Post Lockdown; don't go out too hard...
Looking around social media at the moment (April ‘21 in the UK) we can see a lot of people excited about getting back in the gyms. I’ve even seen a few all time PB’s happening which can be a little misleading to those more new to the sport… You can take 4 months off and come back stronger? NO. Not really. Keep in mind the context that many people had found a way to train during the lockdown and often had to limit that training due to being indoors. The narrowed focus means some people have been able to make really great progress on a couple of lifts and so hit the ground running now back to sort of normal.
That’s great for them but what about the one’s who have not trained? Or only trained sporadically? Or not been able to go overhead at all but now have stronger legs from all the accessory work? Here are my recommendations for getting started…again…
Drop the expectations:
Don’t think about old numbers or what you ‘think’ may be realistic. Start with facts and what you know for sure you can do and recover from after a hiatus. This wasn’t the first lockdown after all so you may have a good idea from last year. Check your training log.
If you’ve lost weight:
losing weight when not training likely means some muscle mass is gone. Don’t panic, it will probably come back pretty quickly but it does mean some strength loss. Go back expecting 70-80% to feel pretty heavy.
if you were able to do some training and you intentionally got a handle on your calorie intake the likelihood is you retained a good amount of muscle. Hopefully then your strength has maintained fairly well. Use ~90% of old maxes as current training maxes for a week or two to assess where you are now.
If you’ve gained weight:
I lost weight in the first lockdown only to gain it all back in the second and then third lockdowns. I’ve been able to train fairly consistently the whole time but strength has ebbed and flowed with other stress and sleep factors. Look at the whole picture as well as the scales to figure out if the weight is useful or a hinderance.
Decide early on if you want to remain at the current body weight or you need to get back to a weight class to compete. This will inform your training when you return. Staying put? Normal lifting programme. Need to cut? Probably a bit more volume of work and even some cardio, importantly; get control over what goes in your mouth.
Being a bit heavier can mean your strength is in a good place but the downsides can be poorer conditioning and slower recovery. 1-2kg lean mass gained probably has a really positive effect on your training whereas 4-5kg of fat gain will make things feel pretty different. Get your body fat tested if you’re that way inclined but you probably know instinctively what’s happened.
How long should you keep lifting lighter than usual?
Well as always it depends but I do have some basic guidelines I’ll be using with my athletes who haven’t been able to train for a while.
Prepare for impact: If you’ve not moved your feet or done any full lifts in a while you need to spend some time practicing landing again. Jumping, landing, catching bars etc are high force and high velocity activities. Be kind to your knees and hips by easing back gently and starting with body weight. Even if it’s only across a couple of weeks, I’d suggest doing to drop landings from progressive heights then adding loaded jumps before doing any heavier full lifts or powers.
Treat the first 2-3 weeks back as a technical block or what would normally be a deload for you.
Keep percentage work 5-10% lower than you normally would: If normally you do triples at 75-80%, first make sure you can get them done well with 70%. Use more warm up sets for the technical practice as now is about making sure lifts are correct and you haven’t picked up any bad habits or restrictions.
Keep variety high and specificity low: Yes we want to get back snatching and cleaning and jerking but now is the time for very general preparation. Your programme should reflect that you are preparing to train hard not look like a specialisation block before a competition.
Add some conditioning: It doesn’t need to be loads or long in duration but it’s worth getting your fitness back up now in order to be able to handle harder and higher volumes of big lifts in the future. Pick activities that are lower impact like rowing, cycling or simply circuits for your accessory exercises.
Expect DOMs: It’s inevitable that you will be sore even doing what on paper looks easy. Don’t panic or stray from the plan. It won’t be long before you’re back to normal (which for many of us is sore anyway).
I wish you all the best in your efforts to get back to full fitness and strength. I can’t wait to see you all on the platform hitting PB’s. Fingers crossed for no more lockdowns and even a couple of in-person events…