I created a guide for coaching clients on how to stay on target while gyms are closed. The email and videos I sent them were so popular, they asked me to put it here on the site for everyone.
Since that day toward the end of February, I’ve built this into a comprehensive guide on how to train at home.
I hope you find it useful and if you have any questions please feel free to ask me anything in the comments.
Nutrition Advice To Stay On Target With Your Physique Goals During Lockdown
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.
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:
- Seated or Chest-supported Row Machine, DB Rows
- Horizontal Push:
- Chest Press Machine, DB Alternating Chest Press
- Vertical Pull:
- Lat. Pull-downs, Chin-ups, Pull-ups
- Vertical Push:
- Shoulder Press Machine, DB Overhead Press
- Hip Hinge:
- 2-Arm, 1-Leg Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs)
- Squat:
- 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.
Advice On Buying Resistance Bands
This video explains how I would go about shopping for resistance bands if you are looking to get some.
I review three sets of bands that I bought on Amazon this week to test those principles. I am purposefully not recommending any specific product. 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
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.)
1-arm Band Rows
Ring Rows
(If you have them, or wish to purchase them.)
Horizontal Push Options
10 Push-up Variations To Vary The Difficulty
- 2-Arm Hands Raised, Bodyweight Push-ups
- 2-Arm Bodyweight Push-ups
- 2-Arm Feet Raised Bodyweight Push-ups
- 2-Arm Feet Raised, Backpack Loaded Push-ups
- 1-Arm High Incline Push-ups (Use a chair back, desk, sofa, etc.)
- 1-Arm Low Incline Push-ups
- 1-Arm Out To Side Push-ups
- 1-Arm Out To Side + Raised Push-ups
- 1-Arm On Books Pushups (any low, study object will do)
- Adding Band Resistance
Vertical Pull Options
Chin-ups or Pull-ups
You can get a bar to put in your door frame, purchase a special rack (as I have), or your local park may have a calisthenics area.
Stop Cheating with your chin-ups
Straight-ARm Lat Press-downS
Band Reverse Flys (pull-aparts)
Vertical Push Options
Half-kneeling Band-resistance 1-arm Overhead Presses
Pike push-ups
Hip Hinge Options
Single-leg Hip-thrusts
Band-resisted Bodyweight Deadlifts
Squat Options
Goblet Squats
Archer Squats
Band-resisted Bodyweight Squats
Pistol Squats
Bulgarian Split Squats
Arm Training And Other Isolation Work
Table-Supported Tricep Extensions
1-arm Overhead Band-resistance Tricep Extensions
1-Arm Tricep Band Press-downs
Band Bicep Curls
Shoulder Lateral Raises (Backpack and Band Resistance)
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:
- Pistol Squats
- Reverse Lunges
- Bulgarian Split Squats
- Single-leg Bodyweight Calf Raises
Day 2:
- Push-up Variation
- Table Rows or Band-resistance Rows
- TRX Rows
- Pike Push-ups
- Chin-ups
Day 3:
- Single-leg Hip Thrust
- Pistol Squats
- Bulgarian Split Squats
- Single-leg Bodyweight Calf Raises
Day 4:
- Push-up Variation
- Band-resistance Rows
- 1-Arm, Half-kneeling, Band Overhead Press
- Pull-ups
- Table-Supported Tricep Extensions
- Band Bicep Curls
For every exercise, you’ll do as many reps as necessary to reach the same intensity of effort (RPE) you usually do (typically 2 reps shy of failure). For an explanation of RPE, see halfway down my novice bodybuilding program article.
If you have any questions, I am here to help. Just ask me in the comments.
Thank you. Stay well.
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