Home Workouts For Men: Burn Fat & Build Muscle Without The Gym!

Home Workout #1: Burn Fat With No Equipment

For this home workout routine, you will be completing three exerises 10 reps each utilizing the AMRAP protocol. That means, As Many Rounds As Possilbe.

I explain everthing in the video below…

Scissor Abs

Last up are the scissor abs, and for this exercise, you need to lie down on the mat.

Don’t lie completely down on the mat. Instead, have your neck slightly raised and bend your knees a bit.

Move your right hand under your neck and use your left hand to touch your right foot. Place your left hand under your neck next and use your right hand to touch your left foot.

While switching hands, remember not to lie down on completely flat on the mat. By avoiding going completely flat, you are keeping your abs engaged throughout the exercise.

A single scissor ab rep is completed when you’ve touched both feet.

Home Workout #2: Build Muscle With Dumbbells

For this home workout routine, grab a pair of dumbbells so you can burn fat and build muscle. This is going to be High Intensity Interval Training with weights.

I explain everthing in the video below…

Dumbbell Manmakers

The first exercise is going to focus on getting your heart rate elevated to kickstart the fat burning process. The dumbbell manmakers are going to target your chest, shoulders, triceps, back, and core.

Start in the pushup position with palms facing each other. Perform a pushup. Then, as you pushup from the floor, pull one dumbbell up into a back row. After you row one side, row the other side before going back into the pushup.

It’s easy to hold your breathe during this exercise so make sure you’re constantly breathing.

Dumbbell Alernating Squat Press

After taking 15 seconds to catch your breathe, you’ll perform the next exercise. The dumbbell alternating squat press works your legs, shoulders, and arms.

As you stand up out of the squat position, press one dumbbell up over your shoulder while maintaining the other one in place. As soon as the bring down the dumbbell that you pressed, simply perform the same move with the opposite arm.

There are key points that I pointed out in the video to mindful of while executing this move. Please refer to the video for detailed instructions.

As far as breathing goes, inhale as you squat and exhale as you stand up and press the dumbbells. 

Deadlift To High Row

The third exercise involves the lower and upper body. Keep both dumbbells in hand. Place feet about hip-width apart. Position dumbbells in front of legs with your palms facing you.

First, you will do the deadlift. While lowering the weight down right below your knees, ensure you’re keeping your back straight by pushing your butt back.

Next, while in the bent over position, keep palms facing your boy and pull your elbows up to a high row movement.

The deadlift part of the move is working your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. The high row is engaging your upper back muscles and arms.

Focus on your form to maximize this two part exercise.

Reverse Lunge Arm Curl

Moving right along, go into a reverse lunge. While in the lunge position, curl the dumbbells. Then stand up by pushing through the front heal of the foot you have in front.

Continue the motion on the same leg.

When you’re in the lunge, keep your back knee off of the ground and your front thigh should be parallel to the floor.

During the curl, make sure your arms are straight and then curl all the way up and squeeze your biceps at the top of the curl movement.

Reverse Lunge With Lateral Raise

Now, it’s time to incorporate the other leg into the workout. This time, while in the lunge position, you will bring your arms out to the side into a “T” shape.

This will engage your lateral shoulders.

Just like the curls, you are going to stay in the lunge while you work your upper body.

This is going to be a little more challenging depending on how strong your shoulders are. Push yourself but don’t jeopardize your form for reps.

 Frequently Asked Questions:

1. How Can Men Turn Home Into An Exercise Environment?

Though the home can definitely serve as a good place for working out, you can’t just start running around in your living room right away.

The first thing you need to do is to clear out a room for yourself. Whether it’s your living room or your bedroom, try to declutter it so that you have some space to work with. You won’t be able to work out effectively if you don’t have that.

Next up, you have to get rid of distractions. If there’s a TV in the room, unplug it, and you can do the same thing if you have a PC in there. Leave your smartphone in a different room and if you’re not expecting any important calls or messages, put it in silent mode.

It’s easy to get sidetracked when you’re at home. Take it upon yourself to remove those distractions so that you can concentrate on the task at hand.

Also, get an exercise mat or some towels ready. You’re going to sweat up a storm during your workout. Prevent your sweat from going all over the place using the mat or the towels.

2. How Can I Strengthen My Body Without The Gym?

Just to make things clear right away, going to the gym is good for you.

The pieces of equipment there are specially designed to target specific parts of your body. If you want to target your legs on Monday and your arms on Tuesday, you can do that easily by making use of the equipment available at the gym.

Plus, you may be able to find people willing to help you work out more effectively at the gym.

As noted earlier though, going to the gym is not always possible. So, how can you strengthen your body with no gym equipment present?

To get those good workouts in at home, you will have to rely on bodyweight training.

Moving your body in certain ways according to bodyweight exercises allows for both your body weight and gravity to factor into the equation. What you’re doing is leveraging your body weight and how gravity works against you to strengthen those muscles.

It’s not just the muscles in your arms, shoulders, and legs that will benefit from bodyweight exercises. Your heart is going to be strengthened by these exercises as well.


By constantly moving while you’re going through the bodyweight exercises, you can elevate your heart rate.

Performing bodyweight exercises may even be better for you if you have issues with your joints. Because they don’t put as much pressure on your joints, you can continue with your bodyweight exercises without worrying too much about possibly getting injured.

3. Which Bodyweight Exercises Can I Perform To Build Muscles?

Now it’s time to get to the specific exercises. I’m dividing these up according to which body parts they work on most effectively. This way, you can spend more time performing the exercises that focus on sculpting and toning the muscles on specific parts of your body.

 Abs And Core Exercises:

Leg Raises

Start by lying down on your exercise mat or whichever item you’re using to cover the ground.

Keep your body straight and then place your hands under your lower back. You don’t have to squeeze them in there. Just keep them around that spot.

Lift both of your legs and keep going until your toes are pointing up at the ceiling. Flex those core muscles all throughout.

Your back should remain flat on the mat while you’re doing the leg raises.

Cocoons

Cocoons are not as widely known, but they are also great for your core.

Lie down on the mat again and then stretch out your legs and your arms over your head completely. Your arms should be parallel to the ground.

Pull your knees into your midsection while simultaneously pulling your arms toward the middle of your body. Your behind and your upper back should also move up from the mat as you’re completing the cocoon.

Our buddies over at Men’s Health shows you how it's performed. I recommend not allowing your heels to touch the floor during the cocoons to keep your abs engaged constantly.

 Arms Exercises:

Arm Circles

I hear you saying, "c'mon man, arm cirlcles?" This may not seem like a particularly taxing exercise, but it can work wonders on your arms when peformed with the other exericises.

Stand up and keep your feet about shoulder-width apart. Stick your arms out to the sides next and make sure they’re parallel to the ground.

While in that position, start moving your arms in a circular motion moving forward. Create bigger circles as you’re working your way through the exercise. Follow that up by circling your arms in the other direction.

Shadow Boxing

Assume the proper boxing stance by positioning your non-dominant foot ahead of the other one. Raise your fists up to your face with your non-dominant hand in the lead position. Stay light on your feet so that you can throw punches easily.

You don’t have to throw specific punches, but do so correctly. While in the stance, your fist should be aligned vertically. When you’re throwing a punch, be sure to twist your fist so that it becomes horizontal as your arm gets stretched out.

The hand that’s not being used to punch should remain in the stance.

Continue alternating hands and throwing punches while remembering to maintain your stance all throughout the shadow boxing session.

 Leg Exercises:

Jump Squats

Get into the squatting position by bending your knees, getting your hips parallel to the ground, and sticking your behind out. After that, jump up. Don’t go too high though as you don’t want to put too much pressure on your joints when you land.

As soon as you land, get your body back into the squatting position to finish the rep. Timing the whole exercise properly can be tricky but you can do it with some practice.

Lunges

 Chest Exercises:

Push Ups

Push-ups are pretty basic, but they are also undeniably effective. To get started, position your hands just a bit over shoulder-width apart. Keep your palms open.

Work on your feet next. You become more stable as you position your feet farther apart. There’s no “correct” position for your feet here, so just go with what’s most comfortable.

From that position, start to move down and allow your elbows to form 90-degree angles. Don’t just let your elbows flare out though. Make an effort to still tuck them close to your body.

You can try to touch your chest to the ground, but you don’t have to dip down that far. Just try to get the same depth on your push-up every time.

Mountain Climbers

Get right back into the starting position for push-ups, but this time, keep your arms extended further so that you are higher up from the ground.

After getting into the right position, try to replicate the motion of running in place. Lift one leg, bend your knee, place it back down, and do the same for the other leg. Repeat that motion as much as you can.

Try to complete the mountain climbers in rapid succession to get the best results.

 Cardio Moves:

Burpees

Burpees start with you in that familiar squatting position, but you need to change it up a bit so that your hands are making contact with the floor.

The next thing you have to do is to leap back a little and get your body into a push-up position. From there, leap forward a little again and move back into the squat. Finish the burpee by leaping into the air.

The secret to getting the most out of your burpees is to perform them quickly. That’s quite a challenge, but it’s one you should be up for after some practice.

Jogging

You don’t need to leave the home just to jog. Simply pick out a spot in the room you’re using and jog in place.

Move around a bit if that makes you more comfortable, but jogging in place for an extended period of time should be more than enough to improve your cardio if you do it regularly.

Conclusion

There are numerous valid reasons for why you can’t work out at the gym. Things happen, schedules get filled up, and free time ends up being devoted to matters of greater importance. All of that is perfectly understandable.

However, there is no real reason why you can’t work out on your own, especially since exercising at home is a more than viable alternative.

By trying out the exercises listed above, you should be able to create a home workout routine that will strengthen your body and build up your muscles.

Going to the gym when you can is still a good idea, but being unable to do that should not serve as the reason why you didn’t work out.

Let me know if this home workout was helpful to you, and please share this article if you enjoyed it.

Talk soon,
CC Matthews
Transformation Coach/ Pizza Lover