Exercises
 

Is there anyway of exercising the biceps without a machine? The only exercises I know are pushups and situps...

Joseph

Dumbbells count as a machine?

Try lifting heavy household objects.

Pullups and chinups also work the biceps.

If you go for the third bar and have a fast metabolism, expect results the next day, but the work will be harder as you have to pull more, and the gravity you're working against.

Visible results the next day?

I thought that pushups on your fists were fairly effective? I couldn't tell you which muscle it is affecting for sure but they certainly seem to help the bicep area.

Your body is like a car, modifying it just a bit and you can see the effect of your performance almost immediately. Take this for example, do 25 pullups, then hang on the bar for a bit and do 25 chin ups without touching the ground. Repeat for 3 times, as enduring and grueling as this is, this was the conditioning I recieved alongside the many other recievers during my high school football years. we would do that before practice, and almost after that, we noticed that our grip and arm resistance had been upped a bit. Things will feel lighter and whatnot because you just conditioned your body to an extreme setting and relaxed it with your daily routine. If you notice the next day, there will be a small miniscule change to your bi and triceps, shoulders, pecks, upper back, and a bit of your chest. Little cuts, more tense muscles, but dont expect anything major for about 2-3 months of consistency.

also depends on your diet and metabolism, like i said, I have a very high one, so it works for me. As for you, depending on your weight and so forth, body fat ratio, intake, etc.

It puts more stress on te shoulder and back as well so you work that area just the same as your bi's and tri's, but to work your bi's and tri's more, clap push ups, or triangle do the trick just as well...

Triangle of course is when you do a pushup with your two hands close together in the shape of a triangle right at your chest.

So you can work alot of the parts of your upper body (arms/back) just by the way you position your hands during pushups? Wow. With pullups, I can't find anything to hang on. I weigh about 130 and am 6ft (16 yr old- that's why I don't weigh much).

Joseph

This is actually a very good way to exercise the biceps and triceps, but instead of just lifting it, you could curl it. For example, if you go out to buy groceries, pick up a couple of heavy bags in each hand and curl it as you walk. If you want to exercise the triceps, you can start out with a can of food in each hand. Curl your arms upward so the cans are behind your shoulders, then extend your arm up and a little out (forming a small diagonal with your arms) and then curl them back in order to exercise the triceps. If that's not enough weight, try it with a light bag of groceries in each arm. Remember, the triceps don't get as much normal exercise as the biceps on a day-to-day basis, so it's easy to pull if you use too much weight at once.

I do knuckle-pushups for my training, but the military (triangle) pushups are hard as heck. You have to put your nose into the triangle and for those who are just starting this regimen, it could be extremely hard (and cause you to fall flat on your face...very often).

You should build your own sandbag. It's cheap to make and you can do just about any exercise you can do with a dumbbell or barbell.

What is a sandbag? Is that like the old sand in a milk jug trick?
Furthermore I must ask: can anyone confirm that pushups will also build up pec muscles substantially? I would assume they would quickly build them initially, but the benefit tapers off just as quickly (as you aren't pushing that much more weight).

A bag filled with sand.

Well, it can still benefit if you increase the repitions or put weights on you (but this can be very dangerous if not done properly). Like the strap-around weights that some people wear on their feet, hands, and abdomen. Also, you tend to gain weight at first b/c you put on muscle, so that helps out with the weight issue until they start to loose fat.

Mostly, adding extra repetitions will do, or just increasing the number of times you do the exercise per week (start out with twice a week and then slowly work your way up to three or four times a week or more).

If you want to work the chest more while doing push try spacing your hands farther apart. We always called them wide push-ups. This will focus more on your shoulder and chest rather than your triceps like regular or diamond push-ups do.

Also by increasing the reps you can increase the tone of the muscles, this will allow you to continue to benefit from doing push-ups even if the weight is no longer hard for you to move. If you are looking to build muscle mass you want to do a low rep, high weight work out, which push-ups and sit-ups are not suitable for.

If you can, before you do any lifting/push ups,
take a jog outside for 15-20 to get your blood circulating
and your heart pumping.

You wouldn't want to be relaxed one moment~ Then BAM~
working out ^_^

If you want big muscles, start lifting weights. That's the only way.

If you want a more "refined" look, just do push ups, sit ups, pull ups, etc.