How to train at home with no equipment

Nothing about the structure needs to change when the equipment goes away. One push day, one pull day, one legs day, three days a week, in any order, with at least one easy day between the harder sessions where you can.

Warm up for about five minutes first. Brisk marching, skipping or jogging on the spot does the job at home.

Each movement from a gym week has a bodyweight stand-in.

• Chest: push-ups. Easier with your hands on a table or your knees down, harder with your feet elevated.
• Shoulders: pike push-ups.
• Triceps: close-grip or diamond push-ups, or dips off a chair.
• Back: inverted rows under a sturdy table, or doorway rows.
• Back, second angle: a backpack row with the bag filled, or a towel row.
• Lower back: supermans, or floor back extensions.
• Biceps: backpack curls, or band curls if you have a band.
• Squat: bodyweight squats, made harder with a slower tempo, a pause, or 1.5 reps.
• Single leg: walking lunges, or Bulgarian split squats with your rear foot on a chair.
• Hamstrings and hips: single-leg Romanian deadlifts with no weight.
• Glutes: glute bridges.

In a gym you add a little weight when you hit the top of your rep range on every working set. At home you do the same thing by making the movement harder instead.

Slow the lowering phase down to three or four seconds, add reps, reduce the assistance, or move to a harder variation. Controlled and deliberate beats rushed every time.

If you have a couple of light to moderate dumbbells, the week barely changes shape. A floor press covers chest, a shoulder press covers shoulders, a single-arm row covers back, and a goblet squat and a Romanian deadlift cover legs.

You are not missing out by training at home. You are just choosing your progression differently.