Squat alternative for one month

[pjthiel]

Hey guys.

I have just changed offices, and therefore (due to working hours), also having to change gyms.

On the plus side, the new gym has barbels, a flat bench, and round OL plates. Whoop.

On the negative side, there is no power-rack or free-stands at all for squatting or pressing.

I am already working with the facilities team there to get a power-rack installed, and the current indication is that they will go ahead and order one, but I am looking at mid-late October before it's available.

For pressing, I am still moving a small enough weight (115lb) that I can probably get away with cleaning it for the work sets... at least for a while.

But here's my question:

Given no equipment to heavy squat, what would be an appropriate fill-in exercise to maintain some strength/form until squatting can resume?

They have a smith machine, so there is that option.
They also have a leg press.

As soon as the gym gets the power-rack, I'll be hitting squats hard again.
In the mean time, please try and be helpful -- i.e. don't say "switch gyms". I have very limited options and work a 14 hour day, making early/late workouts almost impossible. I can switch to a gym near home, but that means workouts at weekends only -- and none during the week.

Thoughts, suggestions, alternatives?

Many thanks in advance.

[Dastardly]

This is such an easy question. Just front squat!

In addition you can do more deadlifts or RDL's for extra back/hamstring work.

Also in regards to pressing, its always easier to press MORE if you clean it first. Trust me.

[FKYT]

FWIW, I've recently received the book "Fit" by Lon Kilgore, Michael Hartman, and Justin Lascek (http://www.amazon.com/Fit-Dr-Lon-Kilgore/dp/0615497063), and they devote a section to what you should do if you find yourself in a poorly-equipped gym (all machines and dumbbells). They seem to prefer the leg press machine over the Smith machine, since they say the motor pattern for doing the leg press will interfere less with your squats than that used for Smith machine squats (they didn't really elaborate on this point, though, so I can't go into much more detail than that).

For upper body pressing movements, they recommend alternating machine work (to move more absolute weight) with dumbbell work (to work the stabilizers). I imagine you could do something similar with your squatting movements -- that is, alternate leg presses with front squats, assuming the amount you can clean enough weight to make the front squat challenging. (For your actual pressing movements, I'd recommend cleaning the weight as Dastardly suggests -- I just relay this information because it seems relevant to your squatting situation.)

[Tom Campitelli]

Also in regards to pressing, its always easier to press MORE if you clean it first. Trust me.

This is not always the case, although it sometimes works that way.

[Dastardly]

This is not always the case, although it sometimes works that way.

More often than not, is as good as 100% on the internet!

Technique might be a factor, but I find it hard to imagine it not working.

[Carlos Daniel]

Power to the People?

bingo

[Tom Campitelli]

More often than not, is as good as 100% on the internet!

Technique might be a factor, but I find it hard to imagine it not working.

Here's the problem. You are imagining it instead of doing it. Sometimes cleaning a weight makes presses easier. I have experienced this myself. Sometimes, usually when fatigue is an issue, cleaning the weight doesn't help. You might not get into as good a position than if you walked it out of a rack. It all depends.

[mstrofbass]

Here's the problem. You are imagining it instead of doing it. Sometimes cleaning a weight makes presses easier. I have experienced this myself. Sometimes, usually when fatigue is an issue, cleaning the weight doesn't help. You might not get into as good a position than if you walked it out of a rack. It all depends.

Doesn't work at all for me. I have long forearms and use a pretty narrow grip for presses, so it's more difficult to get it into the proper position.

[MikeC1]

You should always be able to clean way more than you can press, and ditto for front squats. So you have press, front squat, cleans, snatches, deadlifts, RDLs. Those can last you a long time.

If it makes it an easier sell to your new gym's management, point them towards this http://www.roguefitness.com/new-rogu...quat-stand.php
A set of those with the safety spotter arms and some benches will let you do all your lifts safely, and are much cheaper than the full size power racks. Unless some gym goers are doing very heavy shrugs or rack pulls, well then maybe they can buy just one heavy duty rack for those people.

[Rob Waskis]

You should always be able to clean way more than you can press, and ditto for front squats.

Has this been other people's experience as well regarding clean/front squats? Not the case for me so I'm curious.