Dangerous Smith / Hotel W/O?

Training Bodybuilding
1

… a Smith machine that falls apart while you’re doing squats!

So, here I am in a Chinese hotel for a week on a business trip. The (very swanky) hotel web site mentions a room for “body building”. Has to be good, eh?

Well, there we find:

  • the aforementioned Smith machine. It was making some wicked noises as I started warming up with some light weights. I had 60kg on the bar when… one of the posts came out of its housing. That baby suddenly took a whole lot more stabilizing! I managed to get it hooked back on, then stepped away from the machine.

  • a rack full of dumbbells 2x10lbs. 3x15lbs. 5x25lbs. 2x40lbs. What’s that about? Who buys odd numbers of dumbbells? These were on the point of collapse, too: but I could screw them back together.

  • adjustable benches; dip station.

Now, I have some muscle. I’m not huuuge. But I quickly became the center of attention for the staff. It kind-of wierded me out to have an audience. I assume they don’t get many serious users. Given the range of equipment, I managed a fairly decent all round work-out.

But it’s going to be a long week. I’ll be scouring T-Nation for ‘hotel’ programs. Any suggestions, guys?

2

Check Thibs’ MacGyver workout. He himself did it when he was stuck in a hotel with only treadmills, a few dumbells and a lot of benches.

3

What’s More Dangerous Than a Smith Machine?

Curls in the squat rack… du…

I go at that dude like a spider monkey…

4

The original title was “What’s More Dangerous Than a Smith Machine?”. I guess that wasn’t descriptive enough.

Anyhow: I figured out the dumbbells: I saw a guy reconfiguring them. D’oh. That’s why they weren’t screwed up so tight. I guess that means I can make anything up to about 70lbs, if I have the patience.

Thanks for the Thibs reference: looks brutal. I’ll have to try tomorrow.