Guest Post: Getting into Shape Without a Gym (II) by Anthony Myers

Here is the second part of Anthony Myer's post on getting into shape without a gym. It contains more great tips, and may help you to save a lot of time and money. Enjoy!

Jump Rope

When I first started working out I was mostly concerned with losing fat. I couldn’t afford a gym membership, and I hated jogging. I’m asthmatic and my chest would be burning and I’d be ready to throw in the towel after only running a block or two. Plus, jogging was just plane boring. I decided to ditch the jogging for a while and get a jump rope.

A jump rope is about the cheapest, but most effective pieces of cardio equipment you can get. I’d opt for a jump rope over a treadmill any day. I started jump roping every morning at 6:30. Not only was jump roping a lot more fun than jogging, but it also seemed a hell of a lot easier. My chest didn’t burn, I didn’t feel like giving up after only a few minutes. The best part? It seemed to be much more effective than jogging. I lost nearly 40lbs and jumping rope was my only source of cardio.


Dips

Here’s another killer bodyweight exercise. Dips will put more mass on your triceps than pretty much any weighted or machine exercise. It’s unfortunate that they are so underrated. There are two ways to do a dip.

Method #1:

Method #2:

If you have access to the right equipment, opt for method #2. It will not only help you build killer triceps, but with a little tweaking you can turn it into one of the best chest exercises ever. Simply lean forward a tad and dip lower than you would when targeting triceps. If you don’t have the access to the right equipment, no worries. The first method pictured is still really effective for building triceps. Plus, you do it almost anywhere. I used to do these with my hands on my bed and my feet on my computer chair!


Hanging Leg Raises

There’s no shortage of expensive and useless exercise equipment. Especially equipment designed to target your abs. Most of the equipment is designed to make the exercise easier, which to me, is absolutely ridiculous. An exercise shouldn’t be made easier. If anything, it should be made tougher by adding more resistance. I’m not going to lie, hanging leg raises are tough. However, they are the ideal exercise for achieving six pack abs. It’s no secret that the bottom two abdominal muscles are the hardest to target. If you’re having a hard time getting them to pop out, start doing hanging leg raises.


Planks

You’ve probably noticed by now that since I started talking about abs I haven’t mentioned sit ups or crunches. Those are OK, but exercises like planks will do much more for you. If you can only hold an abdominal plank for 30 seconds, don’t worry. Keep practicing. Eventually you’ll be able to hit a minute or even more. Also, you can throw side planks into the mix to target your obliques.


Bicycling

I have great calves. I get compliments on my calves more often than any other muscle group. It’s almost weird. Either way, I know for a fact that biking 5+ miles a day is the primary reason for my bad-ass calves. It’s also a great form of cardio. If you’re trying to get abs, you need to lose the fat on your stomach, and riding bikes is a great way to do that.

There you have it, a list of the most effective exercise that require little to no workout equipment. The fact is, most people use an unnecessary amount of machines and equipment. There are plenty of people who use machines and equipment on a regular basis, but if you asked them to do a few sets of pull ups or other exercises in the list above they would be huffing and puffing as if they’d never worked out in their life. Master these exercises and you’ll be well ahead of the “average” guy.

The Final Word on Height

I get annoyed when people try to attack me for my "negativity" when I tell them that height matters a great deal. Yes, if you you are short, you shouldn't be afraid of "cheating" by wearing shoes with a (slight) heel, and possibly height-increasing soles. After all, many women were heels as well. This strategy, however, is limited, and if you think you could gain some more inches by artificial means, then I'm sorry to tell you that doing so will completely mess up your proportions. In this post I thus want to present some strategies for successfully dealing with the issue of height, if it is a concern for you.

A case in point for a questionable coping strategy is "DJ Fuji" who prefers boosting his height by more than just a couple of inches. Unfortunately, I couldn't find an unaltered picture in my 45 seconds Google image search, so I had to settle for one off PUAHate. Notice how his upper body immediately strikes you as being too short. Thus, you invariably look down and notice his shoes.

If height was such a non-issue, then "DJ Fuji" surely goes to great lengths to compensate for his lack. Similarly, Mystery and Strauss advocated boosting your height by all possible means. Do they know something the average seduction student doesn't? Here's a typical comment, copy & pasted from some forum:

Seems to me like Aaron has submitted to the social conditioned brainwashing that its all about your looks height and money. Funny enough I know some tall good looking guys myself who have a very hard time hooking up with girls while their short average-looking friends seems to get all the attention in the bar. Sleazy is absolutely overestamating (sic!) the value height or looks is for a girl, a hot girl is so damn used to that shit its just "usual stuff".

Let me just deal with the last argument first, and imagine you were a male model that was being chased by one beautiful girl after another. Would you then think, once you see an unattractive and overweight girl, "Ah, finally not the usual stuff!", and immediately go after her? I'll leave the answer as an exercise to the reader.

Of course, I am not saying that if you are not tall, then your only option is to masturbate until the cows come home. Quite the opposite is true. It is simply a fact that women generally prefer men who are roughly the same height, but also that there are ways to compensate. For instance, if you are 5'5" or shorter, but have a really great body, you'll still get plenty of attention. I have very recently witnessed this in real life, namely a body builder picking up a couple of books in the library. He was wearing a tank top, thus exposing quite a bit of skin, and plenty of girls were eye-fucking him. Money and popularity will help, too, but that's not news to you, at least if you are roughly familiar with my view on seduction, or generally prefer reality over fiction.

The argument normally goes that X knows someone who is tall and/or good-looking but can't get anywhere with girls, while he has a short friend who cuts a wide swath. Upon further probing, though, it always emerges that the short guy has some redeeming qualities, and that the tall one is, say, very awkward. However, the tall awkward guy can fix his behavior, and ceteris paribus, he will then stand a better chance than the short guy.

The message is thus to strenghten your foundations. If you are a tall, socially awkward guy, then acquire solid social skills, and if you are short and are neglected by the ladies, then working out will severely boost your chances. By the way, Frank Zane was just 5'9", and this is what he looked like:

The key to dealing with height is to simply accept it as it is. You can't change it, so don't spend mental energy on it. Instead of arguing that someone who points out to you that ceteris paribus a taller guy is almost universally more attractive than a shorter one (beyond 6'4" or 6'5" this is debatable, though) is "negative", hit the gym, make more money, or try to increase your popularity. After all, it's improbable that you'll ever compete with for a particular woman with a guy who is exactly like you but two inches taller.

Becoming skinny and (slightly) muscular

Looks do matter. If you want an easy way to improve your success with women, improve your image. Hit the gym, get clothes that fit you better and find a gay hairdresser to get a cutting edge cut. Those steps will be much more effective than memorizing yet another "routine" (don't even get me started on this issue).

I am a very lean guy. While I don't fit the classical image of male beauty, enough girls seem to like my body. However, the advice in men's magazines and bodybuilding forums is usually geared toward bulking up, but what if you wanted to become really lean?

For your information, my level of body fat is around five percent. One of the more interesting compliments I have received was that I was skinny and brawny and therefore "the best of both worlds."

One of my readers recently wrote:

At your seminar [in London], I noticed you had the same body type as me but that you were slightly muscular and seemed to be more lean.

I am a skinny guy also, but I find when I eat, it all goes to my stomach and nowhere else. In advertising and mens mags there are only the steryotype of muscle man, which is why I havent bothered with them in years. Whereas you are a real life guy who eats some stuff and drinks some stuff also.

Do you have any tips on how to get your type figure?

I am aware that people react differently to different kinds of food. Nonetheless, this is what keeps me in shape:

• avoid sugar as far as possible (yes, this includes chocolate and ice cream)
• skip sauces
• eat lots of fruits and vegetables
• dairies
• have plenty of carbohydrates: wholewheat bread, pasta, beans, potatoes, bran, rice, and cereals
• exercise

This diet is rather minimalistic (and also very cheap, for those that worry about their budget). Yet, it's very healthy and will probably improve your general well-being as well.

One of my goals is to exercise more. I used to be much more active, but these days I still do some yoga exercises, squats or push ups every day. Swimming is also excellent, and it certainly makes you want to eat those big bowls of pasta salad.

I switched to this diet in my late teens after having grown a bit too tired of my mother's cakes and cookies. During that time I also got into Zen meditation and read books like Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, which had a profound effect on me. I life a fairly spartan life since then --- and nobody who sees me nowadays wants to believe me that I was an overweight teenager.