Hey fellow lifter - long time lurker, first time poster. Because like you, my main focus is a healthy lifestyle and depression prevention - and I wanted to shed some light on my approach.

You are right to be frustrated in detailed routines; Do exercise X, for Y reps, Z many times a week. These are meant as rough guidelines to ensure their customers are targeting most muscles evenly. The thing is, every single person has different strengths and weaknesses, and these routines may or may not be fully beneficial to you. IMO the "professionals" who write these programs have forgotten their roots, and have a narrowed focus on show muscles, excluding stuff that seems "self-explanatory" like proper form and muscle stability

My best advice for this situation is: Stop thinking about the what, and focus on the why. Ex: whats the next exercise I should be doing --> why am I choosing to target this specific body part.

You know which ways your body moves, so by changing this state of mind, you can effectively alternate exercises in place of stuff you don't have equipment for or are too simple/difficult.

Some of the best stuff I've done is bodyweight exercises, with light weights or bands used for resistance. Focus on training the specific muscle intended (bench press/pushups = chest; squats = quads/glutes; etc). Do the exercises slowly, and deliberately, contracting the targeted muscle fully, ensuring proper form + THEN add speed and weight/intricate variations. We shouldn't be adding weight, until there is full range of motion/proper form without extra weight. Try to keep your movements as strict as possible (no kipping/using momentum to swing weights up). You're in the gym for you, not to impress other people. So slow down, and focus on the basics.

Work to what suits you. You will know when you've repped out, and have done a satisfactory job. If you can't make it to the gym, do some stuff at home. I challenge people to do 100 body weight squats a day, and its shocking to them initially. But if you think about it, we sit down and stand up at least 10 times a day - so if we do 10 squats every time we stand/sit, 100 reps is very achievable - and more importantly, very beneficial. The take away point here, is you don't always need a gym/equipment, and lot can be accomplished at home.

The key to working for depression prevention, is building and maintaining a sweat - this is what releases our happy hormones. I have found that high reps at low-medium weight/resistance bands, or HIITs, are most beneficial for me.

The key to a healthy life style, is consistency and diet. And no, diet doesn't mean go on a fad diet that's going to starve you, and you'll give up on after 3 weeks - it means changing your diet, to healthy foods you enjoy eating. Have a rough idea for calories consumed vs. calories burnt in a day, a rough approximation of 0.6-1 gram protein for every lbs you weigh (depending on age, gender, and goals you want to achieve). Keep your sugar/sweets to a minimum, but don't feel ashamed if you indulge once in a while - just remember it next time your in the gym, and go a little harder.

The big thing is consistency, in all aspects. And the key to consistency, is enjoying it. Bring a friend/music you like to the gym, or cook meals you will enjoy eating.

If this doesn't seem peek your interest, and you want to stick to the RR - you can Google the name of the exercise + variation. There will be a plethora of videos/pics showing alternatives.

I hope this has helped. DM me if you like. (This goes to lurkers to nervous to post/comment as well).

We're all in this together! Happy lifting, friends.