I have a home gym workout that I’ve been using for a while now: rowing on my concept2 and doing a pretty basic resistance routine (back squats, front squats, deadlift, press, bench press, barbell row, ring dips, and chinups). Because of some schedule changes I’m going to have to do more workouts at a gym near my office. Suddenly I have a whole new world of cables and dumbbells and whatnot at my disposal, but I’m also losing a bench that had built-in safety bars.
(1) Thoughts on what I should add? I had always heard good things about face pulls. I sort of hate barbell rows, so I’d also love to find some decent dumbbell or machine substitute. Any favorites?
(2) Also, I don’t expect to be able to get spotters easily for bench press. Thoughts on good substitutes? Cable flys and some tricep addition?
(3) Bonus: how do people deadlift in small gyms? I haven’t seen anyone doing it while I’ve been there. I would ordinarily just park in front of a squat rack, but there’s not that much room and the sole squat rack is usually pretty busy. Is there some universal etiquette to this or is it just gym-by-gym?
Years since I lifted, and it sounds like you are moving some serious iron. When I was trying to increase my max and gain size, I did my heaviest benches on the rack. Couldn’t you still do bench at home?
When I lifted in a gym, for my sanity I factored considerable flexibility into my schedule - not only day-to-day but also over the course of a week. As you observe, can’t just say you’re going to go into the gym at a given time and spend x-time on as specific piece of equipment. The flexibility can be as little as changing up the order in which you do your exercises which - IMO - is a pretty good idea anyway.
There are some pretty serious lifters around here who will surely offer you more specific suggestions. But it might help if you gave some more details. How old are you, what kind of shape are you in, what are your goals, etc.? For example, if you are just aiming at fitness, you can get a TON of benefit safely from bench/incline/decline press and flies with dumbbells. But if you want to increase your max/bulk, you need a bar and a spotter/rack.
But I’m at the stage where I just move this creaky carcass thru push-ups and crunches.
Couldn’t you still do bench at home? Yes. That’s my back-up plan, but it’s just much easier to get into the gym on my lunch-hour than to make time at home these days. Kids will do that, apparently!
**How old are you, what kind of shape are you in, what are your goals, etc.? **At the moment my goal is just consistent exercise. In the last three years a combination of injuries (mostly unrelated to exercise) and career and life changes have meant lots of gaps in my workout adherence. I don’t really have strength or body goals at the moment, so some kind of high-rep dumbbell thing would be a fine substitute for the bar.
Dumbbell bench always seemed to tweak my elbows. But I’m sure that’s just a form issue I could solve. It is probably the best substitute, though I’m always intrigued by the cable stuff which I never really understood.
My first piece of advice is to just be aware that, even if it’s more or less the same machine, the weight and movement may feel different, so be cautious and try light weights first, feel it out, then make a judgment about how heavy you should go. Sometimes even a slight variation in the movement can have a noticeable effect on your weight and form.
I can make some suggestions, it all depends on your goals. My work outs are much more “body building” oriented than power lifting or functional, so I do a lot more specific types of exercises like hitting the same major muscles from different angles and such. The couple glaring things I see are nothing for calves and nothing isolating shoulders.
Depending on the gym, it shouldn’t be that difficult to find a spotter if you need one. In general, though, if you need a spotter for more than a random set here and there, it’s bad etiquette, and you either need to reconsider your work out, or work out with a partner, whether it’s someone you’ve met there and mutually trade off spots or someone you actually do a similar workout with.
I also tend to focus more on dumbbells and only really do barbell exercises where it’s necessary, like squats and deadlifts. So, for instance, I do dumb bell bench press and don’t need a spotter for safety, just for squeezing out that last rep or two. If you’re not used to dumb bell bench, it’s definitely more of an adjustment from barbell than you might think, and if you’re more concerned with raw bench strength, dumb bell bench may not be right for you.
If they don’t have a deadlift platform, you just have to find a place that works. Before my gym got one, I’d often see people doing them in front of the squat rack, but I’d also just see them doing them in random places around the gym, pretty much wherever there’s space. Personally, it annoys me if someone is using the squat rack for something other than squats. Seriously, one time I had to wait 20 minutes to do squats because someone was doing curls in there with 60 lbs and, when I told him I’d like to use it for squats, he insisted he needed it. I’ve also seen people deadlifting saying they’re using the squat rack in front of them, when really, all they want is the mirror and could easily have someone squatting there, alternating sets.
So, really, I think it just depends on the combination of the layout of your gym and whatever the culture is there.
I’m not especially interested in targeting my calves unless it’s important to prevent injury (is it?). But shoulders I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. Press obviously works them some, but they are easily my weakest muscle area. I’ve tried to incorporate various lat raises and different press styles from time-to-time, but never found something I liked.
I used to use dumbbells to do bench, inkling, and decline bench, and flys. Never had any elbow issues - don’t know what would cause that. I always preferred dumbbells over cables, since you need to stabilize the weights.
Basically, you should identify a series of exercises for your chest, back, arms, shoulders, abs, and legs. You can either do a whole body workout every other day, or do something like chest/back/abs one day, arms/legs the other. And don’t forget push ups, pull-ups, and dips… If you are just working on fitness other than increasing mass, you ought to incorporate aerobic as well, so if the squat rack is occupied, strap on the shoes and go for a run!
When I was trying to increase strength/gain weight, I started with 3 sets of 12 for each exercise. If you can do 3 sets of 12, increase the weight. After a couple of months, go to 3 sets of 10. Then drop to 3 sets of 7. You’ll be amazed at the gains you can make in 1/2 year. If you still want to go from there, swap over to low rep max weight bench/squat/deadlifts…
If dumbbell bench presses hurt your elbows, don’t lock them out - stop about 5[sup]o[/sup] away from straight. (This is generally a good idea for any press, or tricep exercise.)
If you can’t get a spotter, use the power rack.
Cable flyes are an isolation exercise, and thus less useful than compound exercises like bench press. You mentioned you do dips - I often use incline press and weighted dips on my non-heavy chest workouts. Same caution on not locking out applies to weighted dips.
I never do face pulls, because they are rough on my rotator cuffs. YMMV. I can’t do bent rows anymore due to back issues, so I rely on one arm rows and chins/pulldowns, or pullovers on my light days. Regular seated cable rows work well, and with a chest support you can do them even with a compromised lower back.
Can I just say that your home work-out sounds pretty dang good?
I don’t know from gyms and machines (cable or otherwise) but the dumbbells do open up a host of possibilities. Lunges, lunge to overhead press, goblet squats, bent-over one-armed rows, single-legged bent-over rows, Turkish get-ups, dumbbell flyes, dumbbell T-pushups …
And as goofy as this sounds (and despite the odd looks you make get) one safe alternative to benching given a shortage of spotter or safety bar is to load up a backpack with some plates and do push ups. Use a pack that you can snap across the waist and with strong straps. (I’ve started rotating this in my mix since this thread.) Floor presses with dumbbells might have a place in your mix also.
That could well be it. I haven’t done them in a decade, and have learned a lot about proper movement in the interim. Thanks Shodan.
Right? I’m sad not to get to spend more time in my own gym. But I’m trying to look on the bright side about all the new possibilities open to me. Favorite dumbbell exercises? For shoulders maybe?
I’ll consider the pack idea. Though having to bring any equipment to the gym might be a deal-breaker since I walk from my office.
As a rule, you should make sure you hit all the large muscles, and the larger the muscle, the more you need to work them. Most of the smaller muscles get enough incidental work for general fitness as long as you do the basic complex movements, which you are. Calves are big muscles, and they get some incidental work from any walking/running type cardio or a bit from squats and deadlifts, but IMO, not enough. Personally, I’m the weirdo that LOVES doing calves, but honestly, you don’t need to hit them all that hard, but they’re definitely important for stabilization and avoiding ankle/foot injuries.
And for shoulders, you’ll also get some incidental work on them from other complex movements, so you’ll get them some from bench press, and to a lesser extent dips. I’d still think at least one movement where they’re the primary agonist muscle would be a good idea, maybe a couple sets of lateral raises since you’ll get incidental work for anterior from the presses, posterior from rows, and traps from deadlifts.
As a general rule, never lock out any joint. You may want to practice with some medium-light weight feeling out what’s straight and what’s locked. Even just avoiding the nagging injuries, it can be really dangerous, particularly locking knees doing squats and deadlifts, where they can get hyper-extended with a lot of force.
Elbow irritation could just be some minor tendinitis too. Consider icing the joint after a workout and see if that helps.
I don’t do them either, it’s a lot of pressure on the rotator cuff for pretty much anyone. The primary aim for that is hitting the rear delts, with some activation of the traps, lats, and rhomboids too. Unless you’re bodybuilding, you probably don’t need to specifically target your rear delts, as they’ll get plenty from rows, pull-downs/pull-ups, deadlifts. And the incidental work for the other muscles is best hit with another complex movement like rows.
If you do still want to do that, some other exercises that can get the same effect with less pressure on the rotator cuff would be doing the pec deck facing in or laying down face-first on a slightly inclined bench with light weight (seriously, start with 5-10 lbs) and doing a reverse fly.
