How to Program a Workout While Gyms are Closed
Due to COVID-19, we are all experiencing something very new and very different. Staying indoors is preventing everyone from going to the gym, going outside, meeting up with our workout partners, etc. As someone who relies on physical activity, I too am having a difficult time not being able to practice my normal gym routines. So I have set off to find a new normal. Should I go for a run outside? Should I bang out some push-ups? What should I do? There is no right or wrong answer, but here is what I think is a great blueprint to set you up for a successful at-home workout!
Structure:
The biggest thing that has been ripped out from underneath us is structure. We have been told that this quarantine may last around 12 weeks, so finding our groove is going to be crucial to our health. While gyms are closed, it is going to be important for us to find what works best. We all understand that this “new normal” is not going to be our normal gym routine and that is okay, but this is not a time for you to become a couch potato!
Make yourself a schedule that you can follow daily. When you wake up, allow yourself 10-20 minutes to focus on stretching and mobility. This is a great time for you to focus on your body, get the blood flowing and to get you out of bed.
Sample Wake up, Warm-up Routine
Below is a sample wake up, warm-up routine that will take care of the major muscle groups. You can follow it specifically or substitute with other exercises. As these exercises get easier, you can progress them by spending more time per movement. The intent of these exercises is to keep the intensity low or moderate and to focus on getting the muscles moving.
Upper Body Dynamic Exercises
Prone Cobra
Shoulder Retraction Circles
Scapular Push-ups
Thoracic Dynamic Exercises
Lizard w/ Rotation
Sphinx w/ Reach
Threading the Needle
Lower Body Dynamic Exercises
Single-Leg Bridge
90/90’s
Good Mornings
Main Workout
Most of us do not have access to weights, myself included, so here are a couple of useful tools that could replace weights: a suspension trainer, resistance bands, and mini resistance bands. If you are able to afford any of these or can even get a hold of this equipment, grab it! They will allow you to have a much larger variety of exercises. But remember, since you will be using new equipment and, therefore, new techniques, it is very important that you do not rush the progress of your exercises to the hardest variation and instead master the regressions before moving to the progressed versions of these exercises. Yes, I know they may be a little boring, but focus on owning the movements. Get to a point where you can just pop right into the exercise with extreme ease!
Sample Workout Routine
If you feel that you can hop right into the workout, go for it, but I would highly recommend running through the wake up, warm-up exercises individually at least once. When you feel that your body is primed and ready, you can jump into your workout. When you are programming a full-body workout, pick one exercise per body part. Given that the stimulus is not going to be nearly as strong, focus on full-body routines for the meantime.
If you find that any of these exercises are too easy, and since we are unable to load the exercises with the weight, we will manipulate the stimulus in other ways by adding some of the below progressions. For each exercise, perform anywhere from 10-30 reps:
Bodyweight Squats or Split Squats
Push-ups or Isometric Push-ups
Banded Rows or Inverted Bodyweight Rows (w/ suspension trainer or a table) or Pull-ups
Banded Deadlifts or Single-Leg Romanian Deadlifts
Banded Chops or Chop Rotations (w/ suspension trainer)
Frequency
Frequency is a huge piece that often gets overlooked in training. We tend to hit one muscle group and then do not exercise those body parts for another 5-7 days. Frequency is key in becoming a well-rounded athlete. Feel free to make the wake up, warm-up a part of your daily exercise. For the workouts start off small (2-3 times/week) and as you begin to adapt to this, increase the days to 4-5 days per week. If you are using weights, however, this would not be something that I would recommend because the body needs time to recover. But by using lighter weight and higher rep counts, this allows you to recover quicker since the body is using more slow-twitch muscle fibers rather than fast-twitch muscle fibers which take a longer time to recover.
Intensity/Reps/Rest/Phasing:
Typically when I train, I tell my clients to leave 1-2 reps in the tank at all times. However, since they are now working with bodyweight instead of actual weights, I encourage sets to failure (completing the maximum amount of reps one’s body can perform) given that the load is not overbearing. But, if they are performing greater than 15 reps and still not hitting failure, they should continue to keep 1-2 reps in the tank. If they are performing the exercises correctly, the movement should be enough of a stimulus to maintain their current physique without losing muscle mass.
Sets
How many sets you should perform should be based on your recovery. If you are hitting a full-body workout 3x a week, start with 3-4 sets per muscle group. This is not something that is set in stone, so come back to it and assess how you feel. If it is too easy, add another set or two. If it is too difficult, cut the workout down until you get to a point where you are able able to complete the workout. As you continue, your body will begin to adapt. The workouts will start to get easier because you are getting stronger! Now if you add more sets, you may find that your body is able to handle more because of the lighter load.
Reps
Now you can focus on progression. Most do not have the ability to just add an extra 5 pounds to make the exercise harder, so your job is to figure out how many reps it takes you to hit failure. For example, let’s say 19 reps is where you fail, every week aim to add an extra 1-2 reps. For most of you, adding 1-2 reps a week may be very difficult and you may need more than just a week to add reps to your exercises. Remember to take the time to understand your body and what you need!
Rest
Manipulating your rest can exhaust the muscles much quicker. This is something that you can do to change up the intensity. I practice this very often with clients because it can force the muscles to work harder and make an exercise harder without changing the amount of weight that they are moving in any specific exercise. Give yourself just enough time to get rid of the fatigue or burn within the muscle and catch your breath, then check back in!
Phasing
Phasing is reached by the tempo in which you complete each exercise. Here is the most beneficial way to set up this program:
Week 1-4
Focus on increasing the number of reps and sets from week to week
Week 5-8
Focus on increasing the eccentric phase of the exercise
i.e. In the lowering phase of a push-up, aim for the eccentric to be around 3 seconds
Week 9-12
Focus on the isometric (holding a position for 3-5 seconds) pause at the peak of the contraction or at the most difficult position of the exercise
*** This is just a sample workout. You can use this as your own template and manipulate it as you see fit. You can also email us at icanperformance@gmail.com for more information on one-on-one personal training and fully customized programs.