Pandemic or no pandemic, there are ways to keep the gym fires burning and results on a consistent trajectory without having to traverse the pathogenic minefield of today’s typical gym environment (remembering that even with lower level restrictions and enforced social distancing, the risk of viral transmission will always be there to some extent).3, 4, 9, 13
Instead of forgoing fitness in this unforgiving time, instead take the time to make your health and wellbeing your number one priority. By following the four below-listed guidelines, when, or if, you are ready to again resume ‘normal’ training you’ll do so with more workout options in your training repertoire and an impressive physique to show for your efforts, whatever the level restriction.
To succeed in any endeavor, we must move with the times to some degree. Today more than ever we need to get creative with our training to ensure steady progress despite limited access to more conventional training options. So, rather than concede defeat like so many have already done, your mission is to adapt to the current situation to become stronger than ever before. Let’s explore four ways to do just that.
12-Week Results Training Plan
The following program is intended for those on 24/7 lockdown, who need to train from home. However, if you are working during this period, simply complete the cardio component as is, then combine workouts 1 (or 1 and 2) with workout 2 (or 3) and complete one big evening workout. If working part time, complete the multi-workout days on your days off and the large workout protocol on work days.
- Rest for no more than one minute between straight sets and supersets. Rest for two minutes between giant sets.
- Select training weights in accordance with prescribed rep range. Choose a level of resistance that ensures failure on the last rep of each work set.
- Double Drop Sets (DDS): complete one set, reaching failure within the stated rep range; reduce weight by 30% and complete another set; reduce weight by a further 30% and complete a final set.
- Supersets (SS): complete a second set with a different movement immediately following the first set.
-BB = Barbell
-DB = Dumbbell
Monday
- Early Morning (before breakfast): Cardio – Following one serving of AMINOCORE
- Bike, Stepper or Treadmill: 30 minutes of HIIT, alternating between 30 seconds moderate intensity and 30 seconds super-high intensity (maintaining a maximum heart rate of between 140-150 beats per minute during the high intensity phase).
Workout 1 (one hour following lunch)
- Leg Extensions SS with Medium Stance DB Squats: 3 sets of 12 reps per movement
- Walking Lunges TS with Wide Stance DB Jump Squats/Seated Knee Raises: 3 sets of 15 reps per movement
- BB Romanian Deadlifts: 3 DDS of 12 reps
- Stability Ball Crunches: 3 sets of 20 reps
- Lying Leg Raises: 3 sets of 25 reps
Workout 2 (one hour following evening meal)
- BB Curls TS with DB Alternating Hammer Curls/DB Spider Curls: 3 sets of 12 reps per movement
- Rope Pressdowns TS with One Arm Overhead DB Extensions/One Arm DB Kickbacks: 3 sets of 12 reps per movement
Tuesday
- Early Morning (before breakfast): Cardio – Bike, Stepper or Treadmill
- 45 minutes of steady state, moderate intensity (70% of heart rate maximum)
Workout 1 (one hour following lunch)
- Pull Ups: 3 sets of as many reps as possible
- DB Bar Rows: 3 DDS for 12 reps per set
- BB Deadlifts SS with close Grip Pulldowns: 3 sets of 10 reps
Workout 2 (one hour following evening meal)
- DB Laterals SS with DB Front Raises: 3 sets of 12 reps
- Arnold Presses: 3 sets of 15 reps
- DB Bent Laterals: 3 sets of 12 reps
Wednesday
- Early Morning (before breakfast): Cardio – Following one serving of AMINOCORE
- Bike, Stepper or Treadmill: 30 minutes of HIIT, alternating between 30 seconds moderate intensity and 30 seconds super-high intensity (maintaining a maximum heart rate of between 140-150 beats per minute during the high intensity phase).
Thursday
Workout 1 (early morning – before breakfast)
- Lying Leg Raises TS with Stability Ball Crunches/Ab Wheel roll Outs: 3 sets of 20 reps per movement
- DB Russian Twists: 3 sets of 15 reps
- Kettlebell Swings: 3 sets of 15 reps
Workout 2 (one hour following lunch)
- Narrow Stance Squats SS with DB Walking Lunges: 3 sets of 15 reps per movement
- Leg Curls SS with Star Jumps: 3 sets of 20 reps per movement
- Bulgarian Split Squats: 3 sets of 12 reps
Workout 3 (one hour following evening meal)
- Incline DB Presses TS with Flat Bench Flyes/Decline DB Presses: 3 sets of 12 reps per movement
- Bench Presses: 3 DDS of 10 reps per set
- DB Flat Bench Crush Presses: 3 sets of 12 reps
Friday
- Early Morning (before breakfast): Cardio – Bike, Stepper or Treadmill
- 45 minutes of steady state, moderate intensity (70% of heart rate maximum)
Workout 1 (one hour following lunch)
- Reverse BB Curls SS with Lying BB Triceps Extensions: 3 sets of 12 reps per movement
- Triceps Dips: 3 sets of 12 reps
- Incline DB Curls: 3 sets of 15 reps
Workout 2 (one hour following evening meal)
- Lying DB Pullovers: 3 sets of 15 reps
- DB Rows SS with DB Deadlifts: 3 sets of 12 reps
- Chin Ups SS with Reverse Grip Pulldowns: 3 sets of 15 reps per movement
- BB Shrugs (to the rear): 3 sets of 10 reps
Saturday
- Early Morning (before breakfast): Cardio – Following one serving of AMINOCORE
- Bike, Stepper or Treadmill: 30 minutes of HIIT, alternating between 30 seconds moderate intensity and 30 seconds super-high intensity (maintaining a maximum heart rate of between 140-150 beats per minute during the high intensity phase).
Workout 1 (one hour following lunch)
- Standing Calf Raises SS with Bulgarian Split Squats: 3 sets of 20 reps per movement
- Kettlebell Swings SS with DB Russian Twists: 3 sets of 15 reps per movement
- Hanging Leg Raises: 3 sets of 15 reps
Sunday
Workout 1 (early morning – before breakfast)
- Stability Ball Crunches SS with Lying Leg Raises: 3 sets of 20 reps per movement
- V Ups: 3 sets of 15 reps
- Ab Wheel Rollouts: 3 sets of 15 reps
Workout 2 (one hour following lunch)
- Chest Dips SS with Flat Bench DB Presses: 3 sets of 15 reps per movement
- Incline DB Flyes: 3 DDS of 12 reps
- BB Incline Presses: 3 sets of 10 reps
Workout 3 (one hour after evening meal)
- BB Standing Presses TS with Bent Laterals/DB Shrugs: 3 sets of 15 reps per movement
- Lateral Raises SS with Seated DB Presses: 3 sets of 12 reps per movement
- DB Upright Rows: 3 sets of 12 reps
Strategize Supplementation
Going hand in hand with quality whole foods nutrition is the inclusion of a broad selection of quality supplements. Fortunately, because the best supplements are great tasting, easy to consume and effective in producing results, including them in the plan to follow will likely be the easiest part of your new lifestyle.
Quality supplementation also keeps the body and mind in a healthy state by providing the fuel we need to thrive under conditions of stress (training-induced or otherwise). Indeed, the specific ingredients contained in certain products are designed to fill the nutritional gaps present in even the most nutritionally well-balanced diets.
Certain supplements also make sticking to a lean body diet much easier due to their appetite suppressant effects and the nutritional balance such products provide.
So, what exactly comprises a sound supplement plan that addresses all of the above? See below for a seven-product stack that’s guaranteed to produce results and keep you focused on success during these difficult times.
Major Benefits: complete nutrition, general health and wellbeing
A latest in a long line of superior workout enhancing and health boosting products, Meal Prep by ALLMAX is a unique meal replacement formula featuring nine separate real food protein sources for optimum muscle growth and metabolic efficiency, along with a wide variety of quality whole grains (for gut health, disease prevention and weight loss) and fruits and vegetables (for health and vitality). Topping it all off is a revolutionary superfoods matrix to ensure advanced health gains and superior training energy.
Now more than ever we need nutritional simplicity. By downing 1-2 servings of Meal Prep per day, nutritional planning and consumption will be that much easier to sustain. And, to complement the multiple daily training sessions featured in the plan below, this product is the perfect meal substitute for ease of digestion to ensure complete nutrient assimilation has occurred well before the gym door closes behind us.
Perhaps best of all, there is a Meal Prep solution no matter your size or training goal: one scoop for 140 calories, two scoops for 275 calories, or three scoops for a massive 550 calories of quality nutrients. Meal planning just got a great deal easier.
Major Benefits: muscle-building, appetite reduction, immunity fortification
While whole food proteins (such as those contained in Meal Prep) have specific benefits of their own, there is no beating a superior whey isolate product for boosting muscle gains, suppressing appetite, increasing immunity and enhancing metabolic efficiency.6, 7
If you’ve tried it and benefited from it, you’ll know firsthand the many advantages of taking the market-leading ISOFLEX. For the uninitiated, first, you’ll round out your protein balance to ensure around the clock muscle protein synthesis; second, you’ll rapidly replenish post-training protein stores to commence the muscle re-building process; third, your taste for off-limits foods will markedly decrease due to the powerful appetite suppressant effects of whey; and fourthly, because its 27g of laboratory-tested whey isolates are loaded with non-denatured whey protein fractions to boost immunity and general health, you’ll feel better and grow faster.
Major Benefits: muscle-building, appetite reduction, immunity fortification
While whole food proteins (such as those contained in Meal Prep) have specific benefits of their own, there is no beating a superior whey isolate product for boosting muscle gains, suppressing appetite, increasing immunity and enhancing metabolic efficiency.6, 7
If you’ve tried it and benefited from it, you’ll know firsthand the many advantages of taking the market-leading ISOFLEX. For the uninitiated, first, you’ll round out your protein balance to ensure around the clock muscle protein synthesis; second, you’ll rapidly replenish post-training protein stores to commence the muscle re-building process; third, your taste for off-limits foods will markedly decrease due to the powerful appetite suppressant effects of whey; and fourthly, because its 27g of laboratory-tested whey isolates are loaded with non-denatured whey protein fractions to boost immunity and general health, you’ll feel better and grow faster.
Major Benefits: muscle-building, intra-sleep muscle gainer
With greater training frequency there is a higher chance of falling into a catabolic state at any given time, but especially during sleep. However, by taking the complete ultra-slow-release protein CASEIN-FX immediately before putting head to pillow, you’ll keep the muscle gains coming right through the night.
Also doubling as a tantalizing treat that can be consumed at any time, CASEIN-FX allows even the sweetest-toothed among us to indulge from time to time. In this case, rather than a loading of empty calories you’ll be receiving an enzymatically-absorbed 25 grams of slow release micellar casein, the gold standard in casein fortification.
Major Benefits: muscle protein synthesis, training endurance
While the BCAAs are best known for advancing muscle protein synthesis (and muscle growth) in times of great stress (training or otherwise), these muscle-specific aminos also fuel the muscles for sustained anaerobic output, making them an important part of any effective pre- and intra-workout stack.
Because you’ll be splitting your training into multiple daily sessions, you’ll need plenty of BCAA replenishment. Here, AMINOCORE is perfect as it provides a massive, highly-bioavailable 8.18g per serving total of the BCAAs Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine to enhance protein synthesis and shorten workout recovery time.
Because AMINOCORE provides the optimal ratio of BCAAs to offset muscle depletion, it’s the ultimate anti-catabolic formula for training optimization, lean muscle building, and metabolic enhancement.
Major Benefits: optimize nutrient balance, general health and wellbeing, heart and brain health, immunity enhancement
A major cause of stress, particularly in times of added turbulence (such as now), is poor mental functioning due to incomplete nutrition. In fact, as little as one missed micronutrient may, over time, create an imbalance that results in much agitation, scattered focus and mental disruption. Here, the B vitamins coupled with omega 3s are of particular benefit in restoring mood and improving mental wellbeing.
Whether taken as a delicious-tasting powder or in the time-tested pill form, each serving of the famed VITASTACK pro level vitamin and nutrition support will provide these and many other mental health boosting nutrients. In addition, VITASTACK is designed to significantly improve all health factors (including cardiovascular, skeletal and immune) to provide the edge in health and wellbeing, not to mention training, muscle recovery and growth.8
Major Benefits: immunity enhancement, muscle-building, general health and wellbeing
The conditionally-essential muscle amino Glutamine particularly comes into its own in times of stress, when the body is pressed to the limit whether through training or the general demands of a stressful lifestyle.
Using a hyper-particulation process called GLUTASURE, ALLMAX GLUTAMINE is designed to be ultra-fast-acting and rapidly absorbed. This clinically-dosed product, which is delivered to the muscles in a fast and efficient manner, provides the immune boost we all need in these uncertain times while maximizing muscle recovery to expedite the growth of new muscle tissue.
Major Benefits: improved workout focus and fat burning, huge muscle pumps, non-stimulant
Before any big workout we will need all the pre-workout support we can get. However, when training 2-3 times a day, often into the evening hours, we must also avoid overloading the central nervous system with heavy doses of traditional pre-workout stimulant ingredients. This is where the ultra-power IMPACT PUMP will serve us best.
By providing pharmaceutical doses of several powerful nootropic compounds, pump-friendly ingredients and key non-stim substances known to boost focus and mental alertness, this product gives a steady, clean workout high that keeps energy up while offsetting the mental crash that so often occurs when taking certain high stimulant products. This means IMPACT PUMP can be taken at any time to boost workout productivity without fear of keeping us up when we should be resting and growing.
With the daily demands of the above routine, rest and recovery will need to be prioritized more than ever. As relayed extensively on this site and elsewhere, there’s one piece of information we must permanently sear into our grey matter if we stand any chance of achieving our desired training results: we can only recover and grow outside the gym, when in a fully rested state.
So, do take the time to schedule in rest throughout the day. When possible, take a daily nap, or two. Of course, 8+ hours of sleep each night remains mandatory when seeking to maximize training success. Overall, keep mental stress low and adopt a laid-back attitude to life. Be like a lion in the wild: apply yourself 100 percent when required and spend the rest of the time building energy so when you are again ready to strike you can do so with maximum effort.
- Craft, L. L. et al. (2004). The Benefits of Exercise for the Clinically Depressed. Primary care companion to the Journal of clinical psychiatry, 6(3), 104–111.
- Chaouloff F. (2000). Serotonin, stress and corticoids. J Psychopharmacol. 14:139–151.
- Examining Gym Cleanliness. [Online] https://www.fitrated.com/resources/examining-gym-cleanliness/ – retrieved on 23.8.20
- Goldhammer, K. A. et al. (2006). Prospective Study of Bacterial and Viral Contamination of Exercise Equipment. Clin J Sport Med, 16 (1), 34-8 Jan
- Harvey, S. B. et al. (2017). Exercise and the Prevention of Depression: Results of the HUNT Cohort Study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 2017; appi.ajp.2017.1
- Kent, K. D. et al. (2003). Effect of Whey Protein Isolate on Intracellular Glutathione and Oxidant-Induced Cell Death in Human Prostate Epithelial Cells. Toxicol In Vitro, 17 (1), 27-33 Feb
- Lothian, J. B. et al. (2006). Effect of Whey Protein to Modulate Immune Response in Children With Atopic Asthma. Int J Food Sci Nutr, 57 (3-4), 204-11 May-Jun
- Mora, J. R. et al. (2008). Vitamin effects on the immune system: vitamins A and D take centre stage. Nature reviews. Immunology, 8(9), 685–698.
- Mukherjee, N. et al. (2014). Diversity of bacterial communities of fitness center surfaces in a U.S. metropolitan area. International journal of environmental research and public health, 11(12)
- Rehman, U. et al. (2020). Depression, Anxiety and Stress Among Indians in Times of Covid-19 Lockdown. Community mental health journal, 1–7. Advance online publication.
- Sodha, S. Young people overeating as they battle lockdown anxiety, says UK study. The Guardian.
- Stults-Kolehmainen, M. A. et al. (2014). The effects of stress on physical activity and exercise. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 44(1), 81–121.
- Washington Post. Your gym is teeming with invisible members: Germs. Here’s how to avoid them.
- Yaribeygi, H. et al. (2017). The impact of stress on body function: A review. EXCLI journal, 16, 1057–1072.
- Zheng, L. et al. (2020). Is Lockdown Bad for Social Anxiety in COVID-19 Regions? A National Study in The SOR Perspective. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(12), 4561.
