NEED YOUR HELP - Exercise Substitutions

Bigger Stronger Leaner Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
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Hey guys, I’m creating a document to provide exercise substitution recommendations for the exercises that you find in “generic” programs that you’d can’t always do where you train.

Any specific recommendations or exercises you’d like me to provide an alternative to?

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• Reverse hypers
• Sled pushing
• Trap-bar deadlift
• Hack squat
• Assault bike
• Yoke carry
• Weight releasers lol

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I train alone in a garage gym. These are some I encounter that often need to be substituted in addition to what Aldebaran wrote:

Glute Ham Raise
SSB Squat
Barbell Decline Bench Press

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Leg Press

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Seated calf raise

I used to go to a gym with squat racks but no power rack and regular bench presses. I could never work out a substitute for a board/pin/floor press in this situation.

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Leg press
Glute ham raise
Push sled

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My thought was leg extensions and leg curls. I’ve tried to use bands and it just feels awkward. I’ve also tried to hold a dumbbell and it doesn’t work great either.

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I’m not CT but since lockdown made me work with what I had I thought I’d share a few of my alternative exercises.

I’ve found Landmine belt squats are a decent option.

What I did for these was to hold on to a barbell in a corner /landmine while in a deep squat position, but (me) a bit angled forward. Kind of like a in the bottom position of a lumberjack squat.
The barbell served two purposes: loading and balance.

Have you tried MINI bands? For leg curls at least they weren’t bad, even though I prefer to use an exercise ball.

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Thank you. I have been doing belt squats. I prefer them without the landmine due to space issues.

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Glute ham raise
Reverse hypers
Sled dragging
Weight releasers

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Anything with a landmine lol - though @kdjohn posted a video of someone using a T-bar row station as a landmine which I thought was a brilliant idea.

Tire flips - usually you get snatches but I don’t find that a good substitute

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I’m not gonna lie, the hassle of the method to replace weight releasers is such that I’d spend the 250$ to get the releasers instead.

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Yeah unless you always have 2 spotters and even then ahahah… I’ll just buy them when I can

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Well, you can do it by yourself by having safety pins in the bottom. Lower the overloaded bar to the pins. Get out from under the bar, remove some weight, get back under the bar and lift it back up. Add the extra weight again, lower it back down…

Singles are not bad, but doing sets like this is super annoying.

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I tried it the other day by myself with very heavy front squats but I couldn’t lift it up, as a few minutes prior, with the spotters, I could…

Probably means I’m bad at getting into position there and should do some anderson squats or something

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In addition to the above:

  • Machine presses from any angle
  • Any loaded carry
  • Maybe outside the scope, but density recommendations with minimal equipment might be cool
  • How to load the stretch on cable movements (bands are only hard at the top)
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