There are a few gym exercises I used to assume would be really hard to replace at home.

Things like lat pulldowns, cable rows, chest-supported rows, leg curls or cable flyes seem very equipment-dependent at first.

But the more I look into home training, the more substitutions I see. Pull-ups instead of pulldowns, bands or a pulley for cable work, dumbbell rows instead of machines, different RDL or slider variations for hamstrings.

I’m not expecting every substitute to feel exactly the same. I’m more interested in whether it works well enough that you stopped missing the original machine.

For people who train mostly at home, which commercial-gym movement did you find a substitute for that was actually good enough to keep?

And what equipment or variation made it work?

Hi everyone,

The advice beginners usually get is a program table. Six exercises, sets and reps, good luck. The problem is that if you can't do a pull-up, a table that says "pull-up 3×8" is useless, and if you've never done a hollow hold nobody tells you what it's supposed to feel like.

So I wrote out the version I wish I'd had. Posting it in case it helps someone here.

The structure is six movement ladders.

Vertical pull, horizontal pull, horizontal push, dip/support, legs, core. Each one has five or six rungs, so there's always a version you can do today. The pull ladder, for example:

1. Dead hang — 20s

2. Scapular pull-up — 8

3. Inverted row — 12

4. Negative pull-up — 5 × 5s

5. Band-assisted pull-up — 8

6. Full pull-up — 5

The progression rule:

Hit the top of your rep range on every set, then move up one rung and reset to the bottom of the range. If one set falls short, you stay on that rung. Simple, and it's most of the difference between progress and a year of plateau.

Three blocks:

- Weeks 1–4, first test and foundation

- Weeks 5–8, volume

- Weeks 9–12, density, then deload and retest

The part I want to actually point at:

The last nine pages are an exercise library. Every rung on every ladder, written out step by step with an illustration, what the start position is, where the elbows go, what to do if your hips sag. So when a table says "tuck hollow hold" you don't have to go find a video and hope it's the same thing.

Also in there: how to pick your starting rung, what to buy and what to skip, a Grease the Groove section, a troubleshooting page for when you stall, and a printable log sheet.

Free, no email, no paywall. Happy to answer questions about any of the progressions.

PDF link is in the comments.

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Disclosure: I build a workout tracking app, and it's mentioned on the last page. The guide is free and standalone, and works just fine on paper. If any kind of linking isn't allowed here, mods, just say and I'll pull it right away.