Scooby's Home Bodybuilding Workouts

Legs Workout

Lunges

The lunge is a great quad and butt exercise.  The key is starting with very light weight till you have the coordination of this movement down.  Personally, I have to use lifting straps to hold the weights up otherwise I end up dropping them but perhaps you have stronger wrists than I do.  I like doing these onto a step stool but you can do them on flat floor also.  If you use a step stool, make 100% sure that it will not slide around as this could cause very serious injury.  I find putting the step-stool against a wall on a carpet the safest and most secure. 

Good Mornings (hamstrings)

For the health of your knees, its important to keep all the leg muscles in balance.  Having huge quads and spindly little hamstrings is a recipe for knee problems.  Doing hamstrings is probably the toughest exercise to do in a home gym.  The one exercise you can do is called the "good morning" and it is an advanced exercise and very dangerous if done improperly so I suggest you have a physical therapist (not a personal trainer) show you how to do it properly.  I personally love this exercise as it is both a stretch and a strengthening exercise all in one.  I know I have said "do this exercise slowly" before, but this time it is absolutely critical for two reasons: first it is a stretch and you have to go down very slowly (2-15seconds) or risk pulling your hamstring muscle, secondly the back is in a vulnerable position and going at a snails pace helps insure that you are using perfect form.  First safety point, flex your abs and keep them flexed as hard as steel: this will help support your lower back.  Second keep your back neutral, lets talk a minute about what this means because its very important.  Neutral means not arched backwards like a swan dive and not curled forward like the fetal position, in fact, if you stand with good posture that is the correct back position. You are going to keep your entire upper torso completely motionless.  You legs are going to be locked and will stay that way, if you cant go down very far that is fine but just go down as far as you can.  If you bend your knees you are no longer exercising your hamstrings.  This exercise is traditionally done with the barbell held behind the neck but I view this as very dangerous because if you have a back twinge you cant quickly drop the weight to avoid serious injury.  When the weight is lightly hanging from your hands as I recommend, you can let go at the first hint of trouble.  Each rep you will go a bit lower as you stretch out but don't force it, the last thing you want is a pulled hamstring, it should just feel pleasantly tight.  After a few months you will find you will be able to go lower and lower and use more and more weight.  We will use an opposing grip on the bar, one palm facing forward and one facing backward, and we will not use straps or gloves so that we can drop the bar rapidly should we feel the slightest twinge of pain.  OK if I haven't scared you off yet, here is the exercise.  The first few times do this without any plates on the bar at all till you build confidence and then move up in weight very slowly.