The weight set-up we have doesn’t permit quite as many exercises as our old gym’s equipment did, but there’s still a a pretty good variety. I ought to list them on paper for ease in consulting during workouts but I’m putting them here for archival purposes. I generally do 8-10 different lifts in a workout, balancing arm, leg and core lifts, what I do depends on the time available, which things work well together, and whether Rudder and I are trying to work out together. (We try to time it so one of us uses the weights while the other ergs or has a rest day, but it doesn’t always work out.) My core leg exercises are squats and deadlifts; I throw in the other things for variety or just to get more stuff. On the arms I try to do opposing stuff: lat pull then bench or shoulder press, for example.
Legs
“Erg Squats”: I don’t know what to call these, but they use much the same muscles as hang cleans – or the basic rowing stroke, which is of course the point. Set the erg’s readout to show watts, keep the rate below 14 strokes / minute, and see how high a wattage you can pull on each stroke.
Squats: normal ones, bar behind neck.
Front Squats: bar on crossed arms, held in close to the neck. I don’t do these often but probably should.
Dead Lifts: I usually throw in some hang cleans with this but not many because I’m not confident I’m doing them right.
Lunges: I hate these because they hurt my knees, but have found I can fix that by going down very slowly and controlled.
Sissy Squats: See the link. I just learned about and tried these today. I expect my thighs will be complaining about them tomorrow.
Leg Extensions: The World’s Most Painful Exercise, in my book – but you might as well use heavy weights, because it doesn’t hurt any worse if you do.
Leg Curls: I don’t do these much; our bench clnks unpleasantly when I do, and I never did them much even in the gym.
Arms
Pull-ups: I can’t do many of these right now so I do the one or two chin-ups I can manage then do “assisted” chin-ups – that is, I prop my feet on the side bars to let them carry the weight of my legs, but try to leave as much weight hanging from my arms as possible as I pull up. When I get stronger I’ll switch to real pull-ups instead of chin-ups.
Horizontal Pull-ups: Feet propped on ball, body held in a stright line, pull my chest up to the barbell which is held maybe 4″ off the ground. Like squats, it works the core as well as the main muscles used.
Lat Pulldowns: With the pulley set-up on our squat cage.
Bench Press: With barbell or dumbbells.
Bent-over Row: Knee or foot on bench, dumbbell in hand.
Vertical Row: Either with dumbbells or the pulley-set-up.
Shoulder Press: I used dumbbells.
Bicep Curls:I like doing these sitting down and leaning over, elbow against side (not top) of knee, one arm at a time.
Skullcrushers: Two hands fdrop a single dumbbell behind my head – these work in well with bicep curls.
Tricep Pull-downs: using the pulley set-up with a two handled rope, spreading its ends out at the bottom of the move.
Shoulder Raises: Or whatever you call them – lght dumbbell or weight plate in hands, raise arm out in front (alternating arms ) or bent arms to side (both arms together).
Core
Crunches: On the ball, mat or bench, normal, oblique, and with hips tilted up to work lower abs.
Ball Set: in plank position with feet on ball, alternate bringing knees to chest, pike up into a V, push-up (I do fewer of the push-ups because I can’t do as many).
Today was a weekend and I had plenty of time. I didn’t do more different lifts, just more of the big-muscle stuff that takes more time to set up. I did my usual 2×10 erg squats and then dead lifts (throwing in some hang-cleans on the last set) alternating with horizontal pull-ups; 2×8 squats plus 1×5 front squats for variety alternating with pull-ups/assisted pull-ups; sissy squats (for the first time) alternating with tricep pull-downs. I was going to do leg extensions but by then I knew I’d be in serious pain the next day if I did, so I just did some bench presses, bicep curls, crunches, and then a stretching session.
Ow!!!