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What is the best at home workout for abs and pecs?

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petricabilo

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I've been doign basic workouts at home because I cant get to the gym that often and I don't own any dumbells. I do pushups and situps and pullups. I was wondering if there are there any workouts that I can do that would help me increase my overall workout routine?
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You only interested in upper body exercises or do I put weight on the 'improve overall work-out routine'?

Lunges, squats, (thighs, back side) Lunges with a sideways turn at the end (easier with a ball between your hands).
calf raises (calves) (on door step, stair, a big fat book)
the plank, sideways plank, (core, tummy, back)
jumping jacks going into a push-up when you come down, (cardio, core, arms)
sit on a chair, raise your legs from the floor, hold for 10 seconds (core, tummy)
grab on to edge of bed/sofa if it is stable, lower yourself towards the floor facing away from sofa, with arms behind you, then push yourself back up (arms)
Rope skipping (cardio, balance, feet)
Balancing on one foot with other foot raised in front, behind.... then try with your eyes closed.
Lie on tummy, raise upper half of body slowly off the ground, come down slowly...

Two buckets or big bottles of water will help with some of the arm exercises like curls, fly's etc
Getting a good resistance band would help the pecs, I think.

Also try push ups at a angle - perhaps on edge of sofa again, legs up, arms up...
 
muscle development rquires resistance. You can make perfectly satisfactory weights from milk containers filled with water. or you can buy resistance bands cheaply. The take no storage space either. My Personal trainer friend is anti sit-ups. She says they are bad for the back
Hana
 
A lot of people say that situps and crunches are bad for your back and from personal experience I would be inclined to agree.

Push ups will work your chest well, if you start to elevate your feet then you are moving more towards working your shoulders. If you find push ups too easy, try some variation in how you place your hands - go for a diamond shape where your thumbs and index fingers of each hand are touching, thereby bringing your hands closer together. You could also try clap push ups for explosive power - where you try to clap between each one. If you can't do these at first you can build up to them by doing kneeling clapping push ups and push ups where you push your hands off the floor without clapping.

Leg raises and planks are great for your abs without the risk of hurting your back.

You shouldn't just work your upper body alone either, you should throw in some bodyweight squats for your legs and lower back too.
 
I also only work out at home anymore. But I always do a well balanced full body training.
You should not only concentrate on the chest and the abs, because this can lead to a unbalanced growth of muscles. That can cause pain. Milk containers filled with water are great to work out with. Ideally, you put it into a backpack. This is a nice additional weight.
My favourite exercises for abs at home are: russian twists, crunches, leg lifts, planks, side planks, mountain climbers
I would leave out sit up, too. It brought pain in my back as well.
Chest: dips with a chair, several variations of push-ups
 
Yoga is also a fairly good whole body work out if you follow a vinyasa style where you are moving all the time.

When I travel with work I take a couple of old inner tubes with me to use as resistance bands. You can do a whole load of stuff with those.
Arm curls
Shoulder raises
Seated rows with one end around your feet
Anchor one end around a bit of furniture and you can do leg work
Anchor one end at a door frame and you can do overhead work for triceps, pecs etc.

Also do a variety of lunges, single leg squats, squat thrusts etc
 
youtube is great for this stuff, there are obviously nutters on there but if you know of good exercises as stated here for example you can see them demonstrated on video, help me alot anyway, good luck


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