Looking for alternative exercises to use at home rather than gym (Please see)

Hi All,

Im going to try and follow the Zero to Hero in one year fitness program
(Cant Post Link)

The problem is I dont have time to go the gym 4x a week due to my job and looking after a child, i'm starting from the 4-6 months workout (due to previous fitness experience from martial arts). I have a dumbell and barbell weights set at home, aswell as a pull up bar and bench. Most of the exercises i can do at home but some I can't and im not sure what I could do as an alternative. I don't think it'd be advisable to drop the exercise completely.

If anyone could give me an alternative to the exercises in [B]bold[/B] i'd really appreciate it.


Day 1: Shoulders


Seated Military Press
3 sets of 6-8 reps

Front Dumbbell Raise
3 sets of 8-10 reps

Side Lateral Raise
3 sets of 8-10 reps

Rear Lateral Raise
3 sets of 10-12 reps



Day 2: Back/Biceps/Abs


Pull Ups
3 sets of 6-8 reps

Bent Over Barbell Row
3 sets of 8-10 reps

[B]Close Grip Pulldowns[/B]
3 sets of 8-10 reps

[B]Seated Row[/B]
3 sets of 10-12 reps

Dumbbell Shrug
3 sets of 15-20 reps

Alternate Dumbbell Curl
3 sets of 8-10 reps

Hammer Curl
3 sets of 12-15 reps

Hanging Leg Raise
5 sets of 20 reps



Day 3: Off



Day 4: Legs


Squats
3 sets of 6-8 reps

[B]Leg Press[/B]
3 sets of 8-10 reps

[B]Leg Extensions[/B]
3 sets of 12-15 reps

Stiff Leg Deadlift
3 sets of 12-15 reps

[B]Lying Leg Curl[/B]
3 sets of 12-15 reps

Standing Calf Raise
5 sets of 15-20 reps


Day 5: Chest/Triceps/Abs


Incline Bench Press
3 sets of 6-8 reps

Flat Dumbbell Flyes
3 sets of 8-10 reps

Decline Bench Press
3 sets of 10-12 reps

[B]Dips[/B]
3 sets of 10-12 reps

[B]Rope Pushdowns[/B]
3 sets of 12-15 reps

Weighted Crunches
5 sets of 20 reps


Days 6 and 7: Off



Many Thanks,

Froobage

Pulldowns - Chin Ups
Seated Rows - Inverted Rows
Leg Press - Lunges
Dips - Floor Pressing/Skull Crushers
Pushdowns - Kickbacks

Some of these movements are redundant IMO anyways.

You can check scoobysworkshop.com for excellent advice.

If you have dumbbells, barbells and a bench, you do not need anything else.

I'm not saying by any means that it's complete, but I only have the same equipment you listed and my workout consists of:

-shoulder press
-upright row
-shrug
-front lever pullup
-deadlift
-barbell curl
-skullcrusher/pullover
-chest fly (prefer this to bench)

I could easily add in benching, some kind of rows etc. as well. I have a pair of sawhorses and a dipping belt, so I can dip when I please too.

With a bench, rack, barbell and dumbbells, you're set. Most machines just simulate free weight exercises. Try to adjust your training so that the exercises you do have a specific muscle group/movement targeted. So for example for triceps, you want to do exercises so that you hit all three heads of the tricep (skull crushers for the long head, CGBP for the medial/lateral heads), and for chest, you want to do one fly movement and one or two pushing movements.

And while more volume is good because you're only training your muscle groups once a week, you might not be able to progressive overload, which is what is essentially needed when building muscle, as well as a beginner. Personally, after a few sets of heavy flat barbell bench press, it's impossible for me to lift as much as I would want to on the incline/decline and I end up stalling.

Keep it simple by not being so repetitive with some movements (so much pressing) and focusing on progressive overload while working the variety of functions of the muscle. If you get bored/stall/see a weak point, pick a different variation of the exercise (pull-up to chin-up, switch up the bench press, back squat to front squat, etc).

Here goes...

Close grip pull-downs: chin ups
seated row: T-bar row
leg press: front squats/lunges (don't bother with the leg curls/extensions, your squats and deadlifts are fine)
dips: close grip bench press/weighted push-ups (put weight in a back-pack)
rope pushdowns: skullcrushers

As with what other posters are saying, you don't have to include some of the isolation or machine-based exercises if you have the basic compound free-weight exercises going. Good routine though

Cheers for the replies! Some good advice thank you