FT Questions....

[Scott Stevenson]

My gym has those rubber coated DB's that have a narrow profile.....very difficult to keep between my feet without having a spotter. I may try to grab someone and have them lift them into place for me. If that doesn't work, I may rig up my super squat hip belt with a loading pin for some ham curls somehow.

Hams curls on the cable rack were decent, but I need to get better ankle cuffs.

I was able to get on the decline bench backwards and simulate a GHR. It's a bit awkward, and due to the leverage setup, I need to assist with my hands. It turns into a "negative-only" movement and highly dependent on the amount of effort I push off with, but I can get them to work. In fact, I just did them last night.

Sucks about those DB's.

On the decline bench you might be able to set it to it's flattest setting and then prop up the end to make it level or even inclined.

Also, I've seen those done using a pad on a smith machine weighted with enough weight to hold the bar in place on the safeties. This padded bar holds you down when kneeling on a bench slipped up under the smith machine. Getting the height right can be a PITA sometimes.

I'll keep experimenting. Usually when you're forced to think outside the box with exercises you'll stumble onto something that is a new favorite.

Indeed.

I will say one thing - my strength is really starting to take off right now (compared to recent experience). Initially I thought it was a placebo effect, but the longer it goes, the less I believe that. Eventually I want to enter into a fat-loss phase, but I wanted to wait until I got 1-2 full effort blasts under my belt. This would help me get a better feel for the program and how it's supposed to work, plus it might help elevate my metabolism and make my calorie intake starting point a bit higher.

Good call on riding it out like that.

That strength increase could be a "mass placebo..." Pardon the pun, as I've seen it happen few times.

-S