Work With What You Got
Originally published July 21, 2020.
Gyms are closed....again. Regardless of our opinion on the situation, you want and need to stay active and healthy. Gym closures do not have to mean your workouts stop. I'd like to share some effective strategies to upgrade your at-home workouts.
Let's start simple. An easy way to stay in shape is by getting creative with the tools you are using, For instance, you typically do an upper and lower body split during the week. You can practically keep the same workout at home by turning a grocery bag into a dumbbell. Make sure you double bag. Fill up a backpack with books and use that, click here for a backpack workout. It's awkward, unfortunately we have to deal with what we have. Another option is something like pushing a wheel barrow or your car. Instead of counting reps just go by distance. I know it sounds simple but it will get the job done and be surprisingly effective.
Many people have some light dumbbells lying around. These are very useful. What I recommend doing is substituting number of reps for longer time under tension. Using techniques like eccentrics, tempo sets and isometrics you can get a great workout. Here is a brief description of the techniques;
-Eccentrics- Imagine you doing a bicep curl. Bending your elbow and bringing the weight up is called the concentric contraction. As you let your arm straighten back out, this is the eccentric contraction. So, what you will focus on is that down portion. Come up at a normal speed and on the way down instead of just dropping quickly, bring the weight down at a count of 5-10 seconds. A nice steady pace will work best. For other exercises, the eccentric contraction is the "easy" part. Going down in a squat or push-up.
-Tempo Sets- Like the eccentrics this will require counting. Instead of just going down slow, do the entire movement slow. Again, using the bicep curl as an example, on the way up come up over 5 seconds then come down for 5 seconds.
Isometrics- Pull out the stopwatch. Isometrics are holding positions. Get into the bottom of your squat or halfway down and hold for 30 seconds. You can do this with any exercise.
Play with different times for all of these techniques. Experiment, make it fun.
My personal favorite way to replace heavy weights is through ballistic and plyometric exercise. I know everyone's first thought is box jumps. If you have a box, have at it. Other examples are sprinting, jumping as far as your can, jumping as high as you can, running stairs (short distance, think power not endurance), hopping and many others. Anything where your contact with the ground is short. If you haven't done these movements since the '95 State Championship start slow. Don't run ten-40 yard sprints at 100% intensity. Run at 75% effort, 10 yards, uphill. Jump half as high as you think you can. Do half as much as you think you can and call it a day. You don't want to pull a hammy. Build up each week.
I hope this helps. Follow me on Facebook. facebook.com/freshfocusfitness Subscribe to my weekly newsletter at my website https://freshfocusfitness.net/newsletter