Ok so I have a broken elbow, and the cast is at a 90 degree angle, so its in the right spot for squats. Would it be dangerous/stupid to try to do squats with a broken elbow.
dude I’d stick to leg press for now. and if you must do squats do your leg presses then follow that up with bodyweight squats till failure.
You will feel the burn!
as much as I hate machines, Id say the leg press will work for now till your injury heals. Otherwise, as mentioned above, bodyweight squats and lunges will take care of your leg work.
[quote]lifta wrote:
Ok so I have a broken elbow, and the cast is at a 90 degree angle, so its in the right spot for squats. Would it be dangerous/stupid to try to do squats with a broken elbow. [/quote]
What would your doctor say? I think you know the answer already.
well my doctor told me not to squat at all, because they hurt your knees.
I don’t know if you should or not though. I’ve never felt like I use my elbows a lot when I’m squatting, so personally I would probably do it. Just don’t let it slip off.
I’d hit up the leg press, the last thing you want to do is further hurt yourself or increase your recovery time.
You can do body squats, light leg press (i see more back injuries on this then anything), leg curls/extensions and maybe even try the smith machine squat if you can balance the bar well enough.
BW lunges and squats are great. One guy on the boards did 500 BW squats nonstop and could not walk for days.
I would disagree with the above and not use the leg press. I used it for a long time, built up decent legs, but my stabilizing muscles were so under-trained that squatting 135 was a challenge, while leg pressing 650+ was the norm.
PS - Doctors are wimps and 99% of them have very little understanding of the therapeutic effect of exercise. Shit, most are grossly under-trained anyway.
weighted squats with a broken arm ? one slip of your grip and you will set yourself back weeks of recovery
[quote]njrusmc wrote:
BW lunges and squats are great. One guy on the boards did 500 BW squats nonstop and could not walk for days.
I would disagree with the above and not use the leg press. I used it for a long time, built up decent legs, but my stabilizing muscles were so under-trained that squatting 135 was a challenge, while leg pressing 650+ was the norm.
PS - Doctors are wimps and 99% of them have very little understanding of the therapeutic effect of exercise. Shit, most are grossly under-trained anyway.[/quote]
Seconded - hitting high weight on the leg press isn’t really something to get too excited about - I was doing 550ish in my first month of training but was having trouble with 100 lb squats since I had no stabilizer muscles.
Sounds like a great opportunity to incorporate single-leg squats in your routine.
[quote]JayPierce wrote:
Sounds like a great opportunity to incorporate single-leg squats in your routine.[/quote]
As long as you don’t lose your balance and fall on your arm 
If single leg squats do not work for you, step ups with a weight vest might be good. Or find a 20+ story building in your city and run up and down the stairs, skipping every 2 stairs. One round of that will get you good.