Not enough weight to Squat

R

Rakki

New Member
Hi
BTW Love the site, and I feel like I struck gold when I found out about HST!

I work out at home and want to start using the HST cycle, One problem though when I was testing my Max's I'm full squatting all the weight I have for a total of 13reps. this works out fine for the 15's but how do I hit my legs for the 10's and 5's? (I'm going to use Romanian Deadlifts for my hams - no problem with weights here)

My Equipment:
Bench
Barbell
squat rack
Chin Bar
Parallel Dip Bar
weight plates

Is there anyway to tweak the routine to allow for leg growth or is there any other exercise to replace Squats? I really love Squatting though, love the pump and the burn it creates
sad.gif
 
This probably isn't true for everyone but I find the best growth stimuli for my quads to be rep ranges of 20, 15 and 10. That also means I put less strain on my lower back.

If you don't want to buy more plates, you can also add rubber exercise bands to increase the difficulty of the squats.
 
I know exactly how you feel. I work out at home as well and have exhausted my weights when it comes to squats, deadlifts, etc. I finally broke down last week and went out to buy more weight plates.

What equipment do you have at home? Do you have a squat rack or something similar? I found that squats during the 5s could get a bit dangerous, which is why I'm currently building some equipment to take care of that problem.

Anyway, if you are in the USA, you can usually find weight plates pretty cheap at thrift stores, department stores like walmart, etc, if price is an issue. There are some sports stores around here that resell used sports equipment that usually have dirt cheap weight plates, benches, etc as well, so you could keep an eye out for those.
 
You could try front squats (exrx.net - Barbell Front Squat). They're very similar to squats, except they don't recruit quite as many muscle groups, which means that you aren't able to use as much weight. They'll still work your legs really good, though.

Totentanz, what is this piece of equipment you are building? What does it do, how does it work, etc.?
 
I'm just building little things. I put up a solid bar between two support beams in my basement for chinups, mounted a couple other bars for dips and sunk in some bars to use for a sort of squat rack. I double checked it all to make sure it could hold a lot of weight. The stuff is solid.

I've been browsing through the home equipment board to find ideas for other stuff to make. My new basement is huge and I've got a lot of time on my hands this summer, so... it should be fun.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (savagebeast @ May 21 2005,8:38)]You could try front squats (exrx.net - Barbell Front Squat). They're very similar to squats, except they don't recruit quite as many muscle groups, which means that you aren't able to use as much weight. They'll still work your legs really good, though.
Totentanz, what is this piece of equipment you are building? What does it do, how does it work, etc.?
Click to expand...
Hey Thanx for the info!

I'll try the Barbell front Squat, maybe if I combine either that, or the Barbell Hack Squat, with Alternate Barbell Lunges I'll get the same results a if I was Squatting; what you guys think?

PS I live in Trinidad (Caribbean) and for some reason Plates are a bit expensive down here, (for the life of me I don't understand why) I may just have to resort to buying more though :S
 
Well you could always get some concrete and make your own. Heh.

When I first read your post, for some reason I totally missed the part where you said what equipment you have. I don't know why. Kinda weird.
 
I'm doing 10s in my 5s for squats! Run out of weight as well. I must say though...my thighs have increased 2 inches since last cycle! Guess OG is right about that growth in the higher rep range.

Rakki...my dad is a Trini...
 
When I was in the same position (aka, no squat rack and limited weights at home), I was doing weighted lunges with pretty good results. Took a couple of weeks to get used to doing em but they were a nice addition to the workout after that *shrugs*
 
I agree with O&G about doing more sets for quads. I don't even do 5's for legs anymore. I just do 3 x 10 through the whole cycle. I start at my 15 RM and repeat weights until I work up to my 10 RM. I can keep the weight low for my bad back and still get a great pump.
 
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