7 Weeks

As of Monday the 22^nd of February, Boris Johnson had given the British public the news that we have all been waiting for. A plan on when our lives can become somewhat ‘normal’ again. The activity I have missed the most during lockdown is going to the gym.  I’m lucky in that I do have a fair bit of equipment compared to other people in my garage. However, it just isn’t the same. The journey to the gym, listening to music to hype yourself up for your session, drinking a pre-workout shake whilst looking at your logbook, visioning how your session will go and the atmosphere in the gym in general. I’ve really missed it!

7 more weeks waiting and potentially we are back at the gym. We now have a date, something to work towards, something to set us up for when the gyms reopen.

This is now an opportunity. If you’ve slacked off during this lockdown, it’s time to do something about it. Get back to performing similar movements that you would be doing in the gym, even if it’s simply body weight movements. If you haven’t lifted any weights during this lockdown, or even been as active as you usually are, your fatigue (DOMS) will be through the roof if you return to lifting weights with the same intent that you did before this lockdown commenced. For most people it’s down to who wants it the most.

During my lockdown, I’ve spent all this extra time investing in myself. I haven’t slacked off. I’ve started running more frequently, started boxing and started to do more cardio-based work. Because of that, I am now the fittest I’ve ever been.

Along with cardio based workouts, I’ve still been completing resistance training. I am fortunate enough to have over 200kg in my garage, so I have had more than enough weight to play with. I’ve generally focused my resistance training based off a push / pull / legs / off / chest and back / off / off split. It has been working for me. My chest and back are weak points so I have included a day specifically focused on those muscle groups. The aim is to align them with the rest of my body. I have specifically found love for upper chest movements such as an incline DB press of an incline DB fly. I have really benefited from more upper chest movements. I have also found love for back exercises that I didn’t have before such as a single arm DB row or pull ups.

My aim is to get back in the gym and pick up somewhere near where I left it. I really hope I do. I feel like I’ve earnt that. But even if I hadn’t, now would be the time I started again. Not on 12^th April. Imagine what you could achieve in 7 weeks.

If you’ve been religiously consistent throughout these retched lockdowns you will reap the rewards when the gym is re-opened. If you haven’t then it is what it is. Start now and work twice as hard. If you’re thinking, “7 weeks… I wish it was sooner.” Just remember, you would have spent almost 1 year in lockdown, pretty much 52 weeks! You’re telling me you can’t do the same activities for another 7 weeks? Light is at the end of the tunnel, keep it going!

Thanks for reading. Keep pushing, we are almost there, just 7 more weeks!

Cavan.