Exercise Alternatives to Leg Press and Bench Press

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello,

I am a current user of 12 Week Strength Template, which I purchased about two weeks ago. I am writing to ask questions about exercises that can be done in lieu of some exercises prescribed in the program due to equipment limitation and injury history.

  1. There are 3 days in the total of 4 training days in which the program asks the trainee to train either Bench Press itself or a certain variation of Bench Press, whereas only one day is reserved for Overhead Press. Due to personal injury history and also exercise preference, I’ve always struggled with Bench Press or its variations (incline, floor, decline, etc.) and am not interested in nor particularly care about doing Bench Press (since it is irrelevant to the sports I am playing), so I am determined not to include Bench Press or its variations into any of my exercise regimen. In view of my considerations then, what will be the team’s suggestion for other kinds of exercises I can do for upper body to take the place of Bench Press and its Variation? I should mention Overhead Press is certainly one of my favorite lifts.

  2. On day 4 of training days, the program ask the trainee to perform 3-5 sets of 10 Leg Presses. My gym does not provide Leg Press Machine. What exercises can be chosen to replace Leg Press on Day 4?

Thank you for your time.

2

RH,

Thanks for the post and your business. We really appreciate it!

As for your questions:

  1. I would replace day 3, slot 2 with incline bench and day 4, slot 2 with overhead press. I would keep bench press in day 1, slot 1. I’m not sure that any of the barbell lifts are specific to the sport you’re playing, though increasing strength over a variety of movements seems reasonable :slight_smile:

  2. Split squats, dumbbell box step ups, hack squat, etc. would be good options.