Hello all I need an exercise to do for my legs instead of the squat because I have no rack. Is the lunge as beneficial? Any suggestions would be good.
Thanks
Deadlift variations can do the trick. You might also try pistols (one legged squats) When you get strong enough to do 15 or so, you can start holding plates to add resistance.
Lunges are also good. Try front lunge, side lunge and turning lunge. Also, give lunge to balance a try.
I would do these in conjunction with the deadlift.
Robin
I take it you do not go to a gym?
You can still do the squat at home. The rack is only for heavy weight anywho. If you’re working out at home or working out infrequently, a rack doesn’t matter.
The lunge is a nice alternative. Hold it for a count of 3. Plus you can fatique the leg better by performing 3 lunges subsequently with the same leg, then switching. Feel da burn.
nospam.
One legged squats and hindu squats
Squat
I enjoy squats quite a lot as a supplement to my stance training but don’t have a gym membership. Is there any way that I could make a home squat rack without spending ridiculous amounts of money? Have any of you built your own?
You are better off buying a convetional power rack and a bar and some irons plates. But you should try to master your body weight first before using weights. It is my thought that unless you can control your own body weight, you have no business messing with external weight. Unless you can do single arm push ups, chins, pull ups, single leg squat you don’t need to mess around with weights yet. Does this make sense to anyone here? I am working on doing single leg squats and even chins. Great men like Bruce Lee and others martial artists, had functional strength by first mastering their own body weights before hitting the iron bar and plates.
It is funny that people want to sprint before they can even walk. Can you do 300 or 500 reps of body weight squats? How about single leg squats? I mean with clean and control reps? If you want to improve your stance, try to focus on your own body weight first. If you practice kung fu, then keep things simple and use what God gave you first. Then improve what God didn’t give you and improve his f###ed up… lol
Bao
Squats
You really do not need a “squat rack”. The cheapest and easiest to build, if you know someone who can do some welding, is use two tire rims and two steel poles. Have the poles cut to the height you need for your body(cut off about shoulder height), cut a notch in the top to receive the bar and get the poles welded into the holes in the center of the rims. I have a set of these that have last 20 years. They are not pretty but they are functional. As far as not working out with weights till you can do your body weight. I feel that is wrong there is no better way in the world to build your muscle that to lift weight.
You could also try front squats and overhead squats.
Originally posted by Mr. Bao
It is funny that people want to sprint before they can even walk. Can you do 300 or 500 reps of body weight squats? How about single leg squats? I mean with clean and control reps? If you want to improve your stance, try to focus on your own body weight first. If you practice kung fu, then keep things simple and use what God gave you first. Then improve what God didn’t give you and improve his f###ed up… lol
Alright. First I must agree with your advice (even tho I deleted it from the quote) because you might as well buy a power rack. You’re not going to build your own squat rack.
But don’t worry about doing 300-500 bodyweigth squats before you start doing bodyweight squats. I bet you 9 out of 10 world class squatters who can squat 800+ lbs can’t do 300 bodyweight squats either 
But then again, if you have absolutely no access to a squat rack, bodyweight squats are way better than nothing
Bodyweight squats = good for endurance
Barbell squats = good for maximal strength
Combination of both = good training idea.
As Mr. Bao mentioned, you can also do one legged squats, altho for me I don’t feel these work my quads that well… for example, after 10 sets of barbell squats when my quads are completely fried, I can still do one legged bw squats. But hey, I’m weird
IronFist
Iron Fist:
If you want to focus more on your quad in single leg squats, there is a number of ways. Here are some of my ideas:
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Take a 4X4 block and place your foot (not feet) on it like you would on a calf exercise, then do your single leg squat. Or take a iron plate and place under your foot.
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1 and quarter rep technique on single leg squat. Go all the way down, the half way up, back down again and all the way up.
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Jumping single leg squats.
I always thought that one legged squats were only for balance and for scaring young children with one’s physical badassery.
are you fellas concerned with how far out in front of you the knee gets when doing single-leggies, or is there something i don’t know about squatting with one leg that would fix this?
i agree with mastering body-weight squats before using weights… but why master single-leg squats? to me, theyre very very different, with regards to posture and balance.
rubthebuddha - that annoys me too. that’s kind of what i mean, i can’t seem to use the same joint-angles with one legged squats.
as with all things single leged squats just require practice of good technique and dedication, unfortunately for me i have neither but i promise you that one day i will accomplish this.
also the fact that i am rather on the large side of things(esp. weight wise) means that lifting this fat a$$ should give my muscles quite a workout during one leggers.
like iron said though it’s all about what you are really training for and if you you want both endurance and power the you have to cycle them both.
i have personally built(ok a mate welded it for me, but it was my design) a squat rack that is easily capable of handling 150kg’s, it also has a chin up bar attached and i can move a bench in and out for presses, the whole thing cost about australian$80(that’s about $40US).
if you like you could post(or pm it to me) your e-mail add. and when i get a chance i could take a photo of it and e-mail it to you.
vts
Originally posted by rubthebuddha
[B]are you fellas concerned with how far out in front of you the knee gets when doing single-leggies, or is there something i don’t know about squatting with one leg that would fix this?
[/B]
i think they even get far out while doin simple squats..
-TkdWarrior-
Knee position
You should always keep you shin perpendicular to the ground while squatting. Having your knee drift forward as it will in any butt-to-heel squatting movement can damage your knees badly. Some people can do this without a problem. Some people can’t. The margin of error when squatting rock bottom is very small as well. Personally, I think it’s best not to find out…
If doing single leg squats hurt your knee, it means you don’t have enough core strength or that your legs aren’t ready for this exercises, and/or that your techniques in squat is poor.
If you can do 300 body weight squats in good form (neutral spine and embracing your core and having good balance and proper lower body aligment), you should be able to do single leg squats. But much of it comes from proper core strength and flexibility.
Single leg squats works also your abs/lower back. It is a very functional lower body execise. In wing chun, we build our stance (ma) and kicking power from this kind of exercises, there is more but that is like top secret. lol.
I don’t know what the obsession with single legged squats are. But if you are just concerned with muscle development, then they are no better than any other squat.
Also, doing 300 bodyweight squats seems rather pointless to me. You definitely don’t need to do that to get anywhere with squatting.
Mastering your body is fine, but your muscles really don’t care where the stimulus comes from, as long as it’s working the tissue. Weighted movements give you a means to track your progress, and also allow you to increase weight rather easily.
A rack is ideal for squatting, but you could squat with dumbells in your hands instead. You could still use a barbell and use weight that you can powerclean, and then just powerclean the bar and do front squats.
Regular squats will work your quads, hamstrings, glutes, lowerback, hip flexors, abdominals, etc. There is nothing magical about single leg squats. If you insist on doing them, you can do them beside a bench and put your other foot on the bench for stability if you like. If you are doing them for balance that’s fine…but it’s not like it’s better or worse than anything else.
Your knees should generally not pass your toes. The objective of a squat, is to sit back. I find it easier sometimes to go deeper with weight on my back, then with bodyweight.
El Pietro is correct. Single Leg squats are more of an exercise in balance than in muscular strength.