PG the PT – Effective work-outs with little to no equipment

MAYBE it’s just because I follow a lot of other trainers and coaches on social media but every other post seems to be an online workout offer, a home training program, a “you’re stuck inside so now you’ll HAVE to become my client!” type of post.

It would be easy to panic and jump straight into the first program you see just so that you can keep going, but I want you to pause. We’re on a three week lockdown. You. Have. Time.

More time than you’ve ever had in your life. There aren’t a whole heap of positives to take from what we’re all going through at the minute but there is one – you now have time on your hands to work on things that you previously didn’t have time to do.

Before we get too far down the rabbit hole I want you to keep in mind this: however you approach your training in the next while, don’t over train. Overtraining will bring your immune system down and leave you more susceptible to the virus. So train smarter, not harder.

Now we’ve established you’re not going to do ten thousand burpees and completely ruin yourself it’s time to look at how to maximise the additional time you’ve got to play with.

Just because I’m telling you not to over train that doesn’t mean you can’t train every day, or even multiple times per day, it’s just that you have to train smart.

Simple suggestion I’ve gave to some of our members at The Edge is split your training into three categories – Aerobic (So go for your run or cycle) Mobility (Do your yoga session, pilates routine or daily movement flow) and Strength (Stick with a small number of strength exercises and aim to build upon them each week).

If you don’t have any equipment for strength work it may be worth reaching out to your local gym, your club or a friend that has a home gym and ask them can they lend you a dumbbell, a kettlebell or a weights plate. YOU DO NOT NEED LOTS OF EQUIPMENT FOR AN EFFECTIVE WORKOUT.

Realistically our access to weights is going to be limited, so the variables we use to increase stress for muscular adaption have to be more than just ‘add more weight’. Look at rep range. Can you improve your technique so you’re isolating the targeted muscles better? Tempo. Could you slow down on the negative phase of the movement and go faster on the positive? Could you increase your overall volume?

Train smarter. I can’t stress that enough. Alternate your runs from long and steady to short and fast. Alternate your mobility work from holding paused stretches to more steady flows – our yoga coach Conor is posting yoga workouts from The Edge members’ Facebook group – and alternate your exercise selection for your strength worth so you don’t overload the same muscle groups every day in the same way.

But most of all, do your bit to beat this thing and stay inside.

For more training and nutritional advice you can catch me on Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook by simply searching PGthePT.