Lower Back without Gym Access

seadnamac

Ok I'm back home for the summer with no funds for a gym membership. I have dumbells with plates up to 60kg, so 30kg for each.

With these I'm doing DB bench press, DB shoulder press, bent over one arm DB rows, split leg DB squats, dips, bicep curls (did somebody say bicep curls?). I think I've got all my compound exercises covered for my main body parts except for my lower back. I can't think of a deadlift replacement, anybody got any ideas?

Just back training after 8 months out injured with a twice broken arm (same bone both times) so have a lot to make up for. At the moment I'm lifting 4 times a week, 3x5 on the first and fourth days, 3x8 on the second and 2x15 on the third (should I bother with the 2x15?, I read it was good to throw in a high rep day to keep your body guessing?).

Thankfully, haven't lost as much strength as I thaught I would, have dropped from 27.5kg (each arm) for 3x5 on my DB bench press to 22.5 but feel like 25 isn't far away.

Have a boxing bag for my cardio and a stationary bike for my sprint intervals. Going to start throwing in some metcons with box jumps, sit ups etc. aswell. Might get a kettlebell aswell...

Anyway, I've digressed, any suggestions for my lower back? Anything else missing? Are my hamstrings getting enough work with the split squats?

Cheers

edges

You can swing and snatch a dumbbell, these will hit the low back and hammies nicely.
A kettlebell is a nice addition to a home gym and makes the swinging and snatching moves more comfortable with a greater ROM.

Don't forget bodyweight drills either. Planks with limb excursions can be very usefull for highlighting and correcting any weaknesses within the core (which include the low back).
I used 1 arm push ups as a tool to rehab my sacroilliac joint and lumber disk injuries, it is the job of the core to keep the body rigid (not Rocky style, strict push ups)

Regards

Dave
www.wildgeesema.com
www.wg-fit.com

Barry.Oglesby

seadnamac wrote: »

Ok I'm back home for the summer with no funds for a gym membership. I have dumbells with plates up to 60kg, so 30kg for each.
Anyway, I've digressed, any suggestions for my lower back? Anything else missing? Are my hamstrings getting enough work with the split squats?

Cheers

Dumbell Romanian Deadlifts or single leg deadlifts. You won't need much weight to hit the hamstrings if you focus and do them right. For the single leg deadlift I did 5 sets of 10 with a 24kg kettlebell yesterday and I'm feeling it today. It's a matter of form and if you do it right what you have at your disposal is more than enough.

kevpants

Single leg Romanian deadlifts are great if you've got limited weight available.

seadnamac

Cheers lads. Those single leg deadlifts look like the job. Is there any issue with doing these in the same session as split leg (Bulgarian) squats or should I just suck it up?

Barry.Oglesby

seadnamac wrote: »

Cheers lads. Those single leg deadlifts look like the job. Is there any issue with doing these in the same session as split leg (Bulgarian) squats or should I just suck it up?

Suck it up.:)

Ideally if you have a heavy(ish) deadlift day I'd do the hamstring assistance on that day and then on your heavy(ish) squat day I'd do the lower back assistance. It's not hugely important but it would keep your back assistance off your deadlift day. That being said you're not moving a massive amount of weight so it might not be that much of an issue.

I wouldn't use swings as a glute/ham/lumbar assistance exercise.

Transform

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

Suck it up.:)

Ideally if you have a heavy(ish) deadlift day I'd do the hamstring assistance on that day and then on your heavy(ish) squat day I'd do the lower back assistance. It's not hugely important but it would keep your back assistance off your deadlift day. That being said you're not moving a massive amount of weight so it might not be that much of an issue.

I wouldn't use swings as a glute/ham/lumbar assistance exercise.

agreed and i would add in the odd set of step ups onto and off a bench/step if possible as they can hit the hamstrings and glutes quite well.

Supermans for the lower back also

seadnamac

Transform wrote: »

agreed and i would add in the odd set of step ups onto and off a bench/step if possible as they can hit the hamstrings and glutes quite well.

Supermans for the lower back also

Yea I actually rotate my split squats with weighted step ups every other week. Will add supermans into my metcons aswell, cheers.

seadnamac

One more thing, would any of you be able to recommend what weight kettlebell I should get? I would be using it primarily as part of my conditioning drills with the likes of KB swings mixed in with box jumps, sit ups/russian twists for example.

Barry.Oglesby

You do sit ups as a part of your conditioning drills?

I'd get two 16kgs. You can hold two for 32kgs, duh, and still have the lighter load for overhead stuff etc.

seadnamac

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

You do sit ups as a part of your conditioning drills?

I'd get two 16kgs. You can hold two for 32kgs, duh, and still have the lighter load for overhead stuff etc.

I have done, for example 10 rounds of [10 press ups, 10 sit ups, 10 box jumps, 10 russian twists]. No good? Maybe I've misused the term conditioning drill. Bear in mind I've been injured and inactive for the last eight months...

Transform

that conditioning drill sounds good just mix it up from session to session