Ok long story short I now have to workout a planet fitness and they lack a LOT of what I look for in a gym, no squat racks, actual bench presses, powerlifting platforms, etc. I have access to dumbbells, a smith machine and a ton of other machines. I am looking for a 4 day training split that is easily scalable. My girlfriend is new to the gym and works out with me. So I sort of want a solid program that is good for beginners so she doesn't get discouraged and will get her best results but scales up nicely to more intermediate lifters like me so I'm not just staying where I'm at like I've done before when helping out my own friends when they get started. So for example I may end up doing more sets and reps on the same exercise or I'll be doing weighted dips while she does assisted dips.

@zacattack for a beginner's program that you can modify and make it useable for a more advanced lifter, why not try the PPL program? You can modify it to 4 days a week by just doing MONTH 1 repeatedly (3 days for PPL), and then add a 4th day where you do either weak point training or maybe even a full body workout.

If you think it might be too much for your girlfriend right now, she can cut back on the total volume of the workouts, and you can switch between the A, B and C workouts yourself to keep challenging yourself.

Obviously being at Planet Fitness you won't be able to do everything though, so if you need any alternate movements, you can post in the relevant routines for us to give you some suggestions!

What do you think?

Okay I had a look at whats already free and this is what I'm thinking for legs.

Barbell Squat-> DB Lunges maybe? I'm not a fan squatting to begin with but the smith machine makes it even worse, just feels unnatural when I squat on it and misses out on a lot of smaller muscle groups

Barbell Glute Bridge, she could definitely do with those straight bars that people normally curl with, for me maybe goodmornings on the smith machine? Not sure how that would feel

Stiff Leg Deadlift- Could this be done on a smith machine?

Barbell Calf Raise-> on the smith machine, I don't think stabilizers play a big role here

What I'm thinking for push.

Babrell BP-> DB BP

Low to high Cable fly-> Front DB Raises with palms up

Incline DB Rear Fly-> Pec Deck Fly

And probably just have a dedicated ab day for the 4th day since it's a part of my training I normally neglected because I normally stuck to heavy compound movements.

Probably just go with with ab/oblique workout in your 5 day split.

Am I undersanding this correctly, if I go platinum I get access to all workout programs, not jush PPL?

1. I would do a goblet squat instead of the barbell squat if you're not going to use the smith machine.

2. Why aren't you going to do the glute bridge as well? It's important for guys to build the glutes too - and it will help with your overall power for squats and deadlifts! You can use the smith machine for that.

3. Yes they could be done on a smith machine, or just do it with dumbbells would probably be better.

4. Yes the smith machine is fine for the calf raises, or again, you can do it with dumbbells.

5. Doing the dumbbell bench press is fine instead of the barbell bench press.

6. Or you could do an incline dumbbell fly instead of the low-to-high cable fly.

7. Is your pec deck reversable? So you're still doing rear flys on the machine? You can also just do rear delt flies standing, and bent over forwards, if you don't have an incline bench.

Sounds like a good plan with your abs training being on the 4th day! And yes, when you sign up as platinum, you have access to all of the programs, @exclusive content, and the @mealplan feature!

Thanks for the help! I'll definitely be going platinum tomorrow since I just hit my card's daily limit due to a car payment.

1) I tried goblet squats, even with a 75 pound DB (the heaviest my gym has) I hit 4 sets of 10 my first time doing them. Really not sure where to go from there or how to make it harder. Thinking just DB squats but even then I will only get to 150 pounds and I've squatted up to 275 for several sets on a normal barbell. Maybe DB front squats with the dumbbells held on my shoulders?

2) I figured it would be too hard to set up without a barbell but I figured out a way to do it, just moved a bench to the smith machine and got it going now.

3) Sounds good!

4) Perfect

5) Perfect

6) Got it

7) Yes it is and luckily there are incline benches! I never expected to have to wait for a machine while having all the dumbbells and benches free I guess that's one thing I got going for me haha.

Awesome!

1. Like you say, it can be hard to overload with any dumbbell squat movement, even with lunges. When you're squatting on the smith machine, are you making sure to have your feet foward, out in front of you? Because of the way most smith machines are designed, you can't squat like you normally would. And if that's the best way to overload, it might be worth getting the form right so you can do it (I'm not a fan of people squatting in smith machines either, but it comes down to what will work best for your situation).

2. Yeah that's it man!

7. Awesome! So you can still do the incline DB rear delt fly then 😁