Hustle for that muscle... at home?!!
This would have been my face 3 months ago if you told me I’d have to try and stay strong with limited weights while working out from home in the very near future…
But, alas - here we are, in this alternate universe type scenario where we can’t get into the gym and we can’t buy any equipment. So do we give up? Heck no! I’m here to assure you with 100% certainty, that you CAN maintain your strength during this time, if you follow these couple of guidelines.
Studies show “heavy weight and light weight sets performed close to failure produce similar gains in hypertrophy”, which means that we can still get a great workout and keep our hard earned muscle if we train in a slightly different way - that being, close to failure.
For pretty well all gym movements, there will be a bodyweight alternative that will work similar muscles. So if we look to these alternatives and work close to failure, we will produce similar results to when we were in the gym. Some alternatives may be:
Barbell bench press sub for Push ups (and all its progressions - wide, close, diamond, clapping, decline, superman)
Barbell Squats sub or Bodyweight squats (and the enormous amount of squat variations), walking lunges, broad jumps, step ups
Barbell bent over rows sub for Chin ups, pull ups, inverted rows, dips
Barbell deadlift sub for Bodyweight hamstring curls, hip thrusts, glute bridge
In addition to performing bodyweight alternatives, to maximise the return on our efforts even further you can include even more variables:
MIND TO MUSCLE CONNECTION: Studies have shown that mind to muscle connection can still induce hypertrophic effects (i.e. muscle gain can occur if you’re concentrating on activating the muscle you’re targeting during each exercise).
INCREASE REPS, DECREASE REST: To fatigue the muscle as much as possible, don’t rest too long between sets
INTRODUCE ISOMETRIC WORK: Do more single limb work with increased mind to muscle connection
SLOW DOWN THE TEMPO: On the eccentric portion of each exercise, slow it down to increase difficulty
INTRODUCE PARTIAL REPS: Think half reps and quarter reps between each full rep - they burn!
ADD WEIGHT, EVEN IF ITS NOT A BARBELL: Most exercises can be performed with dumbbells or a kettlebell, but if you don’t have that just hit the pantry and get canned vegetables and water bottles!
If you want to see a LIVE DEMONSTRATION of all of these techniques, I filmed a free training in my Facebook group. If you’d like to see that, click here https://www.facebook.com/kate.davenport.925/videos/10157893544689475/
And with that, I will sign off. Happy Friday!
Kate x
P.s. Are we friends on insta? Follow me @katelambertfitness!