New Gym; no Squat rack. Free weights advice please

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FH36251
FH36251 Posts: 44 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey Team, I recently joined a new gym, it's attached to a hotel, and horror of horrors, it has no squat rack. It has a free weights section, but it's just dumbells; no bars etc. There's also a terrifying looking "cable motion" thing in the corner, which may be of use to me, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen anyone use it with any form/ knowledge. Of course, being a hotel, the staff are not qualified to assist, and there are no PT's. Marvellous, yes. (joining another gym is not an option I'm afraid; due to 2 jobs I can only work out right before work, and this is closest!)

So help; any ideas on how I can translate my workout onto this setup? I'm wondering if squats, overhead press, deadlifts can be done with dumbells whilst still maintaining form, but I'm baffled as to how to recreate a weighted glute bridge.

For clarity, I'm trying to build strength in my legs mainly, and would love to follow a Stronglifts style programme; any ideas welcomed, thankyou :)

Replies

  • kwtilbury
    kwtilbury Posts: 1,234 Member
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    Sure, for example, here are some DB exercises for legs:

    Walking lunges
    Set ups (assuming you have a bench)
    Goblet squat
    Db swing
    Front squat
    Jump squat

    When I travel, sometimes the only option is a hotel gym, which typically has a rack of DBs up to 50 pounds. I modify accordingly.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    There's always a way to make it work- it may be significantly less than ideal- but you can certainly not back slide- you may gain slowly- but you won't go backwards of i you keep to some sort of program.

    Cable towers are the only "machines" I'm willing to use at this point- so it may not be useless- but I don't know what cable motion is- so I can't really give you any thoughts. But cable towers are usually pretty useful.
  • ryanflebbe
    ryanflebbe Posts: 188 Member
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    It would help to have your workout. I looked up stronglifts and it's based on barbell lifts, with emphasis on the power lifts, so you can't do it exactly.You can get a good workout, if you truly want to. Provided the dumbells go high enough, you could do db squats every workout. Those are kind of a squat-deadlift hybrid movent, but with dumbells. For shoulder presses, db shoulder presses will work. Db bench press or even floor presses would replace bench presses, sort of. To make it more rounded, I would mix dips and pullups in with the db rows and flat db presses. Hopefully there is something you can do dips and pullups off in that gym. To get more leg work, take deadlift day and do db lunges, and db stiff legged deadlifts since you cant really do anything like a real, heavy deadlift.
  • AsISmile
    AsISmile Posts: 1,004 Member
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    There are a few threads on the forum suggesting dumbell only routines, so try searching for dumbell routine or a variation of that.
  • FH36251
    FH36251 Posts: 44 Member
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    Thanks guys, really useful! I threw some jump-squats and walking lunges in this morning, plus some pull ups on the Cable Motion machine of Terror (which I think is the same as a Cable Tower).

    I'll keep plugging on, and thank you all for the help - really appreciated! :grin:
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
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    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/902569/barbell-routines-when-you-only-have-dumbbells/p1

    Sara made a really good thread about this sort of thing.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    edited August 2015
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    single leg exercises will increase the demand on the working leg - 1 legged squats, rdls, etc. cable machine: pull-throughs, glute kickbacks, straight leg anterior raises & abduction, tons of upper body stuff

    pull-throughs: http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/pull-through
  • pbryd
    pbryd Posts: 364 Member
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    Bulgarian split squats
    Dumbbell front squats
    Goblets squats

    SLDL with dumbbells

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