My lockdown workouts

“What stands in the way becomes the way” – Marcus Aurelius

The New Zealand Covid-19 lockdown started on Wednesday 25^th March 2020 and ended on Monday 27^th April 2020 (roughly 5 weeks in level 4 lockdown). I had started a pre-planned week’s holiday on the Monday 23 March. I could see that a lockdown was probably on its way, so I started my lockdown workout that Monday. I wasn’t privy to any special information, it was a good bet were we heading to a lockdown given the way other countries were handling their more advanced outbreaks.

I saw a lockdown as an opportunity to get a lot of volume into my training, particularly to work on pistol squats which I had always struggled with. With pistol squats on the plan, I thought about what else I might add. I always enjoy pull ups and wanted to increase my max set (Here is a link to my outdoor pull up frame). With a pulling movement picked out I wanted to add a pushing movement. Push ups were an option, so were handstand push ups, but dips for me are approximately the same difficulty as pull ups, so they became the third movement. I considered adding ab wheel roll outs or hollow rocks, but thought that might end up being too much, or that the core work would negatively impact the other three movements.

Pistol squats, with and without a heel raise

With three movements chosen the next step was to plan the program - the sets, reps and days. I had Pavel’s grease the groove in mind when I decided to do one set, on the hour, for 10 hours each day (7 or 8am till 4 or 5pm). Note: I haven’t read the book for a long time, so I’m not sure my plan exactly aligns with Pavel’s, but the concept is similar. This workout plan was in addition to my normal workout routine (which I will also post about soon).  This meant I had to be fairly conservative with the total volume. This is an important point, if you are planning to add something like this hourly workout while still continuing your normal workout the volume can catch up on you quite quickly.

Pull ups and dips are a good pair

Starting on the first Monday I did 3 reps of each movement, 10 times per day Monday-Saturday, with Sunday as a rest day. This was 30 reps per day, per movement, plus whatever my regular workout was. Each set took less than 5 minutes. This first week went really well, pull ups and dips were fine, and I was starting to accumulate a lot of good pistol squats (with and without using a heel raise). Week two I increased the reps to 4 per hour, a total or 40 per day. Again things went well.

On Monday of week 3 I went up to 5 reps, 50 total per day. This is where the wheels fell off. Tuesday and Wednesday I was too burnt out for a workout of any kind, I had reached and exceeded my limit of volume in the last two weeks. After taking some time off, I tested my max pull ups on Friday and did 18, a new personal best, up from 17, so I guess the plan was a success.

Week 4 of lockdown I was able to do a full week of 5 reps each hour of pull ups and dips, 3 reps per hour pistol squats. I dropped the reps for the pistols down since I was able to switch to full sets of pistols with no heel raise, which I considered a huge win. I also felt that increasing the volume of pistol squats would be extremely difficult, and would likely lead to a lot of failed reps. I wanted the focus to be on better technique above all.

One major issue I found with this workout was increasing upper back tightness and pain. The huge volume (volume is of course relative to the individual) of pull ups was a lot of strain for my back and I was really feeling it. Not injured, just hurt.  Every house I added in some scapular and lat movements/stretches from the Gymnastic bodies program. Adding the stretches helped get the pain down and keep it at bay, but it was still a lot of volume. The other issue was the burnout in week 3. Both of these problems would have been mitigated with a slower progression, but I had planned for the 3,4,5 progression and wanted to stick with it, since the lockdown was only meant to be 4 weeks. If I could go back and change it I would try 3,3,4,4,5.

While the program didn’t go exactly to plan, I did achieve a good outcome. I got much better and more consistent at pistol squats, max pull ups went up, and I got in a lot of dip volume too. If you are ever in a situation where you can spare 2-5 minutes per hour for a few reps, maybe give this style of workout a try.

Note: Both my wife and I worked from home through lockdown.  Although we also have a toddler at home so only one of us could work at a time so the other could take care of our toddler.  My work allowed my flexibility to steal 5 minutes an hour in the garage; and my toddler often enjoys joining me in the gym. I know this won’t work for everyone, but it’s worth keeping in mind as an option or idea.