Bodyweight/low equipment routines for the time-strapped? (hexbear.net)

submitted 7 months ago by Doubledee@hexbear.net to c/fitness@hexbear.net

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Hey comrades. I'm not trying to build a crazy body or get jacked or anything, but I'm getting older and want to ensure I'm not neglecting my body so it keeps up as I go. I've been doing pushups 3x a week (got from being unable to do them on level ground to doing a set of 30, 25, 20 with 5 minute gaps, nothing too crazy) but that's all I'm currently doing. I got dip bars to try and add inverted rows to my routine, so here's my questions:

is there a reason I shouldn't just do rows as part of the same 3x a week pushup thing I do?
will it be bad if I alternate, assuming I can't do them both the same day, in terms of maintaining a baseline level of fitness?
are there very easy/no equipment exercises that do not take much time you would include/add for someone in my situation? My partner and I work alternating shifts, and we have children, so it's not really realistic for me to plan to have even an hour where I can do intense exercise away from the kids/go to the gym, part of why I've been doing basically just pushups is that I can drop and do them while I'm in the same room as the kids without leaving them unmonitored.

I know if I was really committed to building muscle mass I would be doing a bunch of other stuff but I can't devote that kind of time, I'm basically asking for the bare minimum "reasonably healthy" routine.

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[-] QuillcrestFalconer@hexbear.net 7 points 7 months ago

The best exercise budget equipment you can get is, by far, gymnastics rings. All you need is a sturdy beam to hang them from.

[-] Doubledee@hexbear.net 6 points 7 months ago

Easier said than done, beams, although maybe I could sneak them to the playground or something. I've seen a lot of praise for rings snooping around the internet.

[-] MaoTheLawn@hexbear.net 4 points 7 months ago

Rings are great, and you can indeed put them on a playground although it might look a bit odd. Rings are especially versatile because you could even loop them over a totally uneven thick tree branch, and then adjust each one separately so that they're at the same height.

Realistically though, as someone who's used them for years, it's more annoying than you'd think to go about the place setting them up and carrying them around.

I still definitely recommend getting them, but just get them for home somewhere. They're amazing for mobility, easy to start on, and for strengthening all the little stabiliser muscles that most lifts neglect (I've got proper meatheads to have a go on my rings, and some weren't even able to do one ring dip.) Strong stabilisers mean you're much less likely to get injured doing all sorts of activities.

this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2025

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