Be your own dumbbell.
The average young adult male weighs around 197 pounds, while the average young adult female weighs around 171 pounds. An average dumbbell weighs between 12 and 20 pounds. You see what I’m getting at here, right? If you’re short in supply of weights to lift, your own body can provide ample weight, even if you’re physically fit. Bodyweight exercises, also known as the “prisoner workout,” though that’s less flattering, are an easy, economical way to work out if you can’t get to the gym, plus they’ll give you both strength training and cardio in a single package.
If you want something to work toward, try the “Deck of Pain.” Apparently, this is a favorite of inmates because someone usually has a deck of cards handy to facilitate it. Pick four kinds of exercises and assign them to the card suits. For example, clubs are push-ups, spades are pull-ups, diamonds are squats, and hearts are hanging leg raises. Pick a card off the top of the deck, and do a set of whatever exercise suit you get with the number indicating the number of reps. Face cards are worth ten, an ace is eleven. Keep going until you’ve polished off the whole deck, and maybe throw a few burpees on at the end. It won’t be fun, but it’ll get your blood pumping, I can guarantee that.
Working out like a prisoner probably doesn’t sound especially appealing right now, but consider this: in a typical prison drama, what’s the ratio of skinny people to buff people? Yep, exactly.
