I was going to write a post yesterday about how hard it is to Squat with resistance bands. Instead, I impulsively purchased Squats Stands that were on sale at Amazon.
The reason squatting with bands is so hard is that you have to put the bar on your back in a deep squat position, while either standing on the bands which is what I do, or anchoring them to something, which I was doing with my Body Boss platform. You then have to maneuver yourself into the right bottom position of the Squat and start the movement from there. I had the brilliant revelation that if I had a Squat Stand, I could put the bar at the top, then wrap the bands around the base of the stand. Genius! Until I realized, some time later, that once I unracked the bar, there’d be nothing to hold the stands in place and the band tension would move the stands and likely tip them over.
As I pondered a solution to this, I considered buying heavy dumbbells to put on the base of the stands to try to hold them in place. How heavy? 100’s? Would that be enough? What if I used thicker bands? The next thing I knew, I was buying a barbell and rubber bumper plates. The former was an easy purchase from my old friends at New York Barbell. Bumper Plates are hard to come by. It would seem the COVID pandemic has created a significant demand for them.
I live in a small 3rd floor condo, and I mean small. I have a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom and a bathroom. There really isn’t anywhere to set up a home gym, but apparently I’m doing it anyway. So my living room will feature a Squat Stand with accompanying barbell and plates, and presumably I’ll end up buying a bench as well.
I’m pretty excited to be able to do Squats and Front Squats again. Overhead Press will also be a valid option, and depending on how low the stands adjust, I should be able to Bench Press off them as well. Hopefully the rubber bumper plates will be more forgiving should they drop than the standard steel Olympic plates.
I’ve been contemplating a return to the gym as Faithful Readers know, but every time I venture out, even masked, I experience fairly dramatic anxiety. So no matter how much I may try to talk myself into going back, it’s just not in the cards. So it’s a good thing I never bought a couch, so that I have room for the latest in post-COVID living room decor.
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