Posted: 8/27/2025 1:00:45 PM EDT
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I’m 41, I’ve been lifting off and on for 5 years. For the last year and a few months I’ve been doing 5-3-1 with good results. I’m not necessarily looking to change programming right now because my squat and bench are still steadily increasing, but I am willing to look forward to what’s next. We have a modestly equipped home gym in our garage. Power rack, nice flat bench, lifting platform, pioneer belts, adjustable dumbbells up to 50lbs, nice rogue bar, curl bar, dip bars, concept2 rowing machine, plenty of plates. I lift in converse all stars. I’d love a leg extension machine just for my knees, but I probably can’t afford the machine or the space. I’ve looked pretty hard at a Rep flat/incline/decline bench recently. I’m looking for input on equipment and accessory lifts and possibly even some future programming changes that will help me improve my workouts and budge my stalled OHP. Originally I started with the goal of hitting 135 in my OHP. I can get a few reps of 135, maybe 4 on a good day, but I have found myself in a cycle of getting up to about that, stalling, resetting then bouncing off of it again. I’m also thinking about incorporating more single leg lifts, just for general leg joint health and to keep grinding squat and deadlift gains. I’m within spitting distance of a 4 plate squat and a little further from a 5 plate deadlift. I want to get there without making my knees and hips completely miserable. Honestly, my wife and I lift together 4 days a week, but aside from her I don’t have anyone to bounce ideas off of. I’d be happy to hear whatever knowledge or input you’d like to share. |
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The old saying with the press is "To press more you have to press more" Basically you have to specialize in it for awhile, even if it means cutting back on benching. Like do strict presses on one day, then on your normal bench day do incline presses, push presses, continental presses...etc. I have lots of random stuff, but almost none of it gets used. I stick to the barbell and bodyweight stuff. The only thing I do use through the winter now is the leg curl/leg raise machine I got cheap on marketplace. It's handy. |
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This is a reasonably good home gym leg extension that also does leg curls. Leg extension machine This one is also supposed to be good as long as you are not over 6 feet tall if a I’m remembering correctly Leg extension machine As far as I know those are the two best budget home gym leg extension machines that have a good force curve. |
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Originally Posted By sitdwnandhngon: The old saying with the press is "To press more you have to press more" Basically you have to specialize in it for awhile, even if it means cutting back on benching. Like do strict presses on one day, then on your normal bench day do incline presses, push presses, continental presses...etc. I have lots of random stuff, but almost none of it gets used. I stick to the barbell and bodyweight stuff. The only thing I do use through the winter now is the leg curl/leg raise machine I got cheap on marketplace. It's handy. That’s helpful. Right now I’m doing my regular barbell OHP 531 progression one day and 5x10 dumbbell OHP accessory work the next day. Sounds like adding in some incline or other press work in on my bench accessory day could be helpful. Right now my bench is still progressing pretty well, so I might wait to make changes until that slows down a bit. Our gym takes up about half of our third garage space. I’m tempted to expand a bit, but space is at a premium. I’m wary of adding anything that will collect dust. |
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Originally Posted By chocolateisyummy2: This is a reasonably good home gym leg extension that also does leg curls. Leg extension machine This one is also supposed to be good as long as you are not over 6 feet tall if a I’m remembering correctly Leg extension machine As far as I know those are the two best budget home gym leg extension machines that have a good force curve. Thanks for the recommendations. Those are definitely more affordable than I expected. |
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For the leg extension, if you don't have room for a normal machine and aren't looking to also do leg curls, a sissy squat machine will actually hit your quads better than a leg extension due to greater tension in the stretched position. Another great machine for us older guys is a belt squat. It's a good way to get in more leg volume w/o adding to spinal fatigue. There are a bunch of different styles available. I have the Bells of Steel version. It's one of the budget options but I'm very satisfied with both the quality and the geometry of it. Edit to add : Heavy chains are also a fairly convenient way to add a lot of variety to your lifts and are surprisingly versatile. If I'm nursing mild injuries, I'll use them to lighten the load at depth where your knees/elbows/shoulders are most vulnerable while still having enough tension in the other parts of the movement to be useful. They're also useful for the opposite. For example, you can use them to overload the top of a deadlift if you need to focus on your lockout. Doing dips or pullups? Just throw a chain or two over your shoulder. |
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I'm 43 and have been squatting twice a week for at least 10 years. I squatted 475 for 1 and 405 for 8 this year at around 205lbs. Not the craziest numbers, but just qualifying the rest of my post. As far as your knees are concerned, they will be fine. There's no leg workout you can do that doesn't put stress on your knees. Knees get fucked up from repeated impact, not from stressing them with weight and perfect leverage. The belt squat is a good call if it's a stand-alone piece. I don't care for rack attached levers as they create an arc during movement which actually can really hurt your knees if you're going heavy. Also the reason I don't like leg extensions. If I were to pick a piece that helped my squat the most and took up almost zero space, it would be a safety squat bar. If I didn't care about space it would be the belt squat. If I were more into the bodybuilding accessories I would choose a hack squat/leg press combo. Leg curl machine is always a nice addition too. |
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Originally Posted By Jarcese: I'm 43 and have been squatting twice a week for at least 10 years. I squatted 475 for 1 and 405 for 8 this year at around 205lbs. Not the craziest numbers, but just qualifying the rest of my post. As far as your knees are concerned, they will be fine. There's no leg workout you can do that doesn't put stress on your knees. Knees get fucked up from repeated impact, not from stressing them with weight and perfect leverage. The belt squat is a good call if it's a stand-alone piece. I don't care for rack attached levers as they create an arc during movement which actually can really hurt your knees if you're going heavy. Also the reason I don't like leg extensions. If I were to pick a piece that helped my squat the most and took up almost zero space, it would be a safety squat bar. If I didn't care about space it would be the belt squat. If I were more into the bodybuilding accessories I would choose a hack squat/leg press combo. Leg curl machine is always a nice addition too. I should qualify my statement about the leg extension machine and my knees, it’s more about knee comfort and less about knee safety. Leg extensions seem to take care of some of my squat related knee pain. Safety squat bar is a good call. I hadn’t thought about getting one of those, but I can see it being a valuable addition. Got a recommendation on which one to look at? |
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Originally Posted By adamtheduke: I should qualify my statement about the leg extension machine and my knees, it’s more about knee comfort and less about knee safety. Leg extensions seem to take care of some of my squat related knee pain. Safety squat bar is a good call. I hadn’t thought about getting one of those, but I can see it being a valuable addition. Got a recommendation on which one to look at? Everyone's anatomy is different. I quit leg extensions because it was creating a sharp pain in random kneecaps that lasted a week. Keep it going if it works. The general consensus is Elite FTS on the SSBar. It's pricey though. The Titan bar is supposed to be a pretty close replica. Most people don't like Rogue because the camber isn't right, haven't tried one though. People also seem to like Kabuki because you can actually change the camber, but really pricey and not sure that's necessary. |
| The safety squat bar is a very good addition. I like a lot of specialty bars anyways (I use a Kadilac a lot for benching). I've had a couple SSB's and the one I kept is the Titan V2. From the reviews I've seen, geometry-wise, it's pretty much a clone of the EliteFTS bar at a much lower price. |
Nowhere in the Constitution will you find the phrase, "unless it's inconvenient to Government".
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Originally Posted By jcatcg: The safety squat bar is a very good addition. I like a lot of specialty bars anyways (I use a Kadilac a lot for benching). I've had a couple SSB's and the one I kept is the Titan V2. From the reviews I've seen, geometry-wise, it's pretty much a clone of the EliteFTS bar at a much lower price. Looks like the Elite is on sale for $399 right now. |
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Originally Posted By adamtheduke: Looks like the Elite is on sale for $399 right now. Delivery is expensive. Still a good deal. They rarely run them. They do regular price with free delivery once or twice a year, which I think is a better deal. Either way, not a bad price. |