So i’ve recently finished and left university which meant leaving my regular gym and having to find another one to train in. The gym i previously trained in was a fairly large gym with lots of new equipment from squat racks, hammer strength machines and all the plates, dumbbells and bars you could want. However i’m from a relatively small and rural area, meaning my new gym is much, much smaller and less well equipped.
This is where being able to not only adapt, but having a good knowledge of different ways to hit your muscle groups can come in. It can actually be beneficial in some cases, i’m forced to use different exercises completely or different variations of exercises and have had some really good sessions over the last couple of days. Going from a gym with multiple power racks to one with none is a bit different but you can still push yourself with whats available to you. Which leads me to today, which was my first leg day in the new gym and i am feeling the effects for sure, lets walk through what i did today.
5 Minutes stretching and warming up
– Squats (In the smith machine)
For squats i started with 60KG on the bar and did a few warm up sets of 10-12 reps, just to get going and get some blood into my legs. I then went up from 60KG to 110KG in 10KG increments doing 8-12 reps. Previously my depth has always been questionable, the pro of being forced to use the smith machine though is that the bar is on a rail, you can go all the way down without the worry that you might not come back up, if theres no going up just re rack on one of the bottom rungs!
– Walking Dumbbell Lunges
Normally after conventional squats i’d head to hack squats but thats not possible in my new gym, so i swapped that out for some walking dumbbell lunges with a 20KG weight in either hand. Take ten paces down to the end of the room, turn around and come back. Rinse and repeat for 5 sets and your golden.
– Single Leg Press
In my previous gym they had a hammer strength leg press meaning you could just rack the plates up as heavy as you can go, however the machine leg press in my new gym only goes up to 190KG, the solution; single leg! I set the weight to 100KG and really focussed on the contraction, slow and controlled coming all the way down but don’t lock out at the top! aimed for 3 sets of 8-12 reps but had to drop the weight to 90KG for the 3rd set.
– Machine Hamstring Curls
Pretty bog standard, haven’t seen a gym without a seated leg curl machine. Nice and simple set a weight you can get 8-12 reps out of and come a few reps short of failure. 3 sets of 8-12 reps but on the final set, drop set and go to failure.
– Machine Leg Extensions
Same as leg curls 3 sets of 8-12, final set get a drop set in and go to failure.
– Leg Press Calf Raises
i’ve seen a lot of people do their calf raises in a squat rack on top of a step, i’ve also seen a lot of people slip off the back of said box and fall with 100KG on the back of their neck. I would never advocate doing calf raises on anything other than a leg press machine or in a smith machine where the bar is on a set path. i like to go high rep on these, 3 sets of 15-20 reps.
And thats the leg workout i did this evening, was really feeling it during the drive home and no doubt i’ll be walking crooked tomorrow morning! i threw in shoulder and finished with some Ab work afterwards but that’ll be for another post! Regardless of what your gym has to offer, there are always variations or exercises you can use that’ll ensure you get an effective workout done. Remember lift with your muscle not with your ego, you have to feel the contraction in the right place to get the growth!
BTF
bthurstonfitness 