When you have started to workout at home, you might be unsure if you can build muscle with home workouts or not. If you want to know whether you can build muscle by exercising at home, then you should know that it’s possible to build muscle with home workouts.
But there are many factors that get involved in the muscle-building process. Out of those factors – your diet and workout routine will have the most impact when it comes to getting good muscle-building results.
When you want to build muscle working out at home – first you need to follow a muscle-building workout plan. And then you need to follow a protein-rich healthy diet. If you do these two things correctly, then you will build muscle gradually even with home workouts.
In this article, you will read about if home workouts can build muscle, what bodyweight exercises you should do to build muscle at home and what you should do to see better muscle-building results from your home workouts.
Can you build muscle with home workouts?
No matter where you workout, if you workout 3-5 times a week and follow the right workout plan then you will build muscle. Yes, you can build muscle with home workouts.
Your workout routine and how you do those exercises will greatly define how much muscle you will gain. For building muscle it’s also important that you follow a protein-rich diet.
To build muscle at home you have to optimise your workout routine and your diet plan. Ignoring one or the other can affect how much muscle you will gain.
After following a muscle-building workout routine and a protein-rich diet, you can expect to see good muscle-building results within 84-90 days.
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It’s normal to take 3 months to see any major muscle-building results.
Can you build muscle at home without equipment?
Doing just bodyweight exercises can help you build muscle and to build muscle it’s not mandatory to use gym equipment. As long as you adjust your workout and make your workouts challenging for your body you will gain muscle mass.
While training at home without equipment you should try to do most bodyweight exercises until failure or do mechanical drop sets to see better muscle-building results.
However, if you workout at home without equipment you will gain muscle mass but if you also want to build muscle volume fast, then it’s recommended to incorporate some weight training in your workouts.
Adding just a pair of medium-weight dumbbell sets can dramatically improve your muscle volume over time.
How long after you start working out do you see results?
Muscle building takes time. So after you have followed a muscle-building workout plan, you need to wait at least 3 months or 90 days to see any major muscle-building results.
After working out – it normally takes 84-90 days before you will see visible muscle-building results.
You can further shorten the time it takes to build muscle volume if you add weight training to your workout routine.
But if you are doing only bodyweight exercises, then you should wait at least 90 days before you began to measure your muscle-building progress.
How can I build muscle at home without going to the gym?
You can combine and do bodyweight exercises and along with it some weight training at home to build muscle and for it, you don’t need to go to the gym.
Here are some of the exercises you can do at home to build muscle.
Bodyweight exercises to build muscle at home
Bodyweight squats.
If you want to build your lower body and gain muscle mass, then you should include bodyweight squats in your muscle-building workout plan. To optimise muscle building from doing squats you need to do 3-4 sets of squats and you can choose the number of repetitions you want to do in each set.
Or you can do 50-70 bodyweight squats in your first set, 40-50 squats in the second and third set and 30-40 squats in your fourth set.
Pushups.
The pushup is a great exercise to build a muscular upper body. The best thing about pushups is it can workout your chest, arms, biceps, triceps, shoulder and core at the same time.
To optimise pushups for muscle building you need to do 3 sets of pushups. In each set, you will do pushups until failure. And after your first set in your second and third set, you should also do a drop set.
To do a pushup drop set – first, you need to do pushups until failure then after you can’t do any more pushups, you should take 10 seconds rest and then again do pushups until failure.
Doing pushups like this can help you to get better muscle-building results.
Related: Read articles about doing pushups.
Jump squats.
The jump squat is an explosive movement exercise and can give you a well-defined leg and engages many muscle groups while you do this exercise.
You need to do 2-3 sets of jump squats in your muscle-building workout routine. In each set, you should do jump squats until failure or you should do 20-30 jump squats in each set.
Lunges.
Lunges can be done at the very beginning of your workout and it will help you to warm up. Also doing lunges is a great way to increase your lower body flexibility.
Doing lunges can help you to train your lower body and build muscle.
You should try to do 3 sets of lunges and in each set, you should do 15-20 lunges.
Planks.
In your muscle-building workout routine, you should not ignore core exercises completely.
Doing planks will not impact that much in terms of building muscle but for a flat stomach, you should include this exercise in your workout routine.
You should do 2-3 sets of planks and in each set, you need to be in plank position for 30-40 seconds.
Crunches.
Again doing crunches will not impact that much in terms of building muscle but you should include this exercise in your workout routine.
Do 2-3 sets of crunches and in each set try to do 15-30 crunches.
Burpees.
You can do burpees at the beginning of your workout as doing burpees engages major muscle groups in your body and it will help you to warm up your body.
Do 2-3 sets of burpees and in each set do 10-20 burpees.
Dips.
The last bodyweight exercise you should do to build muscle at home is dips. Doing dips can help you to build big triceps and you should do dips to get a well-balanced muscular arm.
At home, you can do dips on two chairs or take the help of your bed frame.
To build muscle you need to do 3 sets of dips and in each set do 15-20 dips.
Dumbbell workout to build muscle at home
Now that you have read about what bodyweight exercises you should do to build muscle at home in this section you will read about some dumbbell exercises that will help you to add muscle volume and can speed up the amount of muscle you will gain initially.
To do these dumbbell exercises you only need one pair of dumbbells that are of medium weight.
Here are some of the best dumbbell exercises that will help you to gain muscle at home.
| Exercise | No. of sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Bicep curl | 3-4 sets | 10-14 reps |
| Hammer curl | 3 sets | 8-12 reps on each side |
| Bench press | 3-4 sets | 12-16 reps |
| Shoulder press | 3 sets | 8-12 reps |
| Arnold press | 2-3 sets | 8-12 reps |
| Dumbbell clean | 3 sets | 8-12 reps |
| Bent over row | 3-4 sets | 8-12 reps |
| Deadlifts | 3 sets | 10-14 reps |
| Lunges | 2-3 sets | 12-14 reps |
| Calf raises | 2-3 sets | 6-8 reps |
| Dumbbell squats | 3-4 sets | 12-14 reps |
| Triceps kickback | 3 sets | 8-12 reps |
| Overhead tricep extension | 2-3 sets | 8-12 reps |
| Lateral raise | 2-3 sets | 7-10 reps |
| Lying dumbbell chest fly | 3 sets | 10-14 reps |
What is the quickest way to get in shape with home workouts?
The quickest way to get in shape with a home workout is to workout 3-4 days a week and in each session workout for 30-45 minutes.
Also, you should try to do multiple exercises targeting one body part. And you can target different body parts on different days. In a single day, you can target two body parts and focus on activating those muscle groups with different exercises.
Here are some of the muscle groups you can workout together:
- Chest and biceps.
- Legs and shoulder.
- Triceps and chest.
- Biceps and back.
When you focus on one or two muscle groups in one workout session you can see better muscle-building results from your workouts.
Can you build muscle at home exercising 30 minutes a day?
Yes, you can build muscle at home exercising just 30 minutes a day. When you are exercising for 30 minutes a day – to see better muscle-building results you should try to workout 4-5 days a week.
If you want to workout 30 minutes a day and build muscle you should spend 5 minutes warming up your body. And in the remaining 25 minutes, you should target 2 muscle groups in your body and do different types of exercises.
Doing this will help you to build muscle at home with home workouts.
It’s easy to lose focus when you are trying to build muscle. Because building lean muscle mass takes time. So you should not make any changes to your workout routine within 45 days.
You should create a workout routine for yourself and stick to it for 45 days. After exercising and following the same workout routine for 45 days your body starts to get used to it.
So to avoid plateauing and to make sure you gain more muscle mass you should change your workout routine every 45 days.
If you follow this then you will build muscle at home exercising 30 minutes a day.
Does home workout really work without equipment?
Yes, home workout does work without equipment. But you should try to adjust your workout routine in such a way that your workouts still challenge your body.
When you are exercising at home without equipment you will gradually build muscle mass over time. But you should not expect to see fast results.
Doing only bodyweight exercises will build muscle mass over time but you have to keep your expectations low when it comes to building muscle volume.
For example, to build your bicep volume you can do different variations of pushups. But only doing pushups won’t give you that much muscle volume. If you want to build muscle volume then you need to add some weights like a pair of dumbbells and do bicep curls and hammer curls to build bigger biceps.
Still, you can build a good physique and gain muscle mass without equipment. But you need to be disciplined with your workout and eat nutritious food and eat healthy amounts of protein.
Conclusion
Can you build muscle with home workouts? Yes, you can build muscle with home workouts. To build muscle with home workouts you need to do bodyweight exercises and if you have a pair of dumbbells at home then you can do some additional weight training at home.
By doing some weight training along with bodyweight exercises you can expect to see better muscle-building results.
Also to gain muscle at home you should try to follow a balanced diet and eat adequate amounts of protein.
If you do your workouts correctly and follow a protein-rich diet plan then you can build muscle at home. And if you stay disciplined then within 90 days you will gain a noticeable amount of muscle mass.
FAQs related to home workouts and muscle building
Yes doing 100 pushups 3-4 days a week will help you to build your upper body. If you are doing pushups you will gain muscle mass over time. Also, don’t forget to do other exercises that target your lower body. Along with pushups do lunges and squats.
Yes, you can get ripped with home workouts. But to get a ripped body you have to be disciplined with your workout routine and diet. If you eat a healthy diet and exercise then you can get a ripped body with home workouts. The amount of time it will take to get a ripped body depends on how much body fat you have.
If you have less amount of body fat then it will take less time for you to get a ripped body with home workouts.
Yes, working out without equipment does work. But you won’t get much muscle volume if you only do bodyweight exercises. Also, it will take you longer to build muscle if you just do bodyweight exercises.
You should eat protein-rich food to gain muscle. Bodybuilders usually take more protein as they workout for long hours. When you are just starting out to build muscle you can take approx one gram of protein per kilogram of your body weight. So if your weight is around 70 kg then you should consume 70 grams of protein in a day.
You should include these food items in your diet if you want to gain muscle – eggs, milk, soy chunks, meat, cottage cheese, potatoes, beans, fruits and dry fruits.
When you want to gain muscle you can workout for 30-45 minutes. If you prefer to workout for long hours then you can also workout for 60 minutes.
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