Post: #1

So this could be an addendum to my vagrant thread in the lifestyle section but it doesnt neccesarily involve a lifestyle change, rather how now as I am sort of trying to settle down for the moment in one place with a nearly unexistent budget have I taken measures to bring myself back to,mantain and improve shape.

So here's what I've done and am doing

Jogging/running:

Probably the cheapest and least equipment needing activity out there besides walking!
You can run in nearly any environment, whether its an open field,a forest or the streets and parks of a city.
IF you have the certaintity that your soles are though and that there arent dangerous elements in the ground running barefoot is an option as well so you might not even need running shoes.
However, a pair of very basic running shoes are worth the investment as you can also use them for other sporty activities (not to mention they are very comfortable to walk around with).
In Europe the cheapest pair I've found were 13 € bucks and a fairly decent one can usually be obtained around 20 € when not in special offers on large sports stores (Decathlon is the median in western Europe at least)

When I was roving with my backpack and I settled somewhere where I could stash my things,my routine would involve jogging with the dog.
This would start with short 5 min runs and build up throughout days and weeks eventually as I got used to it to 45 or 1 hour circuits.
I still had a very shitty diet and was abusing the booze obscenely so I might as well thank the exercise for mitigating the disastrous effects of my nutritional intake back then.


Jump Rope:

Its funny to think that such a simple "device" (if it can be called that) could be so damn effective and fun (at least for me) to use!
It is no coincidence that it has become a staple of every serious combat/sport training out there as it involves breathing,muscular endurance and coordination.

There's many types and qualities of jump ropes out there.
My experiences are with the leather corded ones,the PVC corded standard of today,a lot of improvised ones (I would use preferably industrial level or rappeling rope as it wouldnt wear down so fast) and my personal favorite: The weighted handles.
I unfortunately havent had the pleasure of trying a speed rope or a segmented one so far.

I first learned to jump rope properly -as in do more than the classic "one leg above first second leg then" basic jump- back when I was around age 11 but only really got into it at age 15 when I got into boxing classes.
Our professor was abit of crazy oddbal who liked to make us jump rope for half an hour to the beat of Techno industrial and metal music.
In these classes I developed (or stockholm syndromed) my love for endurance training and my on and off affairs with jump rope began.
I've learned to do various fancytricks and moves with it over the years as well as increasing my
So far it has proven to be the best method for my own personal use in weight loss and endurance training.
And quite frankly,I just get an amazing endorphin high from it if I combine it with some power music in my headphones or boombox.

Weighted handles have the benefit of strenghtening your shoulders apparently.


Theraband:
While it is very unlikely that you'll develop bulging bodybuilder muscles from a standard strong (not the super heavy duty thick ones) band these things are easily carried and stored anywhere, portability and versatility really are a plus for these things. Plus you can work virtually every major muscle group with these things,not to mention they are rather cheap (the strongest of the normal ones costs about 5 € in Western Europe.)

Training Gloves:
These things are far more useful than they appear,and a good sturdy pair can be obtained for about as low as 5 € (I've seen some at 3 even).
If you are doing pull ups -whether in monkey bars or any elevated surface you can grab) to push ups it will provide a layer of grip and protection that your hands will be thankful for after you're done training (specially when you do push ups in rough surfaces)


Body weight exercises and stretching:
These exercises require only your body (and a surface to grip on to in the case of pull ups I guess) and can be an amazing complement to even a gym user.
Its a bit of a cliché to say stretching is vital,but it is,specially (in my experience) after you're done with the work out.


-------------------------------------



My gear from last month,I just upgraded to a weighted rope again


Fast forward to the time of this posting:

I have now been working out every day since August.
In the last two months I've managed to jump rope for an hour full virtually non-stop (Its near impossible to not miss a step and/or have to pause due to some interruption like another dog coming to bark at mine.etc) and I've even managed to dominate my urges to take a piss during this period.
I've only started incorporating the theraband and bodyweight exercises two months ago as well when I reached the hour mark and so far I can definitely see the effects it has had on my posture and strenght.

My diet is a bit weird, I mostly consume dairies as they are rather cheap (milk specially) and contain basically a shit ton of nutrients in general and protein in particular),as well as beans,vegetables (big shout out to garlic and ginger!) and canned fish though my fat intake is I fear unhealtily low.
Doing endurance training makes me crave sweet stuff a lot so I also consume a shit ton of fruit. Bananas in particular have become almost a neccesity as I can definitely feel the stretching a lot more painfully when I havent had extra potassium.


I will definitely continue to modify and attempt to improve my routine as I go,but all in all ,I have to say that from being a soon to be drunk to death case to a dedicated practitioner makes me quite happy.
I would very much appreciate any suggestions or critiques or tips to continue modifying my work-out as it is something I enjoy a lot experimenting with.

Post: #2

No budget means no gains.

Post: #3

Callouses are good. They raise your SMV. (not kidding.) I'd skip the training gloves unless you're literally shredding your hands bloody and can't exercise with the wounds they take.

Post: #4

I thought the gloves were a weird inclusion too.

I used to have to do scores of knuckle pushups on concrete, it wasnt nice but you got used to it pretty quickly. I cant think of any bodyweight exercise thats going to be harder on the hands than that.

My two cents worth to add is if youve got a training partner you can do isometrics at a cost of zero. Ive really only done them as occasional 'finishers' but they seem like theyd be effective enough if you stuck with them.

Post: #5

Steelex Wrote:No budget means no gains.

Are you referring to bulking up?I havent been very interested in it as I discovered a long time ago my strenght lies in endurance. Back in the day when I was doing weights in the gym, I never did very well in gains but it could also be that I wasnt doing things properly

Highpool Wrote:Callouses are good. They raise your SMV. (not kidding.) I'd skip the training gloves unless you're literally shredding your hands bloody and can't exercise with the wounds they take.

king bast Wrote:I used to have to do scores of knuckle pushups on concrete, it wasnt nice but you got used to it pretty quickly. I cant think of any bodyweight exercise thats going to be harder on the hands than that

The knuckle push ups on concrete were the main reason I started wearing the gloves! That,and improvised jump ropes without handles did a number on my finger skin.
I guess I can get used to doing the push-ups without the gloves,though I admit its rather comfortable using them.

Post: #6

It is not that difficult to get a decent workout at home and without dumbbells and barbells. If you have backbags, travel bags or other sturdy elastic containers for weights such as old books and what not, you can perform a lot of the basic lifts using them. It's called odd object lifting and the only problem with it is that, depending on the shape of the object, you might be forced to contort to a position that burdens your back excessively. If you were to do upright rows with a backbag for example, the weight would be hovering in front of your body as opposed to settling more closely to your sides and parallel to your center as it would with a barbell.

Post: #7

And I'm also lucky to be in area abundant in "old man gyms"! I might have to leave soon which sucks since i have so many facilities nearby but ah well.

Update:
After two weeks of using the weighted rope I can already see an increase in my shoulder musculature, my legs are also pretty strong now. All in all,I'd say my physique is starting to resemble more that of my dog (lean and solid with visible muscle but not exactly bulging/ripped)


I'm toying with the idea of getting a 5 or 6 meter rope to tie down from a bridge,platform or tree to practice climbing.
(not that great for the additional space it would take on the backpack but could also be an asset)

Post: #8

A canvas army duffle bag that will hold 300lbs of sand costs about £11. The sand to fill it about £20. For £30, or $38 or so, you can get the only implement you ever need to be brutally strong. If you can clean and press a bodyweight sandbag, and also shoulder then squat your bodyweight in a sandbag 50 times in 20 minutes, then you will be extremely strong and well muscled.

You won't be as muscular necessarily as guys who have well rounded barbell-based programs. It is easier to get a pump and bring out certain muscle groups with BBs and DBs. If you want to be as big as possible then weights are really the best way to achieve that. However, if you want strength, power, and athleticism, you can go a very long way with a handful of odd object lifts and some bodyweight work (mainly pull-ups and push-ups). You won't look as strong, but for certain things, such as grappling with another human being, you may find you have a more useful type of strength.

Post: #9

(02-05-2017 08:24 AM)H1N1 Wrote:  A canvas army duffle bag that will hold 300lbs of sand costs about £11. The sand to fill it about £20. For £30, or $38 or so, you can get the only implement you ever need to be brutally strong. If you can clean and press a bodyweight sandbag, and also shoulder then squat your bodyweight in a sandbag 50 times in 20 minutes, then you will be extremely strong and well muscled.

You won't be as muscular necessarily as guys who have well rounded barbell-based programs. It is easier to get a pump and bring out certain muscle groups with BBs and DBs. If you want to be as big as possible then weights are really the best way to achieve that. However, if you want strength, power, and athleticism, you can go a very long way with a handful of odd object lifts and some bodyweight work (mainly pull-ups and push-ups). You won't look as strong, but for certain things, such as grappling with another human being, you may find you have a more useful type of strength.

That's an awesome idea, H1n1!!! Many thanks I will definitely put it to the test!
And yes ,I bolded that part of teh decsription because my interest is more in line with that statement. WHile liek any other red blooded human I am interested in looks,I tend to give apriority to practical applications of strenght.

Post: #10

Why not just earn some money? A cheap 24/7 gym membership won't run you more than about $30 per month, if you can't afford that you got bigger problems than not being jacked enough.

Post: #11

the best guy on low budget/low tech/high results kinda training (that i found in my rather extensive search) is rosstraining.com. he is a beast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVkYjp4mqnc

Post: #12

For pure bodyweight/gymnastic fitness this site is an excellent resource with videos and tutorials.

Beast Skills

For some progressions they use weights but for others you don't need anything expensive. The only gear that may be necessary is a set of parallettes, which you can build with a couple bucks' worth of PVC pipe and fittings.

Post: #13

(02-08-2017 07:41 PM)rafaeld Wrote:  Why not just earn some money? A cheap 24/7 gym membership won't run you more than about $30 per month, if you can't afford that you got bigger problems than not being jacked enough.

I suppose I would like to know and/or delve more for the same reason people develop an interest in any other field of knowledge.

Have you ever wondered if you could make your own clothes?Produce your own food (Hunt/milk/plant/cook.etc)?Build your own tools?
Have you ever wondered if you could do it with "primitive" methods and/or tools as our ancestors did?


That said,I've often found myself in a position where I did not have a single dime to my name and yet that did not make me discard the idea of mantaining and/or improving my physical capacity. I daresay in such cases although it is easily and often overlooked, physical well-being is of primal importance.
Finally, "being jacked" is of rather secondary interest to me,I am more interested in practical applications of physical capacity which is why posts like H1N1's are of great interest to my curiosity

Post: #14

(02-17-2017 02:37 AM)El_Gostro Wrote:  Finally, "being jacked" is of rather secondary interest to me,I am more interested in practical applications of physical capacity which is why posts like H1N1's are of great interest to my curiosity

Well, strength is application-specific. A climber develops a different kind of strength to a martial artist which is again different from a powerlifter.

Powerlifting is good all-round strength training because the motions of squat, deadlift, bench and chinup have a lot in common with 90% of the gross motor movements we make as human beings. Barbells are a convenient and useful way of measuring resistance in order to control and track progress.

The body adapts to the particular stresses placed on it. So you would need to decide in what application you want to use your strength first, then optimise your training for that.

What exactly are you trying to achieve here?

Post: #15

(02-17-2017 06:12 AM)rafaeld Wrote:  What exactly are you trying to achieve here?

That's a very good question which frankly find me a bit disarmed!

I can't say I have avery specific goal in mind, except that I always feel and perform better in a context where I am able to tolerate pain and fatigue as much a spossible in order to gain an edge,whether it's in a fight (hence my interest in grappling) or in having to tolerate long stretches of burdened movement (hence my interest in being able to develop great endurance).

So my guess would be that I'm going for a middle ground between the military package and boxing.


------------
In unrelated unneccesary happy bragging, I reached a new mark jumping rope today!
1 h 16 min

Post: #16

(02-19-2017 01:09 PM)El_Gostro Wrote:  In unrelated unneccesary happy bragging, I reached a new mark jumping rope today!
1 h 16 min

WHAT? that's like an anti-thesis of the hiit that jump-roping is...

Post: #17

Hey man, let me know if you want a copy of Convict Conditioning.

The only equipment you really require is a pullup bar, however, you can build a set of gymnastic rings for fairly cheap (to hang off weird shit like tree branches). They're very light and portable.

As far as the program, I've criticized it in the past but you can't really go wrong with it and it's the best portable solution to strength and muscle outside of a sandbag or stone lifting (assuming there are stones wherever you go).

Post: #18

delete

Post: #19

(02-24-2017 02:05 PM)Hannibal Wrote:  Hey man, let me know if you want a copy of Convict Conditioning.

The only equipment you really require is a pullup bar, however, you can build a set of gymnastic rings for fairly cheap (to hang off weird shit like tree branches). They're very light and portable.

As far as the program, I've criticized it in the past but you can't really go wrong with it and it's the best portable solution to strength and muscle outside of a sandbag or stone lifting (assuming there are stones wherever you go).

That sounds awesome!!!
Please do!
I'm still looking for a "proper" duffel bag for the sand here in Spain,you'd think it'd be easier. Might cave in and buy one online.

Post: #20

(02-19-2017 01:09 PM)El_Gostro Wrote:  I can't say I have avery specific goal in mind, except that I always feel and perform better in a context where I am able to tolerate pain and fatigue as much a spossible in order to gain an edge,whether it's in a fight (hence my interest in grappling) or in having to tolerate long stretches of burdened movement (hence my interest in being able to develop great endurance).

So my guess would be that I'm going for a middle ground between the military package and boxing.


------------
In unrelated unneccesary happy bragging, I reached a new mark jumping rope today!
1 h 16 min

Honestly man it seems like your training is confused and unfocused because you don't know what you're trying to achieve here, other than put yourself through pain and make yourself miserable.

First get clear on what you are trying to improve. You mentioned grappling, is this a sport you perform regularly? If not, then the fastest way to get better at grappling is to... DO MORE GRAPPLING. Forget the random cardio workouts and just focus on that first.

If you already do regular grappling and are looking to improve your performance in this sport, figure out your weak areas. Is it strength? Are you getting gassed too quickly?

Once you know what your most egregious weakness is in your sport you can supplement your regular training with a couple of sessions a week of the correct type of conditioning to shore up that weakness.

If you just want to get massive and jacked (and for a lot of people this is what they really want, they just aren't honest with themselves about it) then a basic weight training routine is the right place to start.

But aimless cardio workouts will have you spinning your wheels for a long time my friend.

Post: #21

(02-28-2017 12:10 PM)rafaeld Wrote:  Honestly man it seems like your training is confused and unfocused because you don't know what you're trying to achieve here, other than put yourself through pain and make yourself miserable.

First get clear on what you are trying to improve. You mentioned grappling, is this a sport you perform regularly? If not, then the fastest way to get better at grappling is to... DO MORE GRAPPLING. Forget the random cardio workouts and just focus on that first.

If you already do regular grappling and are looking to improve your performance in this sport, figure out your weak areas. Is it strength? Are you getting gassed too quickly?

Once you know what your most egregious weakness is in your sport you can supplement your regular training with a couple of sessions a week of the correct type of conditioning to shore up that weakness.

If you just want to get massive and jacked (and for a lot of people this is what they really want, they just aren't honest with themselves about it) then a basic weight training routine is the right place to start.

But aimless cardio workouts will have you spinning your wheels for a long time my friend.

Fair argument.
I'm still not very interested in the massive and Jacked stuff honestly ,at least not in what some in the forum call the "american perception".
That said,I will reflect on what I'm doing wrong and how to properly restructure my training so thanks for the heads up!

Post: #22

I want to thank you, El_Gostro. I didn't even think of adding a jump rope to my workout routine, and now I'm on the verge of buying one of those Crossropes...I didn't know there were such high quality options.

Post: #23

^
I think my biggest problem with the jump rope and a properly structured routine is that I just enjoy it too damn much...

Post: #24

Little update:

I've been doing this consistently and daily (no rest days) since august last year.

When I started out I was doing just 15 min of rope -though as I ve stated before I've jumped since my early puberty so it was a matter of time till muscle memory kicked in and I Got back to the hour +.
Right now it feels as if my calves had springs in them!

As for the rest of the training I eventually befriended one of the many personal trainers that come to train their cliets at the spot where I work out (this park is sport buffs central). And he corrected a lot of the things I was doingw rong (started taking tips from convict training and changed a lot of the work outs)