Free-Hand Your Way to Fitness

The term "free hand" was coined by several fitness professionals, including Rodney Corn of PTA Global. Free hand exercises come in many different forms, from traditional weight-lifting with dumbbells, barbells, and cable pulleys to calisthenics, such as pull-ups, push-ups and gymnastics. Free hand exercises are any exercise that does not restrict where your body moves. Unlike most exercise machines where you are put in a fixed environment and move one body part at a time, free hand exercises require you to move multiple joints and different directions, and use your core muscles (trunk and hips) to stabilize and balance.

Kettlebells Swings

Kettlebell swing allows you to become familiar with the use of momentum in kettlebell training. It also teaches you leg drive, which is using your legs and hips to push against the ground in order to generate force to lift and swing a kettlebell. Do not use your arms and shoulders to do the primary work.
Stand with your feet hip-distance apart with your toes pointing forward. Hold a kettlebell with one hand with your knuckles facing forward. Bend your hips and knees and push against the ground, swinging the weight up until your arm is parallel to the ground. Swing the weight between your legs and repeat the pattern.

Shoulder Press Matrix

This exercise trains you to lift a resistance overhead while moving in three different positions. It strengthens your core and shoulders in different movement patterns and should only be done if you are able to lift your arms above your head without swaying your back or shrugging.
Do three exercises that challenges the same movement pattern in different planes of motion. Start with a regular shoulder press by standing with your feet hip-distance apart. Hold two dumbbells close to the midline of your body and over your shoulders. Exhale and press the weights above your head and lower them back to the starting position.
Then extend the arms out and away from the body like you are forming the letter Y with your arms.
Finally, turn your body to your right as you press the weights above your head. Pivot the left hip, leg and foot as you do so. Return to the starting position and turn to the other side.
You may also do this exercise with one arm or with a kettlebell.

Push and Pull

Two simple free hand exercises are the standing cable push and pull, which require you to use cable column machine. You can adjust the height of the handles to create different angles and resistance of the same movement pattern (pushing and pulling). For example, pulling resistance from a higher point of attachment is easier than a lower point of attachment because gravity is assisting you in the first exercise. You can do both exercises with one hand, two hands, alternating hands, one leg, or one leg in front of the other.

Handstand Push-Ups - Shoulders and Triceps This is an advanced freehand exercise for those who have strong delts and triceps because you will be using the resistance of your own body weight and 100 percent gravity! I experimented with this one while overseas starting with half reps to three quarter reps, and finally full reps when I got stronger.
Place your hands about 3-5 inches from the wall and wider than shoulder width. You might experiment with hand placement, such as hands flat and fingers facing the wall, rotating the elbows out so the thumbs are facing the wall (fingers away from body), a clenched fist with knuckles on floor, etc. when positioning yourself to do a handstand against the wall to stabilize the wrist.
Balance and stabilize your body while upside down (head down and feet up) against the wall by keeping your back arched. Slowly lower yourself as far as you can and back up again. Do a maximum of 20 reps for a start by doing quarter reps, then half reps, then three quarter reps and finally full reps. And you thought pull-ups were tough!
Rowing Between Chairs - Back, Rear Shoulders, Biceps
This was my first foundation exercise I did for my back when I didn't have any weight equipment. Place two chairs about 5 feet apart and put a broomstick across the backs of the chairs. Lie on the floor in a prone position between the chairs and grip the broomstick with an underhand grip. Keep your heels on the floor and body straight like a stick. Pull yourself up and let yourself slowly down again. Hold your body absolutely straight when doing these, as with push-ups. Do 20-50 total reps.
If you don't have two chairs and a broomstick do some pull-ups on a bar elevated above the ground using either an overhand or underhand grip. If this is not accessible you can do these with an overhand grip on a concrete or stone wall underpass. This is what I used while in Israel for a few months in 1994! Now pull your body weight up! Rope climbs are excellent! If a gymnasium is near you and has a rope hanging from the ceiling (kids use them for physical education class or just to play around with) you can use it - without the help of your legs!
Squats - Thighs
Place your feet flat on the floor 12-15 inches apart. Place a chair in front of you. Take hold of the chair to maintain balance. Squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor, then raise yourself slowly up again pushing up off the heels, not your toes. Keep your body upright and back as straight as possible. Do at least 50 total reps.

You can also do stationary lunges. Place one leg forward and the other leg back using your toes for balance and stability. Place your hands on your hips. While keeping your body upright and back straight lunge forward until your forward leg is parallel to the floor. Push up off the heel (the one forward) keeping your body upright to start position.
Sprinting, Racewalking, Lying Leg Curls - Hamstrings
Sprinting is high-intensity short bursts of energy and stresses the hamstrings. When I lived in Japan a track and field was nearby so I did some sprinting for the hams at night after work. Simply run as fast as you can for a short distance! Get into the habit of timing yourself to make this exercise is challenging and progressive. The best alternative to sprinting but less intense is race-walking.
If both of these hamstring exercises are inaccessible for the outdoors then try weighted lying leg curls. Take a plastic bag, backpack or something and weight it down with books or other stuff. Lie face down on a table or bed and place the bag over your feet and press them together to hold the sack in place. Or you can hook the strap around your feet with the bag or backpack dangling. This is your resistance performing standard lying leg curls.
One Leg Calf Raises - Calves
You can do this exercise on stairs, a book, a coffee table or anything that elevates the foot off the floor. Use a chair, a wall or whatever to balance yourself while standing on one leg. Place one leg of your toes on the edge of the stairs, book or table. Keep this leg slightly bent. Lower the your heel by bending the toes to the floor slightly below parallel and then pop back up on your toes. This develops the whole calf muscle. Do at least 50 reps. Add resistance by placing a book or a weighty object in your other hand if you need to. Perform two-leg calf raises after your pre-exhausting reps with one-leg.

If you want to intensify this exercise with one leg do it very slowly. Push up, hold/squeeze for 20-30 seconds, lower slowly and then doing it again. You may get fewer reps but it does work the muscle intensely. Do at least 25 reps this way.