Substituting Exercises in 30-10-30: No Barbells/DBs/Machines

For those of you like myself who do not have access to barbells,dumbells or machines,I have found the following exercises to be helpful.

  1. Swiss ball for leg curls–keep hips off ground throughout;dig heels into ball
    2)sissy squats for leg extensions
    3)pushup for bench press–squeeze the chest hard by trying to bring the hands into each other(adduction)–they wont of course but it will help w/ mind-muscle connection
    4)bands for over head press,bent over row,lat. raises and reverse curls.John Meadows has some good videos on youtube.
    5)Trap bar DL for leg press–I dont let the weight touch the ground
    6)NO chin-ups and dips for biceps curls and tricep extensions respectively–try to build up to 60 seconds for each

I tried doing floor presses and rows w/ the trap bar but found the pushups and bands provided a better contraction.

Hope this helps.

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Those are all fine substitutions. Thanks.

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Thanks for your comment.

I appreciate these as well. On the bands though, my challenge is that the drop-off in tension is so quick that the range is very limited for 30’s negative, almost would need to keep it static.

For the bands,I am using a long 41" band closed loop.I stand on it with a wide stance;as I press it overhead I am also pulling it apart to keep tension on it.For the laterals,I would hold the band with overhand grip,pull wide and pull up to shoulder height.For the rows,stand on the band and grasp the bands further down to increase the tension.You can manipulate the tension with hand placement for the other exercises as well.Hope this helps.

Yes, that’s helpful. I really like bands, especially on the positive portion of any movement. They are very joint friendly. Again, it’s the negative portion that (to me) just doesn’t equate to weights. Using an overhead press for example, if I’m lowering a weight, I’m still feeling that entire weight at the bottom of the movement. With a band each movement downward decreases the weight/tension more than the last. So that’s why I’m curious about a band protocol that would be something like 30 static/10 reps/30 static being more effective than standard 30/10/30, if using bands. Dr. D.?

I agree that the negative portion of the bands is easier than with weights.I like the idea of a static hold in place of it.Yes,would like to see Dr Darden’s comments on this.