No leg extension or seated row machine at gym - replacement?

I just looked at the two-week free preview for the plan. I did a bit of a face palm when I saw the weight training plan. The weight exercises for the upper body focus only on the back with no pressing movement. Interesting. Not necessarily a bad thing. I'd say that 95% of the population could use a training cycle where they ditch the ever-popular bench press and focus on strengthening the upper back. Later on you can add an overhead press movement to it, but hold off on that for now.

Here's what I would do:

1. Ditch ALL of the leg exercises except the squat. Seriously. The squat will work the quads, obviously, but will also hit hamstrings to some extent. Really, I'm not kidding. If you feel the need to do hamstring curls those aren't bad. It's interesting that you have access to a hamstring curl machine but not a leg extension as most small gyms have a bench where the curl extension is combined. But that doesn't matter because the leg extension is a useless exercise for athletic performance and is really hard on the knees. Or so I'm told. I've never had problems with it but I also never got anything good out of it in terms of strength gains or athletic improvement. You will not miss anything if you don't do leg extensions.

2. Bump up the sets of squats to 5. But go slow. For instance, first workout do 3 sets, see how you feel, then go to 4, then to 5. This will not be too much as the squat will be your ONLY leg exercise. Ditch the leg press as well as it, too, is useless for athletes. Like with the leg extensions, you will not miss out on anything. Squats are far superior to the leg press and you will be much better off focusing on this lift than goofing around with leg presses and leg extensions.

3. Pull downs are good. Those are a keeper.

4. Instead of seated rows, do one arm dumbbell rows.

So, your workout will consist of squats, pull downs, and one-arm DB rows. Leg curls are optional but you can add them if you feel that they are needed. That's it.

I guess the plan also has you doing core work. That's fine, but because we're increasing your squat sets you'll find that your abs and especially your lower back will get hit hard with just the squats, so feel free to cut back on the core work. This is why I like squats so much - they hit so much more than just the quads.

Is your gym have a nice set of dumbbells and barbells? If there was, then you're in for a treat.

There are TONS of exercise you can do from those two equipments alone, and most advanced athletes will say that its better than machine.

What you can do is, assuming you urge for legs and back exercise, squat and lunges for legs and rows and pull up for back.

Squats and lunges: grab a set of dumbbells with your hand, and perform a regular squat or lunges movement. Concentrate on your posture. Inhale when going down, exhale when you rise up.

Rows: again, with the dumbbells or barbells, perform a back row. You could do single hand row with resting the non-lifting hand on a bench. ALWAYS maintain your back straight.

Is your gym have a nice set of dumbbells and barbells? If there was, then you're in for a treat.

There are TONS of exercise you can do from those two equipments alone, and most advanced athletes will say that its better than machine.

What you can do is, assuming you urge for legs and back exercise, squat and lunges for legs and rows and pull up for back.

Squats and lunges: grab a set of dumbbells with your hand, and perform a regular squat or lunges movement. Concentrate on your posture. Inhale when going down, exhale when you rise up.

Rows: again, with the dumbbells or barbells, perform a back row. You could do single hand row with resting the non-lifting hand on a bench. ALWAYS maintain your back straight.

I concur, leg extension is sketchy on the knees; for the knee to be strong, the ham must be enganged, and thats really hard to do on those mahines.

I feel Lunges, side lunges, squats and ham curls wil do what you need and make for more powerful, balanced, injury-resistant legs, when you conciously engage the hamstring in those exercises.

Agreed heavy leg extensions are a bad deal.  Find some DB's or even a barbell and do squats or lunges for quad exercised and you'll be better off

If you're a newby to weightlifting, you may want someone to help you squat as far as form and what not. Single on the leg press is also a keeper. That way you dont favor one over the other. If you have a squat rack and a bar, you can do bodyweight rows holding on to the bar while your feet are on the ground, and eventually up on a bench. Leg extensions are garbage unless you are wanting to fine tune your VMO for a bodybuilding show or something.

Bent over BB rows, Single arm DB rows, Lawnmowers to incorporate more shoulder work, physioball bridges with hamstring curl for the legs, along with the leg presses or squats. If you can do walking lunges with db's properly, I wouldnt even do the leg presses, or anything else for legs really. And if the plan has no chest work, at least throw in a few sets of pushups each time you lift.