I created a guide for coaching clients on how to stay on target during this uncertain time. The email and videos I sent them were so popular, they asked me to put it here on the site for everyone.
If you have any ideas on how to make this better, leave a comment. I am updating this daily to improve it when I get new ideas.
Last Updated: March 21st. (Videos added.)
THOUGHTS ON HOW TO STAY ON TARGET AS THE CORONA SPREADS AND DAILY INCONVENIENCES HAPPEN
With the right attitude (and tools), the inconveniences that will come upon us in the coming months do not have to derail our goals.
The idea of this email is to give you these “tools” in advance so that if you need them they are here for you. Here are the two original videos I created for clients.
First, the two original videos I shared with clients, but if you prefer text keep scrolling.
Nutrition and Mindset Advice for the Corona Lockdown
Training Advice for the Corona Lockdown
For those who prefer to read, I have made detailed summary notes below which should cover it.
NUTRITION: This is Your Opportunity To Execute Savage Consistency and Create Lasting Change
We’re all going to be eating out less. So the social pressures that commonly derail us will not stand in our way. This means that you’ll consistently be eating at home and your overall adherence should increase during this period.
Make sure your home environment there is working for you, not against you. So, before you hit the supermarket, write a list of what you will need and buy only what is on that list (no impulse buying of snacks and treats). This way, you’ll have what you need in the house ready.
Remove all the shit you shouldn’t eat out of the house, or if you have kids and that’s difficult, put it out of sight. This article may be useful: 9 Ways To Fix Your Food Environment To Make Dieting Easier.
Use this time to educate yourself on the principles that go into an effective nutrition plan by reading my Complete Nutrition Setup Guide. It should be a fun read.
If you don’t feel ready to count calories and macros yet, you may well be in a position to have success without doing so. See: What To Do Before You Start Counting Macros And Calories.
When you eat out, bear in mind that most restaurant portions are going to have more calories than your budget allows for. So…
- Choose sensible options from the menu. If that sensible option comes with a quantity of stuff you don’t need…
- Don’t be afraid to leave something on your plate. Yes, it’s bad manners at your mother-in-law’s house, but that doesn’t apply at a restaurant. (If it’s a small one, ask the waiter to tell the chef it was nothing personal.) Eating everything on your plate because “people are hungry on the streets” is a good principle thing to tell your kids, but just flawed logic for an adult. You breaking your diet goals helps no one.
- Chew double the amount you usually would. Eating slowly gives your brain time to register that you are full, which can help minimize the risk of overeating.
- Drink two tall glasses of water prior to ordering. This can help minimize how much you eat.
When things do not go to plan, don’t beat yourself up about it but do not use that as an excuse for further behavior within your control. Avoid the all-or-nothing mindset trap.
TRAINING: HOW TO ADAPT YOUR TRAINING PLAN FOR HOME AND STILL GET AN EFFECTIVE WORKOUT
If you currently have a workout plan, this section will teach you how to adapt it by looking at it through the lens of the six major movement patterns it involves and substituting appropriate bodyweight exercises.
If you don’t have a workout plan, just use the examples given.
Why You Don’t Need To Panic
If I were to tell my 24-year-old self that I couldn’t hit the gym for a few weeks I think I would have panicked. But I didn’t know then what I know now and it’s exceptionally freeing.
- Just as muscle mass is not gained quickly, it is not lost quickly either.
- It takes a prolonged period of inactivity to lose a noticeable amount of muscle mass.
- Any muscle mass lost is regained far more quickly than it took to initially build it.
- The training stimulus needed to maintain muscle mass is far less than needed to build more.
- Strength is lost fairly quickly but comes back quickly.
This all means that even if you can’t train exactly as planned, as long as you do what you can (which the rest of this will explain) you will be fine!
I have also added the suggestions below to the color-coded “Exercise Video Database” spreadsheet that I share with clients and I’m sharing with you here: click to download Excel or Numbers versions. (No email address needed.)
Identifying The Six Movement Patterns
Almost all decent workouts are built around six movement patterns…
- Horizontal Pull
- Horizontal Push
- Vertical Pull
- Vertical Push
- Hip Hinge
- Squat
When I program them, they usually include the following exercises:
- Horizontal Pull:
- Rowing Variants
- Horizontal Push:
- BB/DB Bench Presses, Push-ups
- Vertical Pull:
- Lat. Pull-downs, Chin-ups, Pull-ups
- Vertical Push:
- DB/BB Overhead Presses, Landmine Presses
- Hip Hinge:
- Deadlift Variants, Barbell Hip-thrusts
- Squat:
- BB Squat Variants, Leg Presses
Take a moment to identify what category the exercises in your current program fall into. Ignore the isolation movements for now, like bicep curls, tricep extensions, lateral raises, calf work, and any ab work you may do.
Training At A Less-Than-Ideally-Equipped Gym
If your gym closes and you’re fortunate to be able to use another one with different equipment, we need to think in terms of what we can do to substitute these exercises.
Let’s say there is no squat rack or barbell, the heaviest dumbbell is lighter than ideal, but it has a full suite of machines. Here are some example substitutions:
- Horizontal Pull:
- Rowing Variants >> Seated or Chest-supported Row Machine, DB Rows
- Horizontal Push:
- BB/DB Bench Presses, Push-ups >> Chest Press Machine, DB Alternating Chest Press
- Vertical Pull: Lat. Pull-downs, Chin-ups, Pull-ups >> No Change
- Vertical Push: BB Overhead Presses, Landmine Presses >> Shoulder Press Machine, DB Overhead Press
- Hip Hinge:
- Deadlift Variants, Barbell Hip-thrusts >> 2-Arm, 1-Leg Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs)
- Squat:
- BB Squat Variants, Leg Presses >> Leg Press, Goblet Squats, DB Lunges
(Again, links to all of these exercises are in the spreadsheet above. I’ll add them to the article later.)
Training At Home
If you don’t have access to any regular gym equipment, don’t panic, this is me and many of my clients right now also. We’re getting the job done and you can too.
How To load movements
- You can fill an empty protein container with water and carry it.
- You can fill a backpack full of books.
- You can fill another backpack with books and wear it on your front.
- You can find a heavy rock in the garden.
- You can use resistance bands of varying strengths.
I am purposefully not recommending any specific product. This is something I avoid. For one, people can question my integrity if I do so. More practically though, people read and watch my content all around the world, so the availability of specific brands will differ.
This is the first time I have created any workout videos, but exceptional circumstances require exceptions. We’re all in this together. Here we go…
Horizontal Pull Options
1. Kitchen Table Bodyweight Rows
To those wondering, the heavy breathing is the sound of the gainz train coming. 😉🚂
(But more seriously, I find that purposefully breathing like I would when lifting a heavy load in the gym reminds me to brace and take every rep seriously, and use good form.)
2. 1-arm Band Rows
3. Ring Rows if you can purchase some gymnastic rings.
Horizontal Push Options
1. Bodyweight Push-ups
2. Loaded Backpack Push-ups
3. Band-resisted Push-ups
4. 1-arm push-ups off a desk. (Use various height sturdy objects to adjust the difficulty.)
Vertical Pull Options
1. Chin-ups or Pull-ups. You can use a door or a home chin-up bar if you have one. Otherwise, your local park may have a calisthenics area.
Vertical Push Options
1. Half-kneeling Band-resistance 1-arm Overhead Presses
2. Pike push-ups
3. Handstand push-ups (if you can, but this has a high-level movement and isn’t suitable for most).
4. Do more horizontal pushes.
Hip Hinge Options
1. Single-leg Hip-thrusts — Andy Morgan | RippedBody.com
2. Band-resisted Bodyweight Deadlifts
Squat Options
1. Goblet Squats
2. Archer Squats
3. Pistol Squats
4. Bulgarian Split Squats
Arm Options
1. 1-arm Overhead Band-resistance Tricep Extensions
2. Band Bicep Curls
How To Decide Training Intensity, Frequency, Sets, and Reps
As I mentioned in the video I made for clients, if you can…
- hit each movement pattern with the same frequency you usually do,
- with the same number of sets you usually perform for that movement pattern,
- to the same intensity of effort (RPE, meaning, you may need to do higher rep sets so that you go close to failure)
…then you should be good. Feel free to get creative to cover your isolation exercises (biceps, triceps, etc.) if you can, but as those muscles will be trained anyway, I wouldn’t worry about this too much.
Also, if you can’t do a horizontal pull or a vertical press movement because you have no equipment, I don’t think it is a big deal as long as you double up the vertical pull and horizontal press movements.
An Example Of How To Adjust The Novice Bodybuilding Program
To give a specific example. Let’s say you have the following in your training program (this is a version of the Novice Bodybuilding Program template that I made for a client), but you have no access to equipment…
On each day you might do as follows:
- Day 1:
- Goblet Squats holding a rock to your chest that you have in your garden. -- 4 sets (or Pistol Squats)
- Do the lunges to body weight. -- 2 sets
- Do the Bulgarian split squats with body weight. -- 2 sets
- Calf raises, standing, using bodyweight on a curb or rock. -- 3 sets (feel free to skip)
- Day 2:
- Push-ups -- 6 sets (because you can’t overhead press)
- TRX Rows -- 3 sets
- Overhead press -- 0 sets (skipped, unless you can find a way)
- Chin-ups -- 3 sets (6 sets if you can’t row, band-assisted if necessary.)
- Cable Flys -- 0 sets (skipped, unless you can find a way)
- Day 3:
- Hip Thrust -- 3 sets
- Goblet Squats (or Pistol Squats) -- 3 sets
- Leg extension/curl -- 0 sets (skipped, unless you can find a way)
- Calf raises, standing, using bodyweight on a curb or rock. -- 3 sets (feel free to skip)
- Day 4:
- Push-ups -- 6 sets (because you can’t overhead press)
- TRX Rows -- 3 sets
- Pull-ups -- 3 sets (6 sets if you can’t row, band-assisted if necessary.)
- Triceps/biceps -- 0 sets (skipped, unless you can find a way)
For every exercise, you’ll do as many reps as necessary to reach the same intensity of effort (RPE) you usually do. For an explanation of RPE, see halfway down my novice bodybuilding program article.
Again, please feel free to share this email to any friends you think may find it useful at this time. Please tell them that if they’d like to join you in receiving my bi-weekly emails, they can sign up with one step here.
If you have any questions, I am here to help. I’ll do my best to answer emails over this weekend. I’ll collect all Q&As and put them in the comments of the article (once I get it up on the site).
It’s not my place to give health information but just beware of the bad information out there. The WHO’s page on COVID-19 is legit.
Thank you. Stay well.
Please keep questions on topic, write clearly, concisely, and don't post diet calculations.
Privacy policy.
Hi Andy
Thank you for your informative article .
With regards to the resistance bands , could you recommends any brands or criteria for picking a good one please ?furthermore if we wanted to to minimise the cost, how would you priorities the practicality of bands in colors ?
Many thanks
Hi Floyd, see my response to Marc just now. The green band I mentioned is the thickest, so it offers the most resistance and is the most expensive. But if you’re on a budget, you could try using the other bands at the same time to add resistance.
Hi Andy. Long time no speak.
Just wanted to get your opinion, if you could get just one – resistance bands versus a TRX suspension training kit, which would you get for this time off at the gym?
Hi Marc, thanks for the question. In order of priority/usefulness:
1. Bands
2. Chin-up bar for a doorframe
3. Gymnastic rings (which can be attached to the chin-up bar and are cheaper than the TRX, which is vastly overpriced in my opinion)
Awesome. Any recommendations for resistance band brands? I looked at some of the apparently better quality brands and like everything else in the world atm, out of stock.
I purchased my set around 4 years ago from a place called Resistance Band Training. There were several places all selling the same type of bands but with their brand name on the packaging, so I imagine they’re all made in the same factory.
Anyway, the point being, this isn’t the only place you can get them, but it’s where I got them and the ones I bought were good.
Take a look at the photo of the colored bands in the article, that’s what you are after. I got a red, black, purple, and green band. (One of each.) Here’s the product page.
Do you recommend cutting if doing an at home workout like the one you mentioned or should i eat at maintenance? I was cutting for summer before my gym closed and ideally would like to continue that
Hi Steve. See my response to Mac.
Hi Andy, for triceps you can do “Bench dips” with chair and water gallon for biceps haha
Thanks!
Very true! Just make sure the chairs are strong!
Thank you Andy! 💪🏻
Most welcome, Jiman!
And something else, here’s a suggestion for the quarantine workout:
Miniband rows for lats (https://youtu.be/5aIXQpaa_yQ)
Thank you.
Dear Andy,
first of all thank You for Your helpful advices! Your suggestions are a good inspiration and I guess that I’m capable to construct some useful routine – now that the city I’m livin in closes all gyms. But my problem is that I just started a cutting phase and reduced my calory intake with the suggestions of the macro calculator on Your site. My training plan for this phase is orientated on Your intermediate bodybuilding plan. Usually I need some really heavy sets to keep muscles while cutting. But this seems to be impossible now, at least for lower body exercises. Should I better stop cutting and go for maintenance as long as I’m not able to squat or deadlift heavy?
Hi Mac, thank you for the question. I just took it and made the answer into part of an email for my list as I know others will be wondering the same.
When you are cutting, as long as you keep up your training efforts by matching the set volume of the main movement patterns with the same level of intensity (see the previous email or article on the site), you’ll be delivering a stimulus to tell your body to hang onto muscle while dieting and I think you’re fine to continue.
Exception: those exceptionally lean, or highly-advanced trainees. It may be worth coming to maintenance calorie intake as you need less of a training effect to maintain muscle then.
Andy, I have a different situation: I have a bench/sq rack and some weights, but they are definitely not sufficient to do my working weights at home (w10 on the novice powerlifting programm, btw – love it so much, thank you!).
How should I proceed? I have around 80kg of plates in total, whereas my squat is 100kg(x4), deadlift 110kg. I know that I am lucky to have the equipment at these times (I also have TP – bought it before the psychosis), but still scratching my head and thinking how to reorganize everything so that I still keep progressing, not just maintaining. Any suggestions? Thanks!
ps: I dont understand whether the notify bell is selected or not in the form.
pps: stay safe!
Hi Alex,
You’re not in a different situation, you’re in the same situation as everyone else, just with more equipment available to you.
Re-read the article. It’s all in there. If you have something specific to ask, please feel free.
Hello Andy,
I was bulking, should I go to maintenance?
Hi Akhil, thank you for the question.
When you are bulking, you need to be able to deliver enough of a training stimulus to tell the body to take the calorie surplus you’re giving it and build muscle from it. Therefore, the more advanced of a trainee you are and the less confident you are with home workouts, the more you should consider switching to maintenance until you can resume normal training.
If this applies to you, then here is the easy math to find maintenance:
Take your average weight gain or loss in pounds, multiply by 500, add or subtract by that number of calories.
For a more nuanced look:
• How to Bulk
• How to Find Maintenance After Dieting
Andy, instead of skipping the leg curls you can do nordic hamstring curls. The ankles can be place under the bed or a couch (the most common things that people have in their houses). Great info imo; another alternative could be the recommended routine on reddit bodyweight fitness; is the gateway to calisthenics XD.
Good idea. Thank you, Francisco.
For others reading, getting your ankles under the couch may not be easy or possible, your angles may not have the flexibility, and if your sofa isn’t heavy enough it may flip. So, an alternative is to get a partner to grab your ankles, slowly lower the eccentric portion as far as you can, use your arms, then pull through your hamstrings back up.
Here’s a video. Watch from 40 seconds or the start. (I don’t know anything about the people who made it so this is not to be taken as an endorsement.)