaitai 6y ago
I don't have telephone directories anymore, and I certainly don't have 200 lbs of them in easily graspable form... hand weights are fine but kettlebells are better than those, and neither is at all the same as a barbell.
- laumars 6y ago
  Yeah, 200 lbs would be pretty dangerous to attempt with DIY solutions I’d imagine.
  - arbitrary_name 6y ago
    My college house mate built his own Olympic lifting setup in his tiny bedroom. Slept at the foot of it.
wenc 6y ago
It’s hard to lift without equipment - nothing around the house concentrates that amount of weight into something liftable. Pull up bars mostly work the back muscles but don’t provide enough isolation to work the biceps. I have however seen a video recommending bicep curls where your arms pull against a towel folded across your foot, which pushes in the other direction. By locking the elbows, isolation is achieved and your leg which has larger muscles than your arms provides the counterweight. It’s not ideal but it’s better than nothing.

dredmorbius 6y ago

You can do KB rows, which are part of the pull-up ROM and musculature. A strap/webbing system might help for pulls, if you have a suitably high attachment point.