In normal conditions, the weather outside wouldn’t matter to most athletes. However, with Covid19 now, working out is getting a bit harder. That’s why I’ll share with you my personal Covid19 winter workout sessions that I’m planning for myself.
As it gets colder outside, things are harder for most folks in the northern hemisphere. With gyms being still closed in most countries in Europe, there are not so many options for a quality workout.
Keep your mind sharp!
Despite that it’s cold outside and you probably don’t have a complete set of fitness equipment at home, it’s still important to continue training. You are asking why? Because we all get nervous, anxious, we can’t travel or visit friends and family. All of that energy and normal things we are used to in our normal lives are now forbidden to us.
The mental health and pressure challenges we all feel need to be tackled somehow. If you don’t go out and do things as normal, you’ll soon start to feel miserable and lost. With diverse training activities, we can tackle some of that pressure and mental health challenges.
Also, our bodies will feel alive again. With training, things will feel a bit normal, especially if we were working out before the pandemic. Since it’s getting colder everywhere, to have Covid19 winter workout sessions is getting more and more important.
Covid19 winter workout sessions: What to do?
The possibilities are literally endless! Were you struggling with a specific movement back in the days when we were going to the gym? Find a YouTube video that explains it and start to work on your mobility and range of motion. You can totally do that without any added weight, but not only that – it’s advised you do it with bodyweight only.
If you already have some fitness equipment, just search for dumbbells, bands, or bodyweight training videos. There are so many videos nowadays, that you just can’t miss them. I can’t just miss the opportunity to mention Obi Vincent. This fit dude does amazing training sessions with bodyweight, dumbbells, kettlebells, etc.
Sick of working out alone at home? Go for a run! I started running occasionally outside. As long as the temperature outside is more than 5 degrees, you are good to go. Put on a hat, gloves, polyester jacket, or sweatshirt, get yourself a nice pair of running shoes from any of the December discounts and you’re good to go.
There’s so much training to do without a gym
Fixing your mobility issues or trying exercises that you were feeling anxious to try in a public gym is no longer an excuse. Now you can find your favorite YouTube athlete, watch carefully how the movement is executed and try to replicate it slowly and pain-free.
Training pain-free is probably one of the staples of Squat University. His main goal in life is to help people train pain-free and help us understand how our bodies should move. He has written one book called The Squat Bible and is about to release his second book Rebuilding Milo at the beginning of 2021. I’ve been following him for quite a while, listening to podcasts and I can’t recommend Dr. Aaron Horschig enough.
One interesting thing I did yesterday is working out with a virtual coach. There’s an iPhone app called Workout | Down Dog. It’s actually a group of apps from the same developer. With this app, you can find an amazing HIIT workout, fine-tune the workouts themselves, adjust the intensity, etc. I did a 30 mins workout yesterday and my t-shirt was as wet as when I trained Tabata with my former coach!
Maintain your body and fitness level
With the first lockdown this spring, many professional athletes and enthusiasts talked about losing their gains during lockdown. However, there were people that actually explained what was going on with our bodies during periods of time off the gym. The reality is that we can we will keep most of our strength and gains for 3-5 months even if we don’t train at all.
However, that’s not an excuse to sit on our butts and do nothing for our bodies. With simple HIIT workouts, running frequently, training with dumbbells, etc, we can successfully maintain a decent fitness level. Not to say that some of us can actually gain strength and muscle mass, but we can actually achieve that too.
Doing Covid19 winter workout sessions on your own is very important for your body and your mind. I know you’ll probably be less motivated to train and if the case is this, you can refer to a recent post I wrote about enjoying home workouts more.
What my Covid19 winter workout sessions are consist of?
Up until recently, I was running outside 2-3 times a week. This was giving me a good energy boost and most importantly, I was outside of our home. With the days getting colder, that’s probably the one activity that I can perform outside without feeling cold. If you feel cold while running, then you’re probably moving too slow!
Dumbbell strength sessions is another workout I do with my 2x20kg dumbbells. I’m deloading them in some cases, to about 2x15kg and I’m doing a full-body workout with them. Sometimes I’m using bands, jump rope, or just my own body weight, but the important bit is that I’m moving.
With the running, I was having between 2 and 4 workouts per week. For a Covid19 winter workout session, this is pretty good I would say as I keep up as much as I can with the intensity from before the pandemic.
What is your plan for Covid19 winter workout sessions?
