Forget the gym – build full-body strength anywhere with this trainer-approved kettlebell workout instead

Independent

28-01-2025

The gym is a great place to go if you want to build a stronger body, but it's not the only option. You can reap impressive results using just a resistance band, kettlebell or that set of dumbbells in your shed – you just have to know how to do more with less.
Want proof? Then look no further than Amanda Capritto, a certified personal trainer, full-time traveller and founder of Smarter Sweat, who specialises in training with minimal equipment.
'I've been living in a converted van full-time for one year,' she tells me. 'Other than a few visits to local gyms, I've trained with only resistance bands, a single 15kg dumbbell and an 18kg kettlebell.
'But I recently hit a PB for Bulgarian split squats, eking out eight reps on each leg while holding a 30kg dumbbell in each hand. Not only did I avoid losing strength after a year of working out as a full-time traveller, but I actually got stronger. It really goes to show that consistency and intensity are key.'
Below, Capritto shares a minimal equipment workout you can try at home, and reveals the principles she swears by for training effectively sans-gym.
How to build strength at home: The workout
Straight sets (perform all sets of one exercise, resting for 60 seconds between each one, then move on to the next exercise)
Single-arm bent-over row 2x5-15 each side
Single-leg Romanian deadlift 2x5-15 each side
Superset (perform the exercises below back to back with no rest between, then rest for 60 seconds after both exercises have been completed)
Kettlebell swing 2x5-15
Close-grip press-up 2x5-15
Superset
Alternating reverse lunge 2x10-15 each side
Suitcase carry 2x 30 seconds each side
'My workouts are really quite simple and mostly contain very straightforward exercises,' Capritto says. She also provides a range of reps to aim for in each set, rather than a strict goal, so you can tweak the number to suit the kettlebell you have.
'Aim for the low end [five to eight reps] if the kettlebell is very heavy for you for the given exercise, and aim for the high end [12 to 15 reps] if it feels very light,' she advises.
You can also use some of Capritto's tricks below to increase the difficulty of the workout over time, meaning you can keep coming back to it week after week for continued progress.
A minimal equipment kettlebell workout
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How to build strength and muscle without a gym
The key to successful strength training, or any type of training for that matter, is progressive overload. This simply means making your workouts gradually more challenging over time, in line with your increasing strength and fitness levels. By doing this, you send clear and repeated messages to the body that it needs to adapt and grow stronger, so you're better able to handle the rigours of your next session.
The reason the gym is such a good place to train is because of the range of equipment on offer. When the weight you're lifting starts to feel easy, you can add a few kilograms to the barbell or pick a slightly heavier dumbbell to make an exercise more challenging. When you're training at home with only a couple of weights to hand, this isn't an option.
But there are other variables you can play with when lifting weights to ramp up the intensity, and consequently effectiveness, of your home workouts. Capritto digs into each one below.
Sets, reps and rest
'For beginners in particular, it's possible to make a lot of progress by manipulating the simpler variables, such as repetitions, sets and rest intervals,' Capritto says.
When you reach a point where you can comfortably perform 20 or more repetitions with the weight you have, increasing the reps is no longer a time-savvy training option. That's where the techniques below come in handy.
Try this: If you were can do three sets of 10 press-ups fairly comfortably one week, you might try four sets of 10 repetitions, or three sets of 12 repetitions, the following week. You can also shorten the rest times between sets or exercises to increase the intensity.
Time under tension
Time under tension is the amount of time your muscle is working for. The longer the muscle is working, the more stenuous the exercise is going to be, so slowing down or pausing your reps can be a great tool for making a workout more difficult.
Try this: 'Goblet squats become much more challenging when you slow them down,' Capritto says. 'Take three full seconds to descend, pause for another three seconds in the bottom of the squat position, then stand back up. Raising the number of reps will also increase time under tension.'
Unilateral exercises
'Living in a campervan, storage space is limited and I can't simply go to the store and buy more weights,' says Capritto. 'I have to think of ways to increase the load on a given muscle with the same tools.'
One way to do this is to switch from a bilateral exercise, which uses both sides of the body simultaneously, to a unilateral (one-sided) one. By placing more emphasis on one limb at a time, swapping to these exercises can have a similar effect to lifting a heavier weight.
Try this: Substitute a goblet squat for a Bulgarian split squat. This way, you're lifting the same weight with one leg, rather than sharing the load between both legs.
Focusing on power
Strength is your ability to produce force; power is your ability to generate force quickly. The latter is overlooked in many workout plans, but it can add a fun new dimension to your training.
'With limited equipment, really focusing on [being explosive during] the concentric contraction can be a big help for driving continued progress,' Capritto explains. 'The concentric contraction is where the working muscle fibres shorten, and it's usually the upward part of an exercise [think about standing up during a squat, or pressing the ground away during a press-up].'
The focus when developing power is your rate of force development, requiring you to move fast through the concentric phase of a lift, so you can train it using lighter weights. Twinning this with tempo training by lowering a weight slowly and lifting it explosively can help you get maximum bang for your buck from each rep, Capritto adds.
Try this: 'I implement power training into my routine in two main ways,' Capritto says. 'One is adding plyometrics, such as jumping, hopping, bounding and bouncing exercises. An example is doing squat jumps versus air squats, or clapping press-ups versus standard press-ups.
'The other way I add a power element is by speeding up the concentric portion of a movement. For example, driving the hips forward with an intentional rapidness during Romanian deadlifts to activate more muscle fibers in the primary movers – the hamstrings and glutes.'
Range of motion
Another tweak you can make to up the difficulty of an exercise is increasing the range of motion – the distance you move through a joint or joints during an exercise.
Try this: Increasing your range of motion for an exercise might mean squatting a little deeper, or placing your hands on a couple of books during press-ups and allowing your chest to drop slightly further than usual at the bottom of the rep.
How to use these principles when training at home
The body adheres to the SAID principle, which stands for specific adaptations to imposed demands. In other words, if you continually ask it to do something physically difficult, it will adapt to get better at it.
If you use any of the methods above to make a manageable workout more challenging, it will have an impact, so Capritto recommends implementing a combination to keep your workouts fresh and effective – 'there's no specific order that is 'best''. She also says that beginners in particular can thrive by training with minimal equipment.
'Beginners will build muscle and strength more easily than an intermediate to advanced lifter. This is because any type of resistance training is a new stimulus to the body, and a previously unstimulated neuromuscular and musculoskeletal system will respond quite dramatically to lower total training volumes and less intense stimuli.'
In other words, the entirely new experience of lifting weights will have a significant impact on someone whose body isn't used to it, whereas advanced lifters will need a more intense stimulus to trigger desired adaptations such as muscle growth and strength gains.
For this reason, strength training aficionados may reach a point where a gym is more optimal for building strength. But there's a lot you can do before reaching this point.
'After training with minimal equipment myself for a year now, I think that point is much further out than most people would assume,' Capritto concludes.