DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE: You CAN build muscle in quarantine!
In fact, you can build more muscle in quarantine than ever before if you approach your training with the right mindset and techniques!
Before I explain how, hear me out.
I love using dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, and machines to build muscle.
I miss the feeling of going to the gym, seeing familiar faces, and holding a barbell in my hands.
But while it is nice to have these situations and sensations, they are not necessary to build muscle. You and I can get closer to meeting our training goals while in quarantine and I want to share with you how.
The 5 tips that I have used to build muscle during quarantine are:
1. Focus your training
2. Train more often (if you have the time)
3. Get back to the basics
4. Find inspiration
5. Try new techniques
Let’s break these tips down further!
Tip #1 to Build Muscle in Quarantine
Focus Your Training
The thing that you must realize during this time is that not every muscle group can be trained as effectively depending on the equipment you have available. (ADD EXAMPLE)You can either complain about this or use it to your advantage!
Due to your limited ability to stress all muscle groups equally, this is a good time to focus on lightly training all muscle groups to maintain your gains while specializing in a few muscle groups to take them to new levels. In other words, quarantine time is a golden time to try the method of UNDULATING PERIODIZATION where you can focus on a few key movements in order to build muscle in a few key areas.
(EXPLAIN 3 DAY SETUP) All that you have to do is pick 1-3 movements at you want to improve at and train each movement very heavy (~90-97% 1RM, AKA a weight you can only do for 1-3 reps) one day, one movement at a moderate weight for more repetitions (~70-85%, AKA a weight you can only do for 6-12 reps) another day, and train the same movement on the last day, or a technique based day where you reduce the weight and the reps (~70-85%, 3-6 reps) to focus on performing the movement optimally, with perfect technique. To learn more about utilizing daily undulating periodization, check out this video by one of the best coaches in the industry that heavily utilizes this model, Mike Zourdos.
(SPEAK ABOUT HOW THIS TRAINING STYLE NATURALLY SUITS INTERMEDIATE LIFTERS BY PROVIDING VARIATION AND VARY INTENSITIES FOR RECOVERY) (THERE MAY BE RESEARCH TO SUPPORT THIS)
Tip #2 to Build Muscle During Quarantine
Train More Often (ADD WORKOUT PIC)
The second factor that you may have working for you that may not be apparent is that you have more free time due to the large amount of time we are all spending at home. If you have the time, desire, and a good ability to recover from hard training, you can try working out more than once a day. This is typically a technique for more advanced trainees, but if you are paying attention to how your body is recovering, it can work well for just about anyone.
(TALK ABOUT HOW THIS IS NOT A GOOD METHOD FOR PEOPLE WHO DON’T RECOVER WELL, INSTEAD OF HITTING A MUSCLE GROUP 1-2X A WEEK YOU CAN HIT IT 3-5X)
If you are interested in learning more about this and setting up a great training program for yourself in this method, check out this article by the late GOAT of strength and conditioning, Charles Poliquin. In this article, he specifically lays out how he has used twice a day training to help many of his athletes break through plateaus and build strength and muscle at an astounding rate.
Tip #3 to Build Muscle During Quarantine
Get Back to the Basics
My third tip is to embrace your limited equipment options and use it to explore new exercises.
During the past two months, the only equipment I have used to train are a foam roller, push-up handles, a pullup bar, a towel, a set of bands, a moderately heavy backpack, and furniture sliders. And most workouts, I only use the pullup bar and the bands.
I have been training using primarily bodyweight movements such as pike push-ups, pull-ups, sissy squats, and slider leg curls.
Pike Pushups
Pull-ups
Sissy Squats
Slider Leg Curls
Many of these movements can be progressed and regressed to fit in well to a DUP (MAKE SURE THAT DUP ACRONYM IS EXPLAINED) model of training.
Let me show you how!
Sissy squats can be progressed and regressed in many ways. When I was new to them, I did them with my hands on chairs for balance to a surface just below my knee level. (ADD PICTURES) As I have gotten better, I have made 2 adjustments. (EXPLAIN EACH ADJUSTMENT WITH DETAIL AND HOW THEY AFFECT THE EXERCISE, MAYBE EVEN NUMBER THEM)lowered the surface in which I squatted to, removed the assistance of my hands, elevated my feet, made it easier by tying a band above me to reduce the weight of my body, and much more.
I can honestly say that if COVID-19 did not happen, I may have never explored some of the amazing exercises I have learned.
The only limits during this time is the limits of your imagination and the limits of the creativity of Instagram and YouTube!
Adopt the Mindset of a Student (ADD PIC OF A STUDENT)
During this time, you need to be more open to exploring and learning during. The variations I tried doing my first week of training are vastly different than the variations that I am doing now, not just because I have gotten stronger, but also because I have realized that some variations work better for my body type and equipment availability.
I told myself I’ll spend a week or two trying new things and figuring out the best ways to load exercises. This set me up well for months of great training. So my advice to you is to be a student by exploring and soaking up all the information you can.
Additionally, I encourage you to use your resources by letting other people’s workouts inspire yours. Place no limits on yourself!
Tip #4 to Build Muscle During Quarantine
Get Inspired by the
Quarantine Workout Experts
When it comes to the workouts, exercises, and progressions I have learned during this quarantine, there are few people I think would be helpful for you to learn from, too.
Coach Eugene Teo
This man has dominated quarantine workouts from the start!
Regardless of the fact that the man owns his own gym and does not have to do quarantine workouts, he has decided to help by building his programming around the limitations the rest of us are facing (I cannot say that I would be doing the same if I was him lol).
Many of the top athletes in the world are using his training techniques and variations. You may have seen some of these exercises on social media such as the banded cycler squat or the rack pull up. I am in awe and I continue to be in awe of the solutions he is putting out on a daily basis.
Daniel Vadnal
In the world of calisthenics, Daniel Vadnal, the owner of Fitness FAQ has been preparing to train during covid-19 for the last 15 years. That’s the beauty of calisthenics! In addition, his training variations are simple, well-explained, easily applicable, and typically are bodyweight based.
I have personally been using a lot of his information on pike push-ups to progress towards handstand push-ups. By combining his training techniques with specializing training methodologies like daily undulating periodization, my progress has been skyrocketing over the past two months.
I am a better athlete and coach because of these last two months! Not everyone can honestly say that and for those of you that cannot, this is how you get there!
Tip #5 to Build Muscle During Quarantine
Try New Techniques
When it comes to filtering out bad workouts from some good workouts, there is one key training principles that I have been using to help me decide what will work in the long-term and what will work for one workout:
Progressive Overload (COMPLETELY REWRITE THIS SECTION) (ADD INFO ABOUT USING DIFFERENT REP RANGE AND SUPPORT WITH MEDIUM AND/OR RESEARCH)
Progressive overload is simple: each workout, try to do more than you did the workout before. If you continue to do this, you will get stronger. Yet what they do not tell you in the textbooks is not to keep progressively overloading in the same way. That can lead to excessive fatigue and/or injury. You need to vary in your method of progressively overloading.
By this, I mean that you need to have the ability to increase the repetitions if you would like, as well as the ability to increase the sets, the load, and manipulate rest times. Some exercises I have seen on Instagram that have become very popular choices for home workouts do not allow you to manipulate all these variables, such as the popular glute bridge with your partner.
If a woman does a hip thrust with her boyfriend as the load, how does she safely and accurately progress that for the next workout? Does she have her boyfriend hold an object for more weight? What if his feet were suddenly touching the ground during the 1st workout? That can dramatically change how much he AKA the load weighs.
Additionally, a human body is not a good substitute for a barbell. The weight distribution is far different in a human body. This could lead to asymmetric loading for one glute muscle versus the other glute muscle. Simply put, in this exercise there is too much that you cannot control.
These factors need to be considered.
Better variations would be to add a band around her knees to work her outer glute muscles more, elevate the surface of her heels from the ground to a table to increase the range of motion, or pre exhaust the glute muscles with high rep sets and or isometric variations before proceeding to the main “heavy” set which could be single leg hip thrusts because they are heavier by default due to using one leg.
The moral of the story here is to try variations that work, not just variations that go viral. Keep experimenting and searching to effectively design your workouts for your body type and equipment restrictions!
Why I Wrote This For You
Obviously, these months spent in quarantine and dealing with the aftermath of Covid-19 have been stressful for a lot of us. And it is hard to deal with that stress when many of our routines that have stood the test of time or were newly beginning have been torn apart.
But at this point, we can either choose to be stressed by situations outside of our control or adapt to our situation.
In this article, I really want to give you a timeless resource that is perfect for now during quarantine, AND when quarantine is over.
The principles I discuss are not just to be used when you don’t have access to the gym. These are methods that will improve your training even when you do have access again.
This article can help you learn techniques that can help you keep your sanity and bring a sense of normalcy in these times.
The 5 tips that I have used to build muscle during quarantine are:
1. Focus your training
2. Train more often (if you have the time)
3. Get back to the basics
4. Find inspiration
5. Try new techniques
Did you find this article helpful?
If so, I would to hear/know your thoughts about how to build muscle during quarantine down below.
Do you think it’s possible to build more muscle in quarantine than ever before?
Peace!
