TLDR- Does everyone here go to a gym full of machines, or is there a good "poor mans dumbbell workout" program I can do from home? Too much junk on the Interweb. Suggest a program.

I live in the sticks, have three kids with one special needs child, am a small business owner, and I'm not fond of the stereo typical people you'd find in a gym (no offense if you're a gym rat ). I need to be able to workout from home. I'd like to get an Olympic weight set, squat rack power cage, and flat bench. But I won't have the money to swing equipment till maybe late summer. The next seven months I'll need to workout from home.

I was up to 205 and was a fat loppy ass with no muscle (I'm 31yo, 6'0", wear a 34" inseam pant, and have a medium frame). I was a grade A muffin top. I decided to take my diet serious and get in better shape. I stared in July last year dropped my intake to 2,000-2,500 cals a day, with focusing on healthy foods. No soda, sugars, and fast food. Lowered my bread intake, upped fruits and low fat meats along with other proteins. I started loosing two pounds a week.

In October I bought a Trek 3500 Disc and started cycling three times a week (one hour, 15 MPH average). By mid Dec I had lost right at 40 lbs and was down to 165. I enjoy being on the bike for a short time. Being out of the house for an hour is about the max I'm able to do. I'm sure I could bike 25+ miles easily, but I need to be in my home when I'm off work. So I've got a 15.3 mile rout that takes me an hour. My legs are pretty shaped from biking hundreds of miles over the last few months.

Now that I've started playing with my dumbell weights twice a week with cycling, I'm back up to 170. Right now my goals are to continue to burn fat, while building muscle. But my workout is starting to peak a little, and I'm needing a fresh look at it. I'd like to get a program that would help me gain strength/ muscle size and burn more fat. Is there something for the at home poor mans weight training that you guys could suggest?

I've been enjoying getting back into better shape over the last six months. There are a few that think I look much better since I've lost the weight. And my wife is starting to notice the little bit of muscle I've started putting on. I've busted one of my SILs pretty bad checking me out. Embarrass the heck out of her. And since I've been getting in shape, my sciatic nerve, back, and neck have been giving me less trouble. Im also saving money by not eating trashy foods all the time. Whoever said eating healthy is expensive, is a little off. I'm saving money.

I've been slow to go at some of the weights because of a massive double hernia surgery I did in 2006. One 78mm tare and one 35mm tare. I had small intestine spilling out of my abdomen and into my ball sack. It made a mushy third nut the size of a small orange (think about that for a min ). I used to use the surgery as an excuse to not workout, accepting my flabbieness. But I'm feeing very good now, and much stronger as a continue to work out. I used to have issues with it for a few years after the surgery. I'd feel a good pinch of pain if I moved weird (mostly twisting in a funny way). But I've have had no pain in the last few years or working out so far (with going slow, and watching). I think I'm healed up well (finally), but I'll continue to watch it closely and go a little slow working heavy that could stress this again.

What exactly does your equipment consist of currently?  Just a dumbbell?  How much weight is that?  

I've got two cheapo 30 lbs sets of adjustable dumbbells. 4 bars, and 60 lbs in weights. They look like this.

I have those same dumbbells at home. I think you can fit up to 100 lbs on one. Get some extra 10, 5 and 2.5 lb plates. Between those and body weight exercises you could do a lot.

When I run out of ideas, I use the exercise list on this site. I would have never thought of 80% of these exercises



http://train.elitefts.com/

That may be a very tall order.  Lean bulking is very difficult.

Bottom line, you need a hell of a lot more iron than 60 lbs total.  Check Craigslist for cheap 1" plates for that dumbbell set if that's all you want to lift with for now.  You can do deadlifts, squats, clean and press and kroc rows with just dumbbells.  If you have a bench, add bench press and flyes; if not, do pushups and have your kids sit on your upper back when they get too easy with strict form.  Get a few concrete blocks to elevate your feet for inclined pushups.  You need a place for pullups too; a tree or a local playground might be possible if you don't have a place to hang one.

dbl tap

I found a weight bench with squat rack, bar and 250#s of weight for $100 on Craigslist. There are deals out there just look around.

Do a bodyweight routine.

This one works well http://www.startbodyweight.com/

Get a pull up bar, it will kick your ass for a long time.

I get a hell of a workout with a pull up bar, rings, and two dumbells as pushup stands.

Are you a concrete guy?

I think I see you show up in most threads about it, no wonder you're so beat up.

Why aren't you in the latest concrete type thread? Linky.

Yes. I was a general contractor. Built residential and commercial, remodels, TIs and whatever. We did sight dirt, concrete, frame, roofing, electrical, windows, and finish in house. Subbed the rest.

I'm now in concrete finishing, specialty surface demolition, concrete grinding and polishing, stain/ die/ seal/ coat, micro toppings, polish toppings, bead blasting, epoxies.



I just got a pull up bar tonight. Can't wait for it to get here.

Covers the major movements with some accessory stuff.

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/dumbbell-only-home-or-gym-fullbody-workout.html

I got mine for like $20, I've had it for years.

Before my daughter was born I would make it a point to do 5 pullups every time I walked under it during the days off in the winter. My personal best got up to 16.

I made the rings to hang from it out of two straps and some pvc I had in the barn. Cost me about $5 worth of stuff. I just started doing the ring dips this year, and they were kicking me right in the ass at first. I was doing about 5 and then negatives with the help of a chair, I can do 10 now, my goal is 20 in one set before the end of next month.

I'm gonna be a screeding and raking monster this spring, I'm working out harder than I have in a long time.

Pull up bar is excellent. If you can find a way to rig up a couple of parallel bars for dips, you can get a pretty complete upper body workout just doing pull up and dip variations.

I tried a new dumbbell exercise yesterday that kicked my ass even at light weight. Single leg Romanian Dead Lifts. Another two that looked good for a light weight dumbbell set were Bulgarian Split Squats and Single Leg Box Squats.

Concrete laying and finishing is by far the hardest construction work there is. I've done it all. Not much comes close.