Light to moderate weight single leg deadlifts using dumbbells on a bosu ball. The bosu ball has done wonders for me this season in preventing lower leg issues that have plagued me for years.

IMO avoid the Smith machine at all costs. All it's going to do is disproportionately strengthen major muscle groups at the expense of the important stabilizer muscles.

Single leg dumbbell or trap bar

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I've been using it for squats, but I know that it's absolutely not as effective as traditional squats. Should I avoid it all together? What would be a non-smith machine alternative to squats?

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

If all you have are dumbbells, I'd say a goblet squat is your best bet. However, I'd also ask someone who is more qualified than I am.

Goblet squat is great as others have mentioned and really anything that incorporates single leg balance as that crucial to firing those stabilizer muscles. In general I would avoid any machine as it prevents key stabilizer muscles from being used.

Hi Cloy,

If you’re able to mimic the proper form of a free weight barbell deadlift, and supplement it with 1-leg Romanians with the dumbbells, you could get a lot of bang for your buck. Again with the proper form caveat, you can get some heavier work done with the Smith, you’ll just need to balance it out with the 1L Romanians and a solid squatting movement (previous poster mentioned Goblet squats, great option. Free weights would of course be ideal, but those 3 would be a very solid solution for your posterior chain on limited options. One of my athletes has to do 2 of his 3 sessions on the Smith (he lifts the trap bar on the remaining day), no injuries or imbalances so far, just progress.

If you’ve got up to 50lb dumbbells, do you have space available to do farmers walks or suitcase carries? Big payoff in terms of being able to handle sport-specific volume.

I also agree with others comments to not use a Smith machine for leg exercises, bench, or shoulder presses. Or pretty much any strength training exercise. It doesn't recruit the proper muscles for any functional real life strength.

A couple of exercises you can do using a smith machine that are beneficial are:

1) Single arm Push-ups
use them at an incline to help practice good form and decrease load.. lower the bar accordingly as you get stronger and eventually you can move to the floor with no incline at all. Rocky theme music is optional but recommended for motivation.

2) "Inverse" Push-up
Set the bar at a say waist height or slightly higher or lower. Hang from the bar with an overhand or underhand grip with your chest directly underneath the bar. Pull yourself towards the bar and try to touch your chest to it. Good shoulder/back of shoulder strengthening exercise

Another thing you can practice is single leg pistol squats for strength. Practice on a bench if you have balance issues doing it on flat ground or in an doorway for assistance if you're not strong enough yet. When that is too easy you can hold on to a dumbbell(s) for extra weight.

Deadlifts with free weights is still a great exercise but learn proper form for all variants you try or your gonna hurt yourself real bad with heavy weights. Mix them up every month or two to keep your body challenged and also to break up the monotony.

power cage, requires more core strength than smith and you still have a safety spotter built in.

http://www.sears.com/fitness-reality-ultra-800lb-weight-capacity-power-cage/p-A014171320?sid=IDx01192011x202447779&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjpK93a-z2QIVUrbACh1tbgtpEAQYASABEgK1LfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CKnXxOmvs9kCFYbHwAodMFcBmg

I'm not in the market to purchase equipment. I'm merely using my employer's on-site fitness center. haha. If I had to buy something, it'd be the run of the mill squat rack.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

did not mean to purchase just used as an example of what a power cage looks like :)

Definitely plenty of room for that stuff. I've never tried farmers walk/suitcase carries, but it doesn't seem like it would be super challenging with only 50lbs?

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

For Farmers walk, unfortunately no. For the suitcase carries, 50 is plenty. I’m starting to find that even as light as 1/4 bodyweight in the one hand reinforces the posture really well for running. Too much weight on one side seems to just pull the athlete sideways to no real effect, but 40-50lb with super strict, shoulders-back, stick-up-backside posture is working well to finish workouts. It also keeps the dumbbell just far enough away that your leg isn’t banging it every step!

Awesome! I will start working these in!

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri