If you’ve been exercising for a while and are looking to improve your strength, there are plenty of options that won’t break the bank. Here are five types of exercise that will help you gain strength and build muscle—without ever setting foot in a gym or buying equipment:

Push up

The push up is a full-body exercise that works the chest, shoulders, triceps and core. It’s also one of the best exercises for beginners because it can be done anywhere. Push ups can be modified to make them easier or harder depending on your fitness level: if you’re new to working out or if you have wrist pain like carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), start out by doing your pushups against a wall instead of on the floor.

When performing a regular pushup, press yourself off your hands until they are straight above your body then lower yourself back down until your chest touches the floor. If this seems too easy for you right now, try holding onto dumbbells at shoulder height in each hand as you perform each repetition so that you’re lifting more weight than just using gravity alone; this will make it more challenging while still focusing on strengthening those muscles!

Dumbbell press

• Stand straight with your feet shoulder width apart, your back straight and your arms out in front of you at right angles to your body.
• Hold a dumbbell in each hand
• Keeping the arms straight, lift them up above the chest until they’re parallel to the floor
• Lower the weights slowly until they are pointing towards the floor

Pull up

Pull ups are an excellent way to strengthen your upper body, especially your back and arms. They’re also known as chin ups, because you’re pulling yourself up until your chin touches the bar.

Here’s how to perform a pull up:

• Hang from a bar with an overhand grip—fingers facing away from you—and hands about shoulder-width apart. Your body should be straight and parallel to the floor. Lift one foot off the ground if needed for balance (make sure it goes back down).
• Pull yourself up by extending your elbows, keeping them close in toward your body until they’re about level with your head; then lower yourself back down until your arms are fully extended again (but not past 90 degrees). That’s one rep! Do as many reps as possible before fatiguing or giving up on trying at all (don’t worry if it takes a while).

Lunge & curl

Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and hold a dumbbell in each hand at the sides of your body. Lunge forward with one leg, lowering down until both knees are bent 90 degrees and then rise back up. While you’re in that lunge position, curl the weights up to shoulder height as though you were doing a bicep curl. Lower the weights back to starting position before stepping through with your other leg into another lunge and repeating on this side too.

Hip extension

Hip extension exercises are an essential part of any strength training program. Hip extensions, also known as hip thrusts, involve using your own body weight to build strength in the glute muscles that make up your butt. This exercise can be done at home or in the gym on a bench or stability ball.

If you’re new to fitness, it’s a good idea to start with lighter weights and learn how best to perform this exercise before adding more substantial weight. To do this, hold onto dumbbells while lying face down on a bench or stability ball and allow one leg (the top leg) to hang off the side of it; extend the other leg straight back along with its corresponding arm for support so that both legs are parallel with each other at all times during this exercise; contract your glutes by drawing them toward your body as far as possible while keeping them parallel throughout; return back down slowly until fully relaxed then repeat several times before switching sides (if not already).

Strength training is an essential part of any exercise regime.

Strength training is an essential part of any exercise regime. Whether you’re trying to lose weight or keep the weight off, strength training is a great way to help you reach your goals. A study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that strength training can burn more calories than cardiovascular exercise.

Additionally, strength training reduces risk factors for disease and improves overall health by increasing lean muscle mass and decreasing body fat percentage. This means that not only will you look better but also feel better! It’s well known that as we age, we begin losing muscle mass; however if we stay active and make sure to include resistance training in our routines throughout adulthood (as well as youth), it can help prevent osteoporosis later on!

Lastly, strength training carries benefits even beyond its physical effects: improved posture due to increased core strength is one example; increased confidence because of increased self-esteem after seeing results from working hard at the gym may be another example. In addition having more energy throughout the day because less overall effort goes into simple tasks like getting up out of bed or pushing yourself away from a table could be another benefit worth mentioning here too!