get stronger and faster without lifting weights.
Exercise does not always mean having to lift heavy weights. If you are a runner or if you perform sports that include a lot of running, you might be interested in getting stronger and faster. You might also not want to lift weights to accomplish these goals. There are plenty of exercises out there to help you get stronger and faster without lifting weights.
Instructions
1. Push ups can build strong muscles without the use of weights
Perform body weight exercises to strengthen your chest and arm muscles. Body weight exercises use the weight of your body to help build muscle. Examples of body weight exercises include push ups and pull ups. There are several forms of push ups including the regular, the wide and the incline push up.
The most common push up is starting with your body laying flat against the floor, stomach side down, your feet stretched straight with only your toes touching the ground, hands placed directly under your shoulders, use your arms to lift your body mass. An alternate push up is the wide version where your hands are placed wider than the shoulders, the incline is increased with your feet propped up on a table or a stability ball. For a greater challenge with one hand placed behind your back use one arm to do the push ups -- feet in the inclined position. Pull ups can also be performed either with one or two hands.
2. Lunges can strengthen leg muscles without using weights
Perform body weight exercises to strengthen the legs. These exercises include lunges, calf raises, leg raises and squats. Lunges and squats should be performed with a straight back to avoid back injury. The stronger your legs are, the faster you will be able to run.
3. Perform body weight exercises to strengthen the abdominal core. Examples of abdominal core exercises include sit ups, crunches, bicycle crunches and the reverse crunch. It is important to exercise every portion of the abdominal wall and not just one section.
4. Warm up your body before engaging in your cardiovascular exercise. When you first start to exercise, your body tends to be tight and inflexible. A warm up prepares your body for exercise by loosening up the muscles. Whether your form of cardiovascular exercise in running, walking or swimming, you need to warm it up first. Warm up by walking or swimming slowly for the first five minutes. Once your body starts to warm up, you can either walk faster, start to run or swim faster.
5. Interval training can you get faster
Engage in interval training while you're performing cardiovascular exercise. Interval training is when you alternate short and fast bursts of speed with a period of recovery. An example would be if you are running for 30 minutes, you can run at a slower pace for four minutes then sprint as fast as you can for one minute. Alternate between your sprints and a normal pace for the entire half hour. This can also apply to normal walking. Walk at a steady pace for four minutes then walk as fast as you can for one minute.
6. Proper amounts of sleep help to repair muscles so they can get stronger
Get plenty of rest. To gain strength and speed, your body needs to recover. The eight hours of sleep you get every night is your body's time to build up muscle and replenish stored energy.
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