Compound exercises with dumbbells?

[Peroxadic]

Hey guys,

I have a little dilemma here. I'm a college student and I've been going to the school gym three times a week for about 7 weeks and I was really determined to be focused and committed to getting bigger this summer. Things were looking good, I gained about 20 pounds in 5 weeks and I was trying to reach at least 180 by the end of the year. (at 168 last time I checked).

One day I go to the gym and they say that the gym won't be open that day (at least the muscle room) and so I was pissed cus I was all looking forward to working out. Then I find out that they won't have ANY free weights for a whole month or two! (the worker just said September so iono..). All they will have are machines and dumbbells, which means no standard compound exercises such as squats, deadlift, press, etc..

Can you people with experience and knowledge in the field help me figure out what to do here? I want to focus on compound exercises, so any variants of specifically squats, deadlift, barbell rows, and bench using dumbbells would be great. I'm not considering using machines right now because I've just read too many articles and books that said free weights are too superior to machines (hope I'm not mistaken).

Thanks for all your anticipated help!

 

[OneBreath]

Probably the quickest way to some really great workouts is to search for kettlebell workouts. Then use the dbs instead of kettlebells. You will be sure to find some of the below:

- snatches (1 db, 1 hand)
- cleans (either 1 db or both)
- cleans and presses (either 1 db or both)
- overhead squats (either 1 db or both)
- 1 handed swings
- deadlifts
- squats with dbs cleaned
- squats with dbs at side.

There are many others but these are just to name a few. You can use this time to your advantage by shocking your body for the month or 2 with these different types of lifts. Then when you switch back to the traditional barbell movements you get to shock your body all over again.

Also, the key with some of these (like squats with dbs at side) is to use wrist straps once your grips starts to give. Typically your grip will give long before your legs give when doing squats. Keep this principle in mind.

 

[Peroxadic]

some great advice. thank you very much for the info i was lost at what to do for awhile. i appreciate it!