If you don’t have any gym equipment at home and you don’t have access to a gym, that’s no excuse not to train. If you’re traveling and you find yourself in a small hotel room with no equipment… that’s no excuse not to train either. In fact, if you’re out camping in the middle of the wilderness because your flight crashed and you’re now fighting for your survival on a deserted island… no excuse not to train.
The point is, there’s never an excuse not to train because all you literally need is your own body to get a full workout. And that doesn’t just apply to the pecs where you can do press-ups and dips – it applies to all the small muscles too, including the shoulders. How do you hit your shoulders with no equipment? It just requires a little creative thinking…
Handstand Push-Ups
No matter how strong you are, handstand push-ups are a fantastic compound movement that provides a huge challenge. Balance your legs against a wall if you need help.
Wall Walk Push Up
Walk out with your hands from the wall, keeping your legs in the same position, then walk back up and do a push-up. This adds a lot more challenge to an already intense movement.
Bodyweight Side Lateral
Get into a .plank-like position with one arm on the ground and the other behind your back, then rotate your body so that it faces outwards. Essentially, this is the same as a unilateral (one-armed) side lateral raise. The mechanics are the same and as far as your body is concerned, the result is the same too!
Reverse Iron Cross Push Up
This move is an incredible workout for rear deltoids. Lie on the floor with your arms pointing outwards in a crucifix position, then push through the floor with the backs of your forearms to push your upper body off of the ground. Essentially the movement should be the same as bent-over dumbbell raises and/or reverse flies and by doing these you’ll be engaging the rear delts in a way that’s actually incredibly powerful and which is just as good as any dumbbell exercise. Just give it a go and you’ll see how effective it is!
Typewriter Shoulder Press Ups
Get into press-up position except with your buttocks raised into the air more so that your shoulders are pointing down towards the ground in a much steeper position. Now, perform your regular decline push-ups except for add variation by moving down more on one side, then traveling to the other – like a typewriter. This is a great shoulder move because it has a lot of functional value. If you’re playing sports, for instance, you’ll often through balls up in the air in different directions – it’s not always a straight movement!
Shoulder Press Jumps
From a standing position, jump down onto your hands (like a breakdancer) in a shoulder push-up position and then spring yourself back onto your feet. This is an excellent movement for building explosive, plyometric power through the fast-twitch muscle fibers!
