stronglifts devotee reduced to planet fitness membership. what do i do?!

daremightythings

i've recently had to cancel my sweet gym membership due to severe budget constraints. i'm looking into joining a PF location so i at least have a place to do cardio inside during the winter. i can swing the $10, but i know what i'm walking into, meaning no oly weights and lots of treadmills.

aside from smith machine bench presses, is there a worthwhile regimen that i can put together with the machines at a PF? or would i be better off working out at home using pure bodyweight and possibly a kettlebell and some resistance bands?

open to any and all suggestions for a routine, acknowledging that i am totally aware of the limitations of machines and would at the same time greatly prefer to still be using free weights. thanks!

jemhh

I thought PFs had dumbbells. Use those. Fierce 5 has a good dumbbell variation.

mindersfly

My gym is similar to planet fitness. We have some free weights, mostly for beginners. I use the smith machine for squats. I know it's not ideal but I do feel like it's helped me perfect my form (I'm a beginner) and it's better than nothing.
I say, don't be discouraged. I'm on a tight budget too so I'm happy I have a gym I can afford. I don't have much advice on routine, however. I just wanted to send some positive vibes that any gym is better than no gym! Stay motivated

tillerstouch

I would probably get on a dumbbell program. Smith machines suck.

jen_092

I just joined PF myself to start Stronglifts on a budget. Since I'm very weak and a beginner it's working out so far. I've seen dumbells at least up to 50lb so depending on where you're at in the program you could make it work. I avoid the Smith machine, personally, but there are a few at my location. I modified my DL to Romanian with dumbells. Once I get stronger I plan to join a different gym.

Get a tour of the location first because it seems each PF is a little different.

Chef_Barbell

Just say no to the Smith machine. Unless you need somewhere to hang your towel. :laugh:

Cahgetsfit

against everyone else on this thread - there is some stuff you can do on Smith machine. Like seated OHP - both in front of your face or behind your head. Or you can use the bar to do reverse push ups. Or you can use it to do bulgarian split squats.

Sure, they're not wonderful fantastic pieces of equipment, but better than nothing and just do alternative stuff on them instead of just normal squats. Like legs together squats low weight high reps. Or donkey kick for your butt.

I dunno - google it - there are a bunch of ways you can use them.

Dunno anything about PF because they don't have them here in Australia as far as i'm aware, but if you have DBs there's a load of stuff and you can always use machines in more ways than the "normal" that they have pictured on the thing. Like using the lying leg curl to do hip thrusts, for example.

Cahgetsfit

YOu can get a lot out of machines - start googling. A LOT. more than just bodyweight stuff at home.

Scotty2HotPie

I've done squats, rows, shoulder presses and bench with a smith machine before. Dumbbells are great for bench, shoulders and rows. I've seen people use dumbbells for deadlift, though it's not perfect.

Sure it isn't optimal, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with working with what's available to you.

Your current situation is only temporary and any kind of workout is great.

daremightythings

the smith machine comment was sarcasm.

thanks, all!

patslitzker

Find another gym

Meganthedogmom

Not even kidding, I think using a smith machine for months put me worse off, specifically for squats. I had to start all over when I went to free weights. My form was/is EFFED. It forces you into "good form" but your body is relying on the machine to do it for you, so when you actually go to use your stabilizer muscles to do "real" squats, you're wobbly and your form is all out of whack!
That is my personal experience anyway. Very humbling.
They do have Dumbbells and cable machines which can be helpful and I'm sure there are programs you can have success with by using those. But not SL5x5 in my experience.

singingflutelady

mindersfly wrote: »

My gym is similar to planet fitness. We have some free weights, mostly for beginners. I use the smith machine for squats. I know it's not ideal but I do feel like it's helped me perfect my form (I'm a beginner) and it's better than nothing.
I say, don't be discouraged. I'm on a tight budget too so I'm happy I have a gym I can afford. I don't have much advice on routine, however. I just wanted to send some positive vibes that any gym is better than no gym! Stay motivated

Smith machine squat form is quite different from barbell squat form btw

lkpducky

I thought that the Smith machine does not promote proper form, but rather unnatural form, which could cause injury?
https://stronglifts.com/smith-machine-squats-power-rack-free-weights/

daremightythings

jtegirl1 wrote: »

Do you have room in your place for an olympic bar and some plates? I live in a tiny 2 bedroom condo and have a bunch of dumbbells, an Olympic bar in my dining room and a treadmill in my bedroom. It's not perfect, but it works. That could supplement your workouts at PF if needed. I also belong to a Retro Fitness and it's only $19.99 a month and has all the equipment a regular gym would.

It's not so much the room as the budget. I picked up PF because it's $10/month and on a bus route I can ride for free. That's how tight the budget is. I'm actually cutting out my Netflix subscription to afford the gym. I used to belong to Fitness19 and they had everything I could want, but the closest location can't be reached without a car. I would love to buy my own bar and plates, but I need to pay my electric bill

I'm actually pretty surprised, I joined the location yesterday and they have this tower thing that's got a bunch of cable stations and some cargo ropes and a bunch of medicine balls. So I can get a pretty good start with that stuff and avoid the machines for weights it looks like.

patslitzker

You could always start doing street workouts like kali muscle

SideSteel

Day 1

Goblet Squat
DB bench Press
DB Row
DB reverse lunge
Cable face pulls


Day 2
Goblet Squat
DB overhead press
DB single leg RDL
Superset single arm standing cable curl (face away from the stack) with single arm tricep pulldown
Calf Raise


Day 3
Goblet Squat
DB Incline Press
Chest Supported Row
Single Leg Hip Thrust
Seated Leg Curl

Optional: Palloff Press or other core work as desired

You could start at 3x8 on the first 3 exercises and add 1 repetition per set per session until you reach 3x12 at which point increase the dumbbell load and go back to 3x8. The second two exercises run 2 sets of 12-15 and follow the same progression.

Deload every 6th week by reducing 1 set per exercise and bringing reps down to 6-8 for the week.

This is just napkin programming of course, but you can do all of this at PF. If you don't want to do direct arm work you could replace it with another accessory.

daremightythings

SideSteel wrote: »

This is just napkin programming of course, but you can do all of this at PF.

sidesteel for the win! this is exactly what i was looking for - thank you so much for the starting point!