A simple workout question

[madhusudan]

My small gym has nothing better than a smith machine to do squats, and i want to be balancing the weight. I came up with a new, and very simple plan, and wanted comments. I'm 6' and maybe 220#. Overweight with a gut and decent strength.

Well, I was doing a standard full body workout with a partner of 3x week of squats, bench, military, pullups, deads, rows, cleans, and some other various stuff like biceps, triceps, and forearms broken up into the three days.

mostly I was thinking of staying the same but of getting off the smith machine for squats.

Since my buddy quit , I envisioned a new workout of just me and a barbell.

Pretty much the same as I mentioned, exept doing squats by myself. I'd do front squats, press it, dead it, clean it, back squats, press it more etc.

Anyone have experience squatting alone? There's not much advice out there on the net. I guess I'll be squatting less weight, but it seems cool to be able to handle a certain weight in all dimensions.

I'd appreciate any comments.

[IronFist]

Do not squat alone unless you have a squat rack/cage with safety bars in place.

Don't do smith machine squats.

If you don't have a squat cage/rack, you can't squat with just a barbell because if you had enough weight on the bar to do squats, you wouldn't be able to get it up on your shoulders.

So here are your options:

Deadlifts - they work your quads a bit (not nearly as much as squats), and they'll also make your lower back and grip strong as hell.

Lunges with Dumbells - they can work your quads really well

Bodyweight stuff such as pistols (one legged bodyweight squats) - probably the bodyweight exercise that hits your quads the most. Mix these with Hindu squats and jumping Hindu squats if you want to change things up.

My best advice would be to join a better gym that has squat racks and/or squat cages.

[bodhitree]

what he said, and overhead squats!

overhead meaning- clean off the floor, press over your head, then squat! better for ya anyway!

[hulkout]

If there is no power rack available, the best alternative to squats is the trap bar deadlift which will train your legs harder than the straight bar deadlift. They usually cost about $250 or so. I've been weight training for 16 years and have tried probably everything by now. I must say that the trap bar is the best single piece of equipment I've bought! Not only can you do deadlfits with it, you can do bentover rows, shrugs, farmers walk, and more!

[Mr Punch]

What Ironfist said.

Lunges'll give you all manner of horror. Try this workout(halfway down the page: squats and lunges).

In fact, read all these. I think it's from jolly old Alwyn that I got split overhead squats too. And don't forget single leg squats.

Iron: couldn't he just do front squats where you hold the bar at the front...?

[SteveLau]

Well, to begin with the exercises that I do for my legs, I do squat, straight leg dead lift, good morning with weight. Sometimes, I sit in low horse stance w or w/o punching. The purpose of these exercises for me is to build up strength and endurance (50/50). I am against crazy about building up strength. Your main sports determine what kind of physique you need, even if you do multi-sports. IMOV, if one needs to use rack to support the bar bell while doing squat, he is likely to have used too heavy weight. I mean one should not use very heavy weight for free weight exercicses. Go for those universal gym machines for such exercises is better, if they are readily available. This is one reason why these machines are invented - safety.



Regards,

KC
Hong Kong