The Student Room Group

Do I need to do weights to build muscle?

Do I need to do weights (or use typical weight machines) to build upper body muscle? I like to sprint and improve my times and would like increased muscle size on my up body to make me appear stronger anyway since I'm only 5ft. I did 6 pull-ups today not done them for a while as bench press kind of took over but I had a thought. Couldn't I just do sets of pull ups 3 times a week then when I get to say 10-12 reps add ankle weights or a rucksack with weight in? Pull ups work a large muscle area last, pecs and biceps so how are they more effective than bench press?

Unless you are lifting extremely heavy why waste time getting equipment out to do bench press when you can just do pull ups? Then with pressups (which also work a large muscle area) I could do the same thing put a weight on myself the more reps I can do. I used to do squats but I'm not so worried about the size of my quads (they are quite big already) so I was thinking of just doing mainly box jumps/plyometrics instead and just doing squats once per week. Just wanted advice, I'm just asking are typical weight machine exercises really needed for my goals?

Scroll to see replies

Original post by indigofox
why waste time getting equipment out to do bench press when you can just do pull ups?


Reply 2
Original post by macromicro


What bait. ok.. it takes time getting equipment out and travelling to the gym (I don't have bench press equipment at home) so I'm asking couldn't I get similar results with weighted push ups. Push ups and pull ups I can easily do at home.
Pull-ups? Last I checked it involved some kind of rigid structure that's at the level of or above your height; surprised you've many of those at home :colone:
Reply 4
Original post by shawn_o1
Pull-ups? Last I checked it involved some kind of rigid structure that's at the level of or above your height; surprised you've many of those at home :colone:


Pull up bar? Or am I missing something hah, but yea 2 years ago I didthem at home for a few weeks I have the bar somewhere hidden away in the shed (hopefully :/)
Original post by indigofox
Pull up bar? Or am I missing something hah, but yea 2 years ago I didthem at home for a few weeks I have the bar somewhere hidden away in the shed (hopefully :/)


Good, if you got that bar and it's strong enough to carry your weight then all you need are a few resistance bands and you'll be able to do a lot more :smile: I checked and a set of those costs £15
Reply 6
As I understand it, the most effective way to build muscle is to lift heavy. High resistance with few reps builds muscle size, low resistance with many reps builds stamina, and moderate resistance with moderate reps (e.g. 5 sets of 5 reps) builds strength. Depending on your current fitness, pull-ups may or may not be a high resistance activity, but they are a very good all-around exercise that promotes functional strength.
Reply 7
Original post by shawn_o1
Good, if you got that bar and it's strong enough to carry your weight then all you need are a few resistance bands and you'll be able to do a lot more :smile: I checked and a set of those costs £15


Ah ok I never thought of those thanks. I was thinking of just working my way up to 12 first with no weights then eventually adding say 5 pounds of weight in a rucksack and building from there.
Reply 8
Original post by miser
As I understand it, the most effective way to build muscle is to lift heavy. High resistance with few reps builds muscle size, low resistance with many reps builds stamina, and moderate resistance with moderate reps (e.g. 5 sets of 5 reps) builds strength. Depending on your current fitness, pull-ups may or may not be a high resistance activity, but they are a very good all-around exercise that promotes functional strength.


Yea that's why I was thinking of adding weight in a rucksack when I get to 12, or maybe thinking about it adding weight when I get to 8 would be better for building muscle.. I'd like the strength and muscle size really not too bothered about stamina so as you said low reps really
Original post by indigofox
What bait. ok.. it takes time getting equipment out and travelling to the gym (I don't have bench press equipment at home) so I'm asking couldn't I get similar results with weighted push ups. Push ups and pull ups I can easily do at home.


Bench press and pull-ups work opposite muscle groups. Bench press works your chest (and tris). Pull-ups work both your biceps and back, moreso from narrow/wide grip respectively. This, as well as the title and posting in Fitness, made me think you were trolling; apologies.

Could you build muscle without gym membership or gym equipment? Yes, but it will be slow, inconvenient, difficult to progressively increase weight, and you won't stick to it in the long-term. If you don't plan to lift very heavy then buy a cheap bench off eBay and some dumbbells/plates and you can do: flat and incline press, flies, shoulder press, upright rows, lateral and front raises, deadlifts, bent over rows, one arm rows, curls, hammers, squats, lunges, calf raises, close-grip press, skull crushers, extensions, etc.

Best results will be had in the gym unless you are willing to invest in more home equipment.
You CAN build muscle with calisthenics, but getting under a barbell is the fastest/most efficient way, you'll outgrow bodyweight workouts pretty quickly and then you'll have to start adding ankle/vest weights etc in order to get enough resistance to continue to stimulate muscle growth. Also not sure why you're using pullups as a substitute to bench, they're completely different exercises with different movements that work different muscle groups (push vs pull). You're still better off doing actual free weights as they're the most effective and time efficient and it's easy to increase resistance as you get stronger (just add more weight to the bar).
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 11
Original post by Greg Jackson
You CAN build muscle with calisthenics, but getting under a barbell is the fastest/most efficient way, you'll outgrow bodyweight workouts pretty quickly and then you'll have to start adding ankle/vest weights etc in order to get enough resistance to continue to stimulate muscle growth. Also not sure why you're using pullups as a substitute to bench, they're completely different exercises with different movements that work different muscle groups (push vs pull). You're still better off doing actual free weights as they're the most effective and time efficient and it's easy to increase resistance as you get stronger (just add more weight to the bar).


Ok thanks, that's a problem eventually yea having to add more and more weight to get resistance. It's push ups that would substitute bench press but I'd be doing both push and pull ups for different muscle groups anyway.
Reply 12
Original post by Im Paul M
no hope for u, u will always be fat


ok haha
You might be okay for a month or two, but adding large amounts of weight to push-ups is totally impractical. Just get a fold-away bench (I'm sure you have a cupboard or wardrobe in your place, yes?), a pull-up bar and a dumbbell set and you're all set.

P.S. Don't be that guy that says "my legs are big enough" - they're very likely not. So many people make the mistake of realising too late that their legs look crap compared to their upper body and have to play catch-up or get laughed at for obviously skipping leg day. Plus, even if on the off-chance that your legs are big enough, you'll look silly with a developed upper body and legs but no glutes.
pull ups are the best back exercise followed by deadlifts. Chin ups will work your biceps abit more and if you use a neutral grip you'll work the forearms
Reply 15
Original post by Jimmy Carr
You might be okay for a month or two, but adding large amounts of weight to push-ups is totally impractical. Just get a fold-away bench (I'm sure you have a cupboard or wardrobe in your place, yes?), a pull-up bar and a dumbbell set and you're all set.

P.S. Don't be that guy that says "my legs are big enough" - they're very likely not. So many people make the mistake of realising too late that their legs look crap compared to their upper body and have to play catch-up or get laughed at for obviously skipping leg day. Plus, even if on the off-chance that your legs are big enough, you'll look silly with a developed upper body and legs but no glutes.


Ok thanks. My thighs really are larger than my upper body due to both muscle and fat Ive always had strong but fatty thighs lol (im not a guy in case you didnt realise). I will be working legs a lot with sprinting/hills and box jumps. Maybe i do need to squat more than once a week but its my upper body Id like to look bigger.
Reply 16
Original post by Angry Bird
pull ups are the best back exercise followed by deadlifts. Chin ups will work your biceps abit more and if you use a neutral grip you'll work the forearms


Ok thanks
Pullups alone isn't going to build you a significant amount of muscle to change you. Yes there's the odd guy who does well out of calisthetics, however an awful lot of them have a gymnastics background of some kind and hence start much further down the road that us mere mortals. If you want to build muscle, you need a barbell, 150kg of weights, a bench and a rack to build a balanced physique. Failing that, join a decent gym
You could add weights to pull-ups and press-ups but for specifically building pectoral muscles I'd definitely recommend incline/decline dumbbell presses.
Anyone who thinks you can't get a jacked upper body with body-weight exercises alone (and a bar to hang from) clearly hasn't tried and/or isn't aware of how phenomenally strong you have to be to perform quite a lot of more advanced movements.

Almost all of the muscular guys you'll see in gyms doing traditional weight training still aren't strong enough to do

3x10 deficit one armed pushups
3x10 hands to shoulders full range handstand pushups
3x5 one armed pullups

with 90 second rests in-between sets.

In-fact most probably couldn't even do a single one armed pullup, and would struggle to get a set of 10 on the one armed pushups and only a few reps on the full range handstand pushups.

And thats not even beginning to look at far harder movements like planche holds/planche pushups, or front lever holds/front lever pulls etc after which you might have the strength to begin looking at monstrously hard bodyweight stuff like repping iron-cross pulls or something.

Admittedly the more strength gymnastics stuff requires quite a more knowledge and skill to program/perform but really the trio of advancing through to one armed pushups, one armed pullups and full range handstands pushups (against a wall for balance) requires no more skill than traditional lifting and covers your upper body decently.

Legs, you absolutely need to train with weights if you want maximum development tbh.

Also I find with the bodyweight, chest and biceps are often hard to work very hard (most of the push stuff with your bodyweight is really shoulder and tricep heavy) but all you need is a pair of modestly weighted dumbbells/some stronger resistance bands and this problem is fixed.

Quick Reply

Latest