The first thing you need to think about when building and designing your own strength training programme for lockdown is to decide what your goals are.
There are a couple of questions you need to ask yourself
- What is your main goal?
- Are you a beginner?
- Do you have any muscle imbalances?
- How old are you?
- Do you have a foundation of strength already?
- Are you injured or recovering from and injury?
All of these questions determine what and where you should start. However, I’m going to share with you how to start from the very beginning. Even if you think you’ve done some exercise in the past it is always good to see what you can do if you started from the beginning in the right way.
Start with building a foundation
Your foundation is what you build on and if that foundation isn’t strong then you will find yourself either injured or have imbalances which lead to other issues. So, the way you build your foundation is by starting to use the simple body weight exercises. For example a squat, push up, pull up and hip hinge. If you can do these things with ease and correct form then you can start to add in some added weight and build a little bit of muscle. The one thing you need to do in this stage is to teach your body the movements without moving a lot of weight.
This is so that the body can do them easily without having to think about it. You will build a little bit of muscle in this stage but you will find yourself focusing on form of the exercise first. Instead of trying to build up strength on a bad foundation.
Improve you mobility for all movements
By improving your mobility in your muscles you will be reassuring areas of your body that you can do certain movements with ease. What I mean by this is that it shouldn’t be hurting or pulling in areas that you are moving. A muscle should be stretching and contracting during a movement but never should it hurt. The reason why it may be pulling is because you have a tight body and you need to work on your mobility.
A couple of ways you can do this is by incorporate yoga into your routine. This will be encouraged by your personal trainer so that you are getting more stretches into your routine. A lot of people forget about this stage and it’s one of the most vital in the beginning stages. Most commonly over seen by trainers and individuals because you’re chasing your end goals of trying to gain strength or lose fat to fast.
Sort out your muscle imbalance early on
If you have lived up until your are 40 years young without doing a strength training programme. Your normal daily routine would have given your some imbalances you will need to work on.
These can originate from:
- Sitting a certain way.
- Playing a sport that is one sided like tennis or golf.
- Using your right hand more than your left.
- Using your strong leg to walk up stairs and not favouring your weaker side to make that one stronger.
Keeping this in mind when you are building up your foundation. It will be a good idea to add in some single leg and single arm movements to help you balance out your strength on both sides of the body.
This can all be done in lockdown
I know that at the moment we are in lockdown and we can’t get to the gym or see your personal trainer as usual. Or you might be thinking you don’t want to start because you won’t have the right equipment at home. I’m here to tell you that it’s best to start yourself of at home first without and distractions of equipment. You will have enough movements to be working on now to last you the next 6-8 weeks or more. Then you can look at getting equipment, The list is below.
You will want to consider guidance from a remote personal trainer in Ascot to show you what you need to do. This will give you clarity that you’re on the right path to building your foundation for your strength training programme in lockdown.
Equipment you might want to get for at home workout
You might want to get some equipment for your home gym this will give you the best advantage to progress with your programme when the time comes. We don’t know how long we are going to be inside for so you might as well start putting together a small workout space for yourself. Start to do this after the 6 weeks of practicing and building your foundation.
Optional list of equipment you might want to get.
- Kettlebells or Dumbbells 4kg-12kg
- Strength bands
- Mini bands
- Yoga mat
- Medicine ball
- Swiss ball
- TRX or suspension trainer
- Skipping rope
- Barbell (if your more advanced)
You don’t have to get all of these, this is just to keep the exercises more interesting and it will teach you how to use your body in the right way. Without having to use fixed machines that you would usually see at the gym.
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