Body weight only training gets its appeal, at least to me anyway. From the fact that it does not require you to join a gym, buy an expensive home gym (that just turns into a coat rack anyway!) or go out and buy a bunch of barbells and dumbbells.

However as with all things body weight only exercise routines have there limits, and let’s be honest sometimes we all simply want to do something different.

So how can we get around this problem, and still get in a great workout?

Easy, all you need is two empty one gallon plastic milk containers and you are good to go.

A full gallon of milk weighs about seven pounds, so with one in each hand you have the equivalent of two seven pound dumbbells.

Of course, if this is too heavy you can fill them half way so that you would have around three-and-a-half pounds in each hand.

Now for those of you who might be thinking that, heck, seven pounds is not much, try and do high reps, like ten sets of ten reps per set of bicep curls with full milk containers and you will see that you can get in a fantastic workout with out big weights this way.

Of course curls are just the start, you can do an almost endless variety of exercises with the milk containers and to take this even further you can fill them with sand instead of water or you can even use canned soups and vegetables if you like.

Plus do not forget about circuit training when using milk containers as weights. For those of you not familiar with this kind of training, basically it means moving from one exercise to another with no or as little rest as possible.

So for example, you could do a circuit like this: squats, almost stiff-legged dead lifts, over head presses, back rows, bicep curls, and triceps kickbacks.

This will work your whole body almost from head to toe, and can be done in a very short time. However, please be careful with this kind of training if you are not used to training fast, start off with say two minutes rest between exercises and work your way slowly down to basically moving from exercise to exercise.

This kind of training will give you a very good cardiovascular workout especially if you work up to using higher reps on each exercise, say around twenty.

Really this opens up almost endless possibilities, for example, you can go out a buy an extra heavy duty duffel bag and fill it with sand, and use it for squats, where you hold it tight to your chest.

In fact, you will find that even if you are accustom to doing tons of push-ups and pull-ups and chin-ups as well as other body weight only exercises, that lifting this kind of dead weight is very tough and will give you a very different kind of workout from what you are used to.

If you are really serious, and a glutton for punishment, try loading up the duffel bag and cleaning it to your chest, now hold it there and go walk around the block three times, it does not matter if you have to drop it and rest, just keep plugging away until you finish, trust me you will be feeling it.

Or take it out to the back yard or a park and try and clean and press it, you will find it extremely tough.

A CRITICAL POINT

As you have probably guessed by now that lifting heavy duffel bags full of sand and the like can and will be VERY stressful on the body and also the mind, which is why I want to talk about proper nutrition.

If you are going to try lifting odd objects like duffel bags, or water jugs, barrels, etc. it is imperative that you partake in proper eating habits, and by this I mean plenty of good high quality protein, like chicken breasts, turkey, and lean beef.

Along with this include plenty of unprocessed carbs like, sweet potatoes, brown rice, and oatmeal.

Also, do not neglect healthy fats that come from nuts, seeds, flax oil, fatty fish, and fish oil capsules

However, maybe the most important part is post workout nutrition, and if funds permit, ingesting a post work formula will do wonders for your recovery, however do not get too concerned if you are unable to afford one at this time, a straight whey protein shake and some grape juice or a banana will do fine.

Having said that, you can also, sip half a serving of a post workout drink or even a protein shake, during your workout to help foster recovery.

CONCLUSION

Most people make the mistake of thinking (and I am as guilty of this any anybody) that a good workout can only come from the gym or from things that we are used to, like the aforementioned push-ups.

This is totally untrue and closes off so many possibilities.

So the next time you are in a exercise rut, try the milk containers or go for it and dream up your very own workout routine that does not require you to set foot in a gym or do a single push-up.

Your mind and body will thank you.