Anytime you're limited with equipment or weight the idea is to figure out how to modify leverages to change the loading mechanics.

DB goblet squat holding the weight at chest or hanging straight down etc. It doesn't necessarily change how much your legs are used, but the load pattern has changed shifting to requiring more out of your back and shoulders.

Or doing pistol squats while holding a weight at your chest vs overhead. It increases the load to towards requirements of stability and balance of the whole body vs just increasing leg strength.

You can train shoulders with lateral and front raises and bent over reverse flys

If you have a bench you can do bench press and flys

You can probably even do dumbbell deadlifts

also: shrugs, bent over tricep extensions, overhead tricep extensions, dumbbell skull crushers, ...

One of the only thing you can't do is anything pull up like

Single leg low box squats would make bodyweight -> dumbell weights the right range for lots of people.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...post1266579671

Looking into this DB only program from the bb.com forums. The guy who wrote it knows his stuff.

Do squats hit the hamstrings enough to get good muscle balance in the legs or would you suggest doing some accessory stuff to work them? Fwiw I'm coming at strength training with the aim of increasing running performance if that makes a difference.

They only get hit in respect to being a stabilizer. They will of course grow as needed to support whatever weight you can squat - but in terms of running they are way more important and should be targeted.

When you say "running" do you mean an 8mph run or a 16mph sprint?

Longer distance stuff, specifically running in the mountains for 30m-6hr+ (log here if you wanna know more: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/85...tains-1564265/)

I think big leg muscles are more a negative than a positive in endurance activities. They require more resources and give little benefits imo

I mean, just look at top level marathon runners.

It's a pretty outdated view that strength training is counter productive for distance running. Even the marathoners that look stick thin will all be incorporating heavy lifting in their training. There are numerous studies showing that adding strength training to a running training program can give greater improvement than a similar program with no strength work.

I'm not looking to build big muscles, or even get strong in the same way that a powerlifter would, just build and maintain a decent level of strength to help with performance and injury prevention.

Strength training doesn't necessarily mean ever increasing weight as ever increasing weight means strength which means size (to some degree) and size is a negative for distance or "adventure" runners (as I'd call this)

So is there any reason for you to get to an X squat? Depends how much you weigh in the first place IMO. 180? Maybe getting to a 275 5x5 is as far as you ever need to go realistically for your goals. I don't know, I just made that up but you get the point.

I weigh 132 (I'm a 5'4 tinybro). Haven't put a huge ton of thought into it yet but I was thinking of aiming for a squat of somewhere around 5x200 for 1.5x bw. I don't really see much point going too far beyond that, but it will give me a good base for doing the more intense strength/power based circuit training that I plan on doing (think xfit type stuff)

Don't over think it: chuck in some RDLs. This "you should get to a certain squat" is unnecessary thinking.

Just looking to get some thoughts on my current workout routine and splits and such. I'm new to the forum and relatively new to working out. I've always been athletic, but since about 22 on, I haven't done a whole lot of physical activity.

Currently I just turned 30 a week ago, which is what prompted me to start getting in shape about 6 months ago. I'm 6'1" and at my heaviest got to about 205 pounds. After eating a bit better, managing calories and a workout routine I'm down to about 180 and probably won't try to get much lower than that. Mainly now looking to put on some muscle and lose the beer gut I've worked up.

My gym routine is 6 days a week for about 90 minutes per day. I usually do about 25 minutes of cardio per day, followed by weight lifting.

Current Workout Plan:

Day 1 - Shoulders/Traps
Warmup Bent Over Laterals - 3x20 with light weights
Shoulder Press Machine - 4 x 12
Seated Arnold Press - 3 x 10
Side Laterals - 3 x 15
Dumb Bell Shrugs - 4 x 12

Day 2 - Legs and Abs
Warmup Leg Extensions - 3 x 20 with light weight
Leg Press Machine - 4x10
Back Squats - 2x10, 2x8 with heavier weight
Standing Calf Raises - 4x15
Prone Leg Curls - 3x10
Ab Workout - Crunches, Sit Ups, Planks

Day 3 - Back and Biceps
Warmup Cable Pulldowns - 3x20 with light weight
Barbell Bent Over Rows - 4x12
Compound Row Machine - 4x10
Front Iso-Lateral Pulldown - 4x10
Back Extension Sit Ups - 4x10
Close Grip Cable Pulldowns - 3x12

Day 4 - Chest and Triceps
Warmup Pec Deck - 3x20 with light weight
Flat Bench Press - 3x10
Incline Dumb Bell Press - 3x12
Wide Chest Press Machine - 3x10
Lying Tricep Extensions - 4x15
Overhead Tricep Extensions - 3x12
Tricep Cable Pressdown - 4x10
Tricep Extension Machine - 3x10

Day 5 - Biceps, Forearms, Abs
Warmup Alternating Dumb Bell Curls - 3x20 with light weight
Barbell Curls - 2x12, 2x10 with increasing weights
Seated Alternate Dumb Bell Curls - 3x12
Hammer Curls - 3x10
Wrist Forearm Curls - 4x15
Ab Workout Sit Ups, Crunches, Planks

Day 6 - Cardio Only

Day 7 - Rest.


Any thoughts on this? Any improvements you guys think I could make to it? Anything you'd outright scrap or swap? I go to a full gym, so I have access to basically anything, so if there's something you think might help, I'd be all ears to listen.

Thanks

^ as a beginner weightlifter you benefit from increased frequency where you hit all your muscles AT LEAST twice a week, if not three times.
The routine you listed has way way too much volume, a lot of unecessary fluff and not enough frequency. This will slow your results dramatically.

The best way for a beginner to get enough frequency is to do a 3 day/week full body program focussing on the big compound movements (squat, deadlift, bench, overhead press, barbell rows) I would immediately ditch the routine you posted.

A good place to start would be Starting Strength, but even if you don't end up doing the program, the book is a very informative read and the e-book is about $11 on Amazon. Do recommend.

There are also several good novice routines on the bodybuilding.com forums. These are all routines written by knowledgeable people and are proven to work. Have a look and see if there's any you like.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=159678631

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=169172473

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=170130833


With most of these routines instead of 6days/week 90 minutes you will only go 3 days/week and you will probably be done in under an hour each workout. You will also not get as much of a "pump" as you would with your current routine. Do not confuse that with getting a good workout. It will probably take some adjustment mentally but in this case more is definitely not better.

I would also recommend you save your cardio for after you're done lifting, and keep it low/moderate intensity.

How's your diet look like? Are you going to gain weight?

Good luck

Scrap the entire thing and do a real program like ss, gslp, 5x5 or 5/3/1

Will look into the e-book, thanks for the recommendation. To be honest with current routine, I didn't do a whole lot of research. Looked at a couple of forums and found a beginner's workout that seemed to work for me.

My first goal was to drop about 20 pounds from the 205, since I was pretty pudgy and stuff. I've since dropped down to just a shade over 180 this morning, from here I think I'd like to put on some muscle, shave the rest of the fat and get to around 190-195 or so.

In terms of diet, I'm not on any set plan at the moment. I track my calories using MyFitnessPal app, but as previously mentioned, I was trying to drop a bit of weight and as such was running around 1700 calories daily, when the app recommended about 2200, without any exercise. My usual daily meal breakdown is as follows.

Breakfast - Protein shake after gym - 175 Cals (made with Almond Milk bumps it to 205) Greek Yogurt - 100 Cals, Bowl of Vector Cereal and Almond Milk about 300.

Lunch - Garden Salad with either chicken breast or steak strips, usually about 500 calories.

Dinner - Protein (usually a steak, chicken breast or pork chop) Either rice or baked miniature potatoes. Either a salad or corn on the cob. Usually gets me about another 550-650 here.

Snacks - I usually eat grapes, fruit, greek yogurt, arrow root cookies, pistachios or almonds. The occasional protein bar.

Like I said, my diet hasn't been super strict, but I have gotten pretty good results over the first 7 months I've been doing it. Ideally, I'd probably like to drop about 6 or 7 more pounds and hopefully whatever belly fat I've got left, (no matter how much weight I've lost, I can't shave the belly fat) and then from there start to put on muscle and weight. Although, after changing my diet to lose the weight, I'm not sure how I'll go back to packing the weight on. My caloric intake right now, even when I'm around 1600-1750 seems more than adequate and I'm not hungry.

I'd say keep doing what you're doing diet wise but switch lifting programs.

You will not likely build any significant muscle since you're in a reasonably deep caloric deficit, but on a good program you can make some strength gains most likely.
Imo keep doing that until you're comfortable with your weight/appearance and after that slowly start eating more. When your body gets used to eating more your appetite will go up too.

Any program is useless if it doesn't include a plan for how you're going to progress in volume and/or intensity.

Agree with Aidan, Abra and Rav

You need to be specific about your primary goal and train and eat to that primary goal. You are not going to gain strength or size while at a caloric deficit.

The majority of the rep ranges (12-15) are endurance not strength or hypertrophy. Also, that is not a natural beginners workout at all. Far from it.

Because of my terrible ankle mobility (I can't do the Asian/Eastern European squat), I can only do low bar squats. I can't seem to work my quads very hard on the squats. It's mostly my lower back that gets worked. Is there something I can do about that? Also, I read that low bar squats and deadlifts are pretty much the same exercise. Are they mostly interchangeable?

A low bar squat with a large amount of forward lean is going to be a lot more lower back in order to prevent your torso from bending forward.

Are you really unable to get into an unweighted ATG? Not under load its perfectly ok to round your back.

You can't not work your quads very bard on low bar squats.

I just tried in my living room, and I can't get my ass less than a ruler's height above the ground without lifting my heels or falling backwards.

can anyone recommend a small plan on training legs only using machines as ive broke my collar bone also can i just train legs every other day and do cardio inbetween?

Squat shoes?

LBBS + deadlift + lunges will not fail to hit your quads.