Another tip for anyone reading (since I didn’t see it mentioned above.) In order to build your muscles in the first place you do need to work your muscles, by following the tips in many of the comments above. But that’s not necessarily going to get them showing unless you’re pretty thin (lean, with low body fat.)

Otherwise you’re going to need to do some cardio exercise also (which you can do for free: run. Run/walk/skip/hike/bike/etc.) This will burn a lot of excess calories which is necessary to really lose body fat. (Resistance training which builds muscles does burn calories and raises your metablism, but not enough to burn much body fat alone.)

And the other HALF at least of trying to improve muscle tone is proper nutrition. Working out will require plenty of good carbs (whole grains, e.g.,) and building muscle requires plenty of protein. And you should eat plenty of veggies to get lots of nutrients to keep your body healthy.

Okay kidding aside, all I do is just regular pushups and sit-ups. I dont bother going to the gym, but then again my motivation is simply to stay fit and not bulk up or anything. I can pop off 50 pushups straight out of bed first thing in the morning but one really easy trick I find is this:

After every fard prayer, do a number of push-ups / sit-ups or [whatever else] equal to five times the amount of rak’aat you just prayed.

So for example after Fajr prayer you’ll do 2 * 5 = 10 pushups. That’s it.
After Zuhr, Asr. and Isha, do 20 each. Maghrib, 15.

If that’s all a piece of cake, then great. Do the same after the sunnah prayers too. So you’re doing 20 at Fajr, at least 40 to 50 at Zuhr, etc and at least 45 – 50 at Isha. Still easy? Make it six, seven, or ten times the amount of rak3aat you just prayed.

This way for guys who have problems with “finding the time” to do the workouts, or even finding the “motivation” its all right there, after EVERY prayer. Five times a day. You JUST CANT MISS IT.

http://thalink2001.blogspot.com/

Here are some killer push ups that will have you near to tears because of the burn ,

slow motion 3 in 1 push ups

the first set you place your hands wider than stander shoulders and chest and count to 4 while your going down slowly, than count 4 again while your going back up max reps.

2 set your place your hands or your bar in stander push up position and do max fast ones.

3 set place your hands or bar near your rib cage and count to 4 slow motion ones like you did in the fist set than do 4 fast ones max reps.

Now if you don’t feel like that’s a killer

you can do floor flays.

if you have a rug get a plastic pleat put in on the on the rug and put your lef hand on it like your about to do a slandered push up, but slide your hand outwards then bring it back to your slandered position, do 4 of them then do the same flay push with your right hand, max reps/

Inshallah let me know how that works out for you.

i bought a pull-up bar and push-up stands. the push-up stands really let you do a variety of push-ups and help maintain your posture so you don’t throw out your back.

how do you stay motivated & consistent? i try to do my workout after salat. i’ll space 100 pushups into 20s throughout the day. i’ve recently started doing pushups in the bathroom using the bathtub edge and a step-stool.

if you base your exercise on things you do everyday, you’ll be less inclined to stop and you’ll have a daily reminder.

also, i (try to) use the stairs whenever possible. i do a lot of walking. i’m looking into craigslist to get a used exercise bike.

no parathas. once, my wife was in india for 2 months and all i ate were those frozen parathas and i gained 15 pounds. and you’re talking to a former skinny 125 pound indian kid.

lastly, what’s better? 5 sets of 20 or 100 at once?

I think whats making it work for me is #1 I keep it in the home office where its VISIBLE, and #2 I love the look of it! Just seeing it motivates me to rip out 20 pushups and a few dips
u didnt mention it as an issue, but other readers: cut out the crappy foods! good food = good mood = strong willpower. ws.

1) My Idea: You should invest 10 to 15 dollars to get pullup bar. For upper body training do variety of pushups(20-30 reps, 3 sets) and variety of pull/chin-ups (10-12 reps, 3 sets) 3x a week. You can increase weight by using a backpack with heavy textbooks. For legs you can do one legged squat. Other days do some form of cardio (running, playing sports, swimming etc.). You can get a Walker and use that to do Dips. For shoulders do vertical pushups against the wall. Focus on compound exercises.

2) follow death by BodyWeight routine
http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459685

3)Combat Conditioning
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/combat_training

4) A comprehensive look at BW training (NSFW pics)
http://www.t-nation.com/article/most_recent/the_importance_of_bodyweight_training

5) Ghetto workout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDCxH88-9X8

You can mix and match but honestly there is no substitute for proper training equipment..