Is this work out going to help me?

[Jiminy]

Hi,

I'm new here, I have just started my own work out routine (nothing too fancy) I basically do 3 sets of 10 of the following:

Push Ups - These are modified (chair against the wall)
Tricep Dips
Crunches upper Abs
Leg raises laying down for lower abs

Also I have a bar with hanging handles that I use for pulling exercises using my own weight for biceps.

It's pretty much all targeting my upper body. I work my legs out with jogging.

I am somewhat of an "experienced rookie" for lack of a better work to working out. Done some research down the years just never stuck to any regime.

I am 6' 220 LBS (15.7 stone) My fitness is not very high and I lack a lot of upper body strength.

To expand on my question in title. Will this help increase my muscle strength so that I can move onto more rigorous work outs? Also any good work outs for my shoulder that I don't need weights for?

Don't worry I plan on using free weights once the funds are available, but I pretty much want to make sure I stick to a work out regime before I invest in some equipment.

I'm at the stage in my life (25) where I'm tired of being overweight and not as strong as I should be. Any advice is more than welcome

[Clint Cora]

You can use heavy books for substitute weights for shoulder exercises. If you them hard to hold, you can put them into tote or gym bags and use the handles.

Use heavy bags to do back lat pull ups from a bent over position, even if one side at a time.

For legs, you can also do squats holding heavier books or bags. Go down lower if the weight is too light and go slow for longer resistance. You can also do calf raises on the edge of a step.

[mishmash]

Also make sure you increase the reps every 2-3 weeks, otherwise your body will just get used to doing the same workout and your muscles won't develop further.

I don't know if you've ever heard of the website hundredpushups, if not google it - I use it and find it very effective - I've not been doing it for long, but when I started I couldn't even do one full push up, now I can manage about 7 (I know it's not much lol, but I'm improving all the time - plus I'm female)
It walso has workouts for tricep dips, squats and sit ups (you can change it to crunches if you prefer)
And for my pull ups the ste i use is called twentypullups, again I started on 0, and now I manage 5.

Hope this helps =)

[DBV]

Originally Posted by mishmash

Also make sure you increase the reps every 2-3 weeks, otherwise your body will just get used to doing the same workout and your muscles won't develop further.

He needs to increase weight and keep the same reps not rep count.. doing 15 reps on exercise is much less useful then 5-8 reps if you want to gain muscle.

As Clint said, use heavy books instead of weights for shoulders, hold them between your feet when doing pull ups, I used to take my school bag with lots of books and do push ups with it, that way increasing the weight. Improvise! I used to pull 3 chairs together and use it as a bench to bench press dumbbells.

And OP, jogging doesn't work out your legs. Look at marathon runners... now short sprints can help, just look at sprinters. They are built! But you wont be able to do them at home so you are left to do one legged squats, or squats with dumbbells (or heavy stuff in your hands) and lunges. All exercises available on ExRx (Exercise Prescription) on the Net , check it out to see how they are done...