Workout Problems-need help

[physiqueartist]

hey guys

Have a ? about workouts and different movements. I workout at a small gym in Wisconsin, limited equipment and weight.

I was hoping for some suggestions on alternate movements.

Seated row- stack only goes to 300lbs, can do 15 clean reps.
trying to do HIT and not enough weight.

Pulldowns-stack goes to 300lb, can do 12-15 reps clean.

Dumbells go to 130-bent rows, incline press and flat flyes again can do 15 reps.

Leg sled goes to 1000lb, can get 15-20.

The eqiupment is made by Flex and is good stuff just not enough weight. We do not have hammer strength or any other fancy equipment.

Do squats but lower back get reallt sore when squat. Do reps with 505 for 15(no wraps) use a good powerliftign belt but after I am done my lower back kills me.

No other gyms in town!! So need help thinking of different ways to get workouts in. I am clean, no supps in over 3 months.

 

[biggerthanyou]

Bro, you may want to try to just pre-exaust on some of the lifts. do your bent rows with a bar. and when you squat. get a good pair of shoes to squat in. I use a pair of logging boots and a 10mm powerlifting belt. but if your lower back is getting sore. you may be leaning forward to far. so your actually doing more of a goodmorning. try to bring your hands in closer to your body on the bar. it causes you to shift your weight further back and makes it harder to lean forward. also, consentrate alot on your depth and not bouncing out of the hole. feel the muscle and keep tention both directions on the movement. as far as your pulldowns go, thats kinda hard. try to pre-exaust or superset with pull-ups. sorry I can't be more of a help bro. hopefully others will post with some ideas. good luck though. let me know. I'm more than happy to help bro.
good luck and be safe...

bigger....

 

[mung]

Try these:

back - deads - BB bo rows - weighted chins
legs - drop sets of extensions - front squat - presses
chest - bb inclines

All else fails, move to Cali, those are some juicy numbers bro!

 

[bloded]

I am kinda in the same situation as you physiqueartist the gym I go to has good equipment it just happens to be 25 or so years old at one time it was the premier powerlifting gym in the upper part of my state not to mention Lee Haney trained there ,but one thing I did on particular exercises I went to a local welding shop and they made me some extra long pins so to add more plates to the stack the ones I have will hold 3 45lb plates and they work really good.

 

[MikeS]

Bro I have the same problems in my Golds gym. The pulldown and seat row suck, only go to 250. They have a cool Tbar type machine with a low angle-I can sub these for seat rows. And I sub weighted chins for pulldowns. On a regular Tbar you can pile on plates and do a movement like the db row by standing in front of the Tbar and grabing it where you slide the weights on.
At my old gym, I could do 225-250 like that. I was pulling 380 x 4, seat row 440 x 5. Id have to tie weights to the stacks to achieve that-but it was that kind of gym-a harcore dump. Not at fancy Golds.
I was leg pressing 1200x 6-8, now the leg press holds 720-so I do 20 reps. I used to hurt (not just sore) my low back from bar squats. So I do the smith machine and it works great.

 

[physiqueartist]

Thanks guys good advice. I like the long pin idea for adding weights. And I will work on my squats, I think you are correct I am an old powerlifter so I tend to lean forward on my squats.
I will have to do some pre-exaust. Sucks when I was at Worlds gym in lake forest, ca I never had to worry about this. 225lb dumbbells and a ton of hammer strenght,those where the days.

 

[MikeS]

Fuck the pre-exhaust shit, it only reduces the effectiveness of your compound movements. It may be good for a shock once in a while, but thats it. Use the long pins to add weight. Or a dipping belt to hold plates, a regular belt for DBs, tied around the top of the weight stack.

 

[Paul Bunyan]

I have the same problem where I train. All I do is reduce the rest between sets to up the intensity. As an example, the seated row only goes to 300lbs so I bang out 3 sets of 20 in about 5 min or less. It really lights up my back. That's about the only machine I use in the gym other than the chest supported row.

PB

 

[stevehnsn]

Fuck the pre-exhaust shit, it only reduces the effectiveness of your compound movements. It may be good for a shock once in a while, but thats it.

Ditto on that. Get off the machines and switch to some real exercises. Like Mung said: for back, bent over BB rows, weighted pull ups or chin ups, deadlifts; for chest, do a set of heavy intense inclines with a BB first, then if you NEED to, hit the DBs and I bet you won't still get 15 reps; for legs, I would drop the sled, as I think it is a worthless exercise. Switch to something where you're moving your body through space. Be it stiff-leg dead, hack squat, or lunges.