Training at Home with Everything Except a Squat Rack

Hello coach!

My wife and I have a kid on the way, and I recently made the decision to move most of my training to our home for the first year. However, we don’t have enough space to put a permanent squat rack. But, I can reasonably budget 1 day/week at an actual gym to squat heavy.

I have a good barbell and about 400 lbs of weight kicking around, and some crash pads. I’m trying to figure out a good way to program around this situation (one day where I have access to a squat rack and can go heavy, and three days where I have a barbell and some weights).

I have constructed a little setup where I can safely do things like floor press and deadlift. And I can easily/safely power clean my working weight for OHP and front squats (if high reps). I was considering doing high rep/high volume 3 days of the week at home, and lifting heavy for 1.

Are there any recommended programs that could fit this situation? I have previously run Strength 1, Powerbuilding 2, the Bridge 1, and the Bridge 3.

For my at-home work, I was looking at the following exercises: Floor press, Front Squat, Romanian Deadlift, 530 Tempo Deadlift, OHP, Weighted Lunges, Hip Thrusts, Weighted Pushups, Weighted Pullups, and Farmer’s Carry (up flights of stairs).

Are there other exercise variations I should be considering?

My main goals would be to preserve as much strength/mass as possible while sleep deprived from caring for a kid.

Thank you! Any insight is appreciated!

A set of squat stands or rack that hinges out from the wall when in use would really, really be helpful. I think these would be my first move here.

That said, you could probably run hypertrophy I or gen s/c I with some creativity.

If you absolutely can’t get squat stands or similar, I’d add zercher squats, cowboy squats, bird squats, split squats, lunges, step-ups, SLDL, snatch grip DL, lever row, pendlay row, upright row, press, push press, etc.

I would really try and get a pair of squat stands though. No need to make your life any harder, right?

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