How to not lose your gains.
“Taking some time away from the gym? Terrified of losing the gains and progress you’ve made in the gym? We’ve got your back”.
~ James Molden
You’re probably wondering what you can do to stop the loss of all the ‘gains’ you made in the gym and i’ve got a few suggestions and thoughts for you!
Re-focus on the basics -
Some of us may be without equipment, and that's absolutely fine. In fact, it will help us hone in on the basic movements even more so without getting carried away with big dumbbells and kettlebells. So what movements are we talking about? Here are a few examples; Air Squat, Front and Reverse Lunges, Push Ups, Sit Ups, Burpees(lol, sorry),Dips & Pull Ups...Basically any movement you would do day in day out. When doing these movements, think about how you are feeling in certain positions. If in the bottom of an air squat your knees start to hurt, think why? Is your weight shifted over to far forward? Your shoulders are hurting during a push up? Are your hands in the right position? I would 100% recommend to use the first week of lockdown to self assess all the body weight movements you can possibly do, make notes and make a plan of action for what you are going to do next from that assessment.
Set no expectations -
Setting goals is great, but don't beat yourself up so much if you don't find yourself ticking things off every day. We're in a global pandemic and we have to be mindful and grateful for our actual health in these times. Progress on what you can, with what you have access to. And if you don't have access to all the things you were focusing on before, then let go of the idea of progress. Put your efforts into what you have control over.
Don't Obsess Over Training -
It's very easy to obsess over training, so much so that it can lead to injuries, burn outs or a result in a lack of love and passion for fitness in the near future. At the Nexus we have a methodology of ‘The 5 Pillars Of Health’ - Physical fitness being one of them. However along with that we have Social, Emotional & Nutritional which are all holding up the main pillar, Mental. Every ‘pillar’ must be healthy and successful otherwise our main pillar, Mental will suffer. Some easy activities to consider when working on the ‘whole picture’:
Social: engage with friends over the phone, text or zoom.
Emotional: prioritize self care and take time to reflect. It could be in the form of a journal or even a gratitude list. Remember you cannot change the past, so to dwell on it is unnecessary and can be harmful to progression.
Nutritional: eat to nourish the body and to support daily activities with ‘real’ nutritional food.
Physical: Prioritise general human movements e.g Stand, walk, run, lift, bend, hinge, squat, push, pull.
My advice and thoughts:
“Relaxxxxx. Yes it’s frustrating not being able to get to the gym, especially when life gets in the way, but the great thing about functional training is that we learn to adapt to any obstacle that may stand in our way.
Let's take a whiteboard workout for example. Sometimes we come in and we look at it and think, ahhh bugger, overhead squats at 40kg, 800m runs and bar muscle ups! I can't do that! So what do we do? We don’t walk out because it's out of our capability, we scale appropriately to our own ability. We can adjust the weight of the overhead squats, reduce the length of the runs, and choose the correct gymnastic rig movement that we can do.
Let's take that example and use it for real life, lockdown. So no gym, no problem. Workout at home, go for a run, stretch, walk, basically keep moving and move well! No eating out at your favourite restaurant? Dust of the Mary Berry cook book again and start exploring new recipes or even perfect your favourite meal.
And lastly make an effort to socialize with someone everyday. Text, facetime, email whatever it is, engage in a stimulating conversation. Your main priority should be to keep healthy and happy. “