No equipment
Nothing to buy.
Nothing to carry.
Sixteen of the twenty exercises in Alea need nothing but a patch of floor. No bands, no mat, no pull-up bar, no subscription to a gym you visit twice.
What you need, exercise by exercise
Most "no equipment" apps quietly assume a mat, a resistance band, or a bench. Here is the actual breakdown, with nothing hidden.
Needs nothing at all: 16 exercises
Push-ups, squats, burpees, lunges, mountain climbers, plank hold, jumping jacks, box jumps, pike push-ups, diamond push-ups, pistol squats, handstand hold, L-sit hold, Bulgarian split squats, tricep dips and archer push-ups. Floor, a wall for the handstand, and something knee-height for the split squat, which a sofa or bed covers.
Wants a bar or a sturdy edge: 4 exercises
- Pull-ups and muscle-ups need something to hang from
- Inverted rows work under a solid table
- Dips are easiest on parallel bars, though two chairs work
If you have none of those, set the exercise die to D8 or lower. The pool is ordered, so a smaller die keeps you inside the movements that need nothing.
Where this actually gets used
Hotel rooms
The hotel gym is either closed, occupied, or three treadmills and a broken cable machine. Two square metres beside the bed is enough for a full session, and there is nothing to pack.
Small flats
Every exercise that needs nothing also needs very little space. If you can lie down flat, you can complete a workout.
Parks and outdoors
Outdoor gyms and playgrounds usually provide the bar that unlocks the remaining four exercises, which is when a D20 becomes worth setting.
Between other things
A single roll takes under two minutes. That is the actual design intent: not replacing a gym session but removing the excuse on the days you were not going to train at all.
Why random beats a plan for this
Equipment-free training fails for a boring reason. Nothing forces the session. There is no class booked, no travel to the gym, no money already spent, so the decision to train gets made fresh every day and eventually loses.
Rolling removes the decision. You are not choosing a workout, you are obeying a die, and that is a much smaller ask of a tired brain. It also stops you quietly avoiding the movements you are worst at, which is the other way equipment-free training goes wrong.
Difficulty without buying anything
Progression comes from the dice rather than from added weight. A bigger exercise die brings harder movements into play, and a bigger rep die raises the numbers, up to seventy-five reps on a single draw.
Start with the floor you are standing on
Free on Google Play. Twenty bodyweight exercises, and most of them need nothing at all.
Android · Free · No account needed · No ads, ever
Related
No-equipment workout FAQ
Do I really need no equipment?
For sixteen of the twenty exercises, none at all. Four want a bar or a sturdy edge: pull-ups, muscle-ups, inverted rows, and dips are easier on parallel bars. Set the exercise die to D8 or lower and you will never draw them.
How much space do I need?
Enough to lie down flat. Every exercise that needs no equipment also fits in about two square metres, which is why it works in a hotel room.
Can I do this without a pull-up bar?
Yes. Keep the exercise die at D8 or below and the pool stays inside movements that need nothing. You lose the pull work, which is a genuine gap, but the rest is unaffected.
Is bodyweight training enough to build strength?
For general strength and conditioning, yes, particularly at the harder end of the pool. Pistol squats, archer push-ups and muscle-ups are demanding regardless of equipment. For maximal strength in specific lifts, loaded training will beat it.
What is the hardest exercise in the app?
Muscle-ups, followed by pistol squats and archer push-ups. They only appear when the exercise die is set high, so you decide whether they are in play.
Can beginners use it?
Yes. Set both dice to D4. That limits you to push-ups, pull-ups, squats and burpees at five to twelve reps, and widen the dice as those get comfortable.