If “shelter in place” is immediately translated to “no gym”, then you are not the only one.
Strength athletes are trying to find ways to train and stay mentally strong while socially distanced from their usual lifting communities. If you're trying to find motivation to work out without going to the gym, you might be wondering if you can still maintain your muscle without using weights.
Redefining What “Gains” Are
It is important for your wellbeing to accept that you cannot improve your fitness level to the same extent without equipment as you can with equipment. To be honest? If you don't work out for a while, your one-rep max might decrease, as well as your muscle size. However, this does not mean that all hope is gone and that all your effort has been fruitless.
You can maintain muscle mass without weights, and make gains without the gym, by adjusting your definition of “gains”.
Need to work on mobility? If you are a strength athlete, you can most likely benefit from increasing your mobility. If you want to see an improvement in your lifting performance, start incorporating some of these exercises into your routine.
Do you need to improve your cardiovascular capacity? Do a lot of burpees. The more efficiently you can breathe, the more efficiently you can lift.
Sure, sure, you’re saying, but what about muscle gains? Alright, I hear you. Let’s get into it.
Can Bodyweight Exercises Maintain Muscle?
The short answer: yes. The long answer: if you do them with intention.
You shouldn't do 100 mindless bodyweight squats as a substitution for leg day, if your high volume squat days usually look like four sets of eight at 60-70% of your 1RM. The volume of your training is important, but you also need to consider the differences between regular bodyweight training and training with heavy weights.
To maintain muscle mass at home, you should do exercises that are explosive and dynamic. This is because these types of exercises work the muscle fibers. You want to be able to recruit the type II muscle fibers when you're under heavy barbells. The fast-twitch fibers that you use for powerlifting training will be a priority for you as you try to maintain or even build muscles without your gym.
Good news, you don't need special equipment to target your fast-twitch fibers. All you need to do is focus on explosive movements (and in some cases, slow movements). Bodyweight moves are going to help develop your fast-twitch muscles, which will help give you a pump.
How To Maintain Muscle Mass Without Weights
There are many ways to achieve your goals, but depending on your specific goals (and your specific weaknesses that you should focus on improving), you might spend more time using some bodyweight exercises than others. Even though it may be tempting to stick with the exercises you like, try to avoid that temptation. The exercises you don't like are probably the ones your body needs the most work on.
Plyometric Work
Even though you're used to slowly training powerlifts, now is a good time to do some explosive work. This text is about doing clapping pushups, jumping lunges, and burpees. You want to focus on recruiting fast-twitch muscle fibers, which can be difficult without weights. However, explosive bodyweight movements will definitely help achieve that goal.
If you live above your neighbor, there are other ways to get plyometric work in – you just have to be creative with your modifications. do 10 or 15 plyo pushups, but from your knees. You'll get less activation, but you can concentrate on controlling your descent so you don't slam into your neighbor's ceiling. Try doing jump rope movements as lightly as you can on the balls of your feet. Your calves will get really sore, and your neighbor won't want you to socially distance on Mars.
Volume
If you want to improve your explosive movement skills, you need to do it for a sufficient amount of time to make up for the lack of time you spend in the gym or moving around in general. Although you are not required to do 500 bodyweight squats in one sitting, you are welcome to try and improve upon your personal best. Remember to keep good form throughout the exercise.
While social distancing, you will be moving around a lot less in general than you would if you weren't practicing it. High-volume training can help to stimulate your muscles and make sure you're still moving throughout the day.
Single-Side Movement
Okay, powerlifters, it’s your time to be honest. The last time I moved in the frontal plane was when I was dancing. What’s that? Never? It's easy to forget about movements that aren't the big three when there are so many pretty barbells to work with, but now's your chance to develop lateral stability that will translate into bigger lifts later.
Tempo
If you already do tempo work in the gym, that's great. Doing pushups without using a gym might be a new and great experience. Repeat the following sequence slowly: two seconds down, two seconds at the bottom, two seconds coming back up, two seconds in plank position at the top. If you want toned muscles, do sets of squats, lunges, chair dips, and inverted rows until you nearly fail. You can do this by rigging up spare bedsheets and a stable door.
1.5 Reps
These hurt so good, and with excellent reason — you’ll get to move through a solid range of motion (a Bulgarian split squat to depth, for example), and then you’ll… stop. Do a split squat and come up halfway, then back down and up again.
Principles of Building Muscle
1. Maximize Muscle Building
The more protein your body stores, the bigger your muscles will grow. Your body is constantly using protein for other things, such as making hormones.
The result is less protein available for muscle building. In order to improve muscle growth, individuals need to consume more protein than their bodies are breaking down. According to Michael Houston, a professor of nutrition at Virginia Tech University, this will help to create new proteins faster than the body breaks down old proteins.
It is recommended that you consume approximately 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight each day. This is the maximum amount that your body can use, as shown in a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.
A 160-pound man would need to eat approximately 160 grams of protein a day. This amount of protein can be found in an 8-ounce chicken breast, 1 cup of cottage cheese, a roast-beef sandwich, two eggs, a glass of milk, and 2 ounces of peanuts. The rest of your daily calories should be divided equally between carbohydrates and fats.
2. Eat More
In addition to adequate protein, you need more calories. To gain one pound of weight per week, you will need to consume an additional ____ calories each day. If you haven't seen results after two weeks, try increasing your calorie intake by 500 a day.
3. Work Big, Not Small
If you want to put on muscle, you can't just do biceps curls and expect results. You need to do more to push your body and challenge yourself. According to Samuel, a key to improving one's fitness is to work through “multi-joint” movements. According to Samuel, training in isolation has benefits, but it cannot be the primary focus of your training regime.
Instead of doing exercises that work only one joint or muscle, you want to do exercises that work multiple joints and muscles at the same time. Take, for example, a dumbbell row. Every row rep challenges biceps, lats, and abs. Samuel says that using multiple muscle groups to lift weight is key to stimulating growth. This text is talking about how using a rowing machine can help you to use muscles together, just as you do in real life. “Multi-joint moves are key in your workouts,” he says.
Include exercises like squats, deadlifts, pullups, and bench presses in your workout routine to get the most benefit. You should stimulate multiple muscle groups at the same time in order to facilitate growth.
4. Train Heavy
Heavier weights are required to build muscle and strength, says Curtis Shannon, C.S.C.S. Shannon says that there are many benefits to training heavy, safely and efficiently. To offset the risk of injury, muscles must maintain tension during the entire range of motion.” The muscles are put under a lot of strain not only when they contract, but also when they stretch. To avoid injury, the muscles have to stay tense throughout the entire range of motion. The heavier the weight you are lifting, the more control you need to have to prevent tearing your muscles and causing injury.
This does not mean that every set should have you lifting heavy weights for low reps. You can get value from high-rep sets, but for multi-joint moves like squats and bench presses, and deadlifts, it's okay to do sets of 5 reps. This will give you the ability to lift more weight and build more strength. As you get stronger, you will be able to lift more weight for more repetitions.
You can use this approach in your training by starting every workout with an exercise that can be done with low reps. Do 4 sets of 3-5 repetitions on your first exercise. After that, do 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions for every move. “You get the best of both worlds,” says Samuel. “You build pure strength early, then add reps later.”
5. Have a Drink First
A 2001 study found that people who drank a shake with amino acids and carbohydrates before working out increased their protein synthesis more than those who drank the shake after working out.
The shake had 6 grams of essential amino acids, which are the muscle-building blocks of protein, and 35 grams of carbohydrates.
If you want your muscles to take in more amino acids, drink a combination of carbohydrates and proteins before you work out, Tipton says.
For your shake, you will need 10-20 grams of protein, which is usually one scoop of whey-protein powder. Can’t stomach protein drinks? A sandwich composed of 4 ounces of deli turkey and a slice of American cheese on whole wheat bread can provide the same nutrients. But a drink is better.
“Liquid meals are absorbed faster,” says Kalman. So tough it out. Drink one 30 to 60 minutes before your workout.
The Whey To Go for Muscle Growth
