I just got a job as personal trainer in one fancy commercial gym with now squat rack and with bunch of machines. I quit my old job as s&c coach in soccer club due misunderstanding with my boss.
Anyway, I got to work to pay my bills and this job has the same paycheck as the old one (read: low 
) with less ‘psychological stress’ (I guess) and greater week working time.
Since my ‘philosophy’ is based mostly on squat rack, yet this gym don’t have one, I wonder how to adapt? The members are mostly working people looking for some quality time, recreation and fat loss, with maybe couple of them looking for muscle mass gain etc, etc.
Anyone had/have similar job here?
You can do almost everything you do with a Barbell with a pair of Dumbells - so get creative!
In fact it also will be interesting to use alot more unilateral work.
The only thing you need to avoid is excessive grip work.
i dont have a squat rack either, i run a small PT studio. Most people dont really need a squat rack - most dont need to gain size - the ones that do would go elsewhere and to a more Hardy gym anyway.
I still do squats - but teach perfect form ass to grass - develops at least flexability in hips and other areas.
Then you can stil do power cleans etc,
lunges with barbell after cleaning it
lunges with dumbells
lunges with med ball
lunges via walking 20m
deadlifts of different variations
or you could do cleans - then front squats
log lifts then front squats
hop on their back and them do squats
I find some need many months of regualar wieght free squats before i feel they are even ready to takle extra weight - poor mechnics, flexability and coming from a total lack of physical activity, or just simply they weight that much that all that fat is weights in itself.
And throw in a few Step Ups too
(…you lunge crazy lunatic!)
I had to work out in a gym that had no squat rack last year (school). I mainly did cleans, deadlift variations (sumo, snatch grip, deficit, SLDL etc.) and dumbbell unilateral (lunges, bulgarian split squats, step-ups etc.) for lower body work and set two weight trees/woo next to each other so I could rest the bar there and do bench pressing (when the other station was being used) and zercher lifts e.g. Z squats, good mornings - although you can also do them like this without the hassle of a rack set-up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg6OxasEFbc. You can still do most your upper body work without a squat rack (rows, chins and some pressing).
Nows the time to look at the isometrics again! Machines arn’t necessarily that bad if you combine them with unilateral work as well.
Thanks for your support and ideas guys… I guess my choice will be a bunch of dumbell work with some deadlift variations for leg. Arms are easy…
The only problem I see is that I could get ‘fired’ due my philosophy (machines sucks anyway ), so I must drop in some machine work…
BTW, how do you guys plan the CARDIO on concept II, eliptic runner, bike, etc, etc? I do not plan to use too much ‘HR zone’, but maybe after some time to test the damn recreatives and derive some ‘performance’ number, like vVO2max or some other speed where I can plan intervals and workouts. Maybe I will use HR zones, but I would rather use RPE scores or something like that… any ideas on this?
Thanks in advance
I would look at it as a great opportunity to design unliateral exercises.
As for the cardio - of course try and use more interval work - but you might try some of Poliquins German Body Comp to avoid the machines OR use simply use timed intervals.
Thinking inside the box here…you could always just buy an economy squat rack or stands.
True, yet I can’t do that with owner’s approval… it’s not my gym
Multiple Front Squats from Clean.
I have certainly done 1 Clean + 3 Front Squats for sets before.
Split Squats, Overhead Squats…
Not the same as heavy squats though.
Nice thinking!
Duxx,
I worked as a personal trainer.
I would suggest you to have a long term plan with your clients, don’t variate for variety sake. This means that HIIT, German Body Comp, EDT and the likes, all have a place, but you have to plan when to use them with each client. The important is to be progressive, you don’t just put a client thru a Tabata protocol because you dislike steady runs or think they are less effective 
It is also important to test them to show them where they are heading to, generally they need more motivation that athletes.
Active Isolated Stretching is a good method to have them increase mobility and exercising at the same time. Some might be so unfit at the beginning that a routine of AIS would be enough to get them sore for a few days.
Machines are fine for (not so functional) hypertrophy work and body composition work, so don’t hold on your prejudice.
With more advanced trainees you can use a lot of complexes (power clean to front squat to push press, for example).
Hope this helps.
P.S.:
lunges with barbell after cleaning it
lunges with dumbells
lunges with med ball
lunges via walking 20m
LUNGE RULEZ!
Machines arn’t that bad just don’t try and use them like dumbells! E.g. control the speed of movement and get any speed strength stuff from other methods. Just don’t get fired and find a job where they value you!
You could always use the Louie Simmons approach to machines … tie a chain round one and drag it round the parking lot …
The Best way is to get them to just keep moving at a constant HR for like 30min. But - who is going to pay you $$ to do that…
Break up the routine - warm up on the rower say - move onto the spin bike for some intervals - then onto the Stepper or such for some recovery after the intervals - then onto the rower for say 4min hard - back to stepper for recovery or even some Glove work to give the lower body a break as part of recovery - then intervals on the spin bike again and finnish off on the rower…
It can sound complicated, but, really, your keeping them going, getting some intervals going and just jumping from one machine to the next. So long as each session its fairly similiar as in Warm up, interals, recoverys etc etc all should be good to plan and follow.
As per the Machines - they dont need Free weights too much - they are not sports people, and potentially are that far out of shape - even if they think they are not, that machines might be a safer choice for some months - but again - why pay somebody $$ to use machines?? You jsut sit and push. V’s free weights you need correct technique, spotters, form, sombody to help you change the heavy weights etc - easier to get $$ from free weights i believe. Many kmarts or such cheap shops sell Machines you just sit n push, therefory putting you out of business.
A trainer friend of mine in India faced the same problem in the gym he joined. No squat rack of any kind. So its true that most commercial gyms all over the world have at least 55 percent cardio equipment and rest are weight machines. It suits the business model as the goals of most of the members are not sporting performance as you know.
However my friend convinced the owner to get a simple squat rack after a few months of joining and he is getting a few clients to squat!
I am sure if the owner of your gym realizes the vast training knowledge you have to offer, he just might get you a squat rack! Wish you luck!
Haha!! Brilliant!!