The end of quarantine is in sight, and gyms are FINALLY starting to re-opening! If you didn't have a home gym set up before the onset of COVID-19 and you didn't place your order for gym equipment before everything sold out, you likely haven't touched a barbell for 3-4 months. Whether you did home workouts every day or didn't do anything at all, your barbell lifting program shouldn't look the way it did before the gyms shut down.
If you just started training with barbells or an elite-level powerlifter before losing gym access, it doesn't matter. Having not trained with a barbell for 3-4 months means you're a novice again. Don't stress! This is actually a good thing, so hear us out!
You're detrained:
You didn't take a week or two off, and your training program shouldn't address this by making simple changes to the intensity in your pre-COVID lifting program. This doesn't mean that you're back to square one, starting from scratch, and have lost all your strength. All your months and years of hard work do not simply disappear in a few months. Still, you do have a unique opportunity to take advantage of as you start training again.
Your body is no longer adapted to your previous training stimuli, and you haven't felt a weight on your back or in your hands in months. We'd argue that jumping right back into your old program could be a recipe for disaster off the bat, or down the road because your body isn't ready for that.
Being in a detrained state is beneficial for barbell athletes regardless of their previous level of performance for a variety of reasons:
You make progress very quickly and don't need as much volume, intensity, or training frequency as you did before the extended time off.
This is a unique opportunity to work on technique and areas of weakness that were challenging to resolve previously. You can start training at a low enough intensity giving you a better chance to improve your technique, break bad habits, and address form breakdown.
You can resolve old injuries and pain associated with programming and technique issues without pressure to prepare for a competition in the immediate future.
As competitors, sometimes we ignore pain and injuries as we prepare to compete. When our goal is to lift heavier weight and hit new PRs, we can put dealing with injuries on the backburner to address them later on. But let's face it, this is not the optimal way to achieve longevity in our sport. Returning to lifting in this detrained state after having an extended period off, allows you to shift your training focus. You can address old injuries and pain as you ease back into training with lighter weights before you start to focus on your next powerlifting meet. This will ultimately make you better, healthier, and stronger in the long run!
You can make progress with reduced training frequency and shorter workouts. This means you can get time back in your life that you'd otherwise be spending in the gym before the extended time off. AND… Since gyms have capacity and time restrictions since reopening post-COVID, shorter workouts mean you'll be able to quickly get in and out.
Being a temporary "novice" again is a great situation even though your brain might be telling you otherwise. You might have plans to get right back to where you were as quickly as possible, but this won't get you as far as it can in the long run. Don't let your ego get in the way of this training "rebirth," and remember that barbell training for strength and powerlifting is a marathon, not a sprint. You're temporarily a novice again and should take advantage of this by adjusting your expectations and goals to the current adaptability to be realistic and set yourself up for future success. You can also read our free guide to restarting barbell training here.
Here's what to keep in mind:
Less is more: Doing the minimal effective dose (MED) of training will allow you to make progress without spending hours in the gym and with less exposure to injury. This also enables you to increase your training stimuli over time without your training sessions getting out of control.
Avoid doing too much, too soon, too fast as this is how injuries most likely occur.
Quiet that internal voice that says you have to get back to where you were faster than the length of time you were out of the gym sans barbells. This is not the time to let your ego guide your training.
Even though it took you a long time to get to the level you were at, it won't take that long to get back there!
So your next question is likely:
"Well, if it's not best to go back to the same training program I was on before, what's the best thing to do?"
This is the barbell training program we recommend. All the details on the format, where to start, and how to progress are explained in detail!
Keeping all factors we mentioned previously in mind, we recommend following a simple novice linear progression for general strength, sports performance, or powerlifting. This is a simple, three day per week beginner powerlifting program of moderate volume and intensity with minimal variation. The idea behind this training program is to reintegrate and readapt to training without overdoing it, plateauing, or injuring yourself while addressing issues that may have been present before the layoff.
This programming format will allow you to take advantage of the novice effect of training. Since you're detrained and now fall into the category of a novice lifter, you'll recover from training quickly (within 36-48 hours). Therefore, you can train the main lifts more frequently, gradually increasing the weight each time you train. It is a simple barbell program emphasizing the squat, bench press, deadlift, and overhead press. An NLP will give you frequent exposure to and progression of the main lifts. This is optimal for improving technique while gradually increasing the intensity to enable you to get stronger and better at executing these lifts than you were before the layoff.
As you progress through an NLP, every lift won't transition at the same time. This is normal, so don't be alarmed if some lifts are progressing faster than others. In this free barbell training program, we show you exactly how to assess each lift individually and transition each lift independently when the time comes. The entire training program doesn't need to change just because one lift is getting too heavy.
When you finish the NLP, you'll need to transition to a barbell training program more suited for an intermediate. It's not yet necessary to go back to the powerlifting program you were on before the quarantine started. In fact, we recommend that you don't do that! We suggest maintaining the idea of keeping your plan simple. Train the main lifts and continue to work on consistency with your technique as you get stronger. You may be tempted to start adding in variations of the main lifts and accessory exercises. Still, you don't need to do this to get stronger! Adding blocks, chains, bands, etc. can be exciting, but what purpose are they really serving? They're changing the way you move and may ultimately get in the way of you achieving consistency and proficiency with the performance of the main lifts. If you feel you need to supplement the main lifts, we recommend tempo and paused work before significantly different lifts are used. This will allow you to focus on refining your technique while allowing a new stimulus to push your strength forward.
We talked about the minimal effective dose (MED) earlier regarding the NLP. This principle is still valuable once you've run out your temporary beginner gains. By using a MED approach, your body adapts to a manageable volume, frequency, and intensity. When you need to increase this stimulus to provoke further change, you won't need to add much. This helps keep the volume, frequency, and intensity of your training manageable and keeps your workouts shorter.
A simple lifting program with a MED of volume, frequency, and intensity will keep your fatigue levels from getting too high as you continue to practice good training habits. If you're not recovering between workouts or if fatigue levels are rising at the end of a high rep set, you're likely experiencing technique breakdown. All these factors contribute to your increased risk of injury. Maintaining improved and consistent techniques while appropriately managing your recovery and fatigue levels will ultimately reduce your risk of injury.
Let's face it, as much as we love training, we also have other things to do outside of the gym! Having a barbell training program that's simple and doesn't keep you in the gym for hours on end will allow you to have more time to spend with family and friends outside of training. Why not follow a lifting program that enables you to get better and stronger, doesn't leave you feeling beat up, and allows you more free time outside of the gym? Your training should make you feel healthy and fit into your life, not the other way around!
If you're interested in learning how to optimize barbell technique, maximize strength and muscular development, and reduce injury risk for you, your clients, or patients, then join the waitlist to get insider information on all the PRS online courses when they're ready for enrollment!