11 Best Muscle-Building Exercises at Home You Can Do Without Equipment

Want to build stronger, more muscular legs, chest, shoulders, and core without a gym? You can. This guide lays out 11 bodyweight moves that target every major muscle group and include step-by-step progressions, so you keep challenging your muscles as you get stronger. These exercises work well alone or combined into circuits. Do them with strict form, track reps, and gradually increase difficulty to force muscle growth. Research-backed tips shown here include proper technique, sensible rep ranges, and recovery guidance — like allowing 24 to 48 hours between heavy sessions for large muscle groups. (Sources include certified trainers and medically reviewed fitness content.)

1. Push-ups

Why it helps: Push-ups are one of the best upper-body bodyweight movements for building chest, front shoulder, and triceps strength. Research-based assessments show that a standard push-up loads the chest muscles with roughly two-thirds of bodyweight resistance when performed with strict form. That level of mechanical tension can stimulate muscle growth when progressively overloaded.