COVID-19 Powerlifting Workout
Thanks to the fucking coronavirus causing gym closures, thousands of powerlifters and gym goers across Canada and U.S, including myself, are not able to train anymore. But with a little creativity we can still train at home and hopefully not lose all of our hard gained muscles. Because specificity is key in powerlifting, the COVID-19 powerlifting workout is designed to keep your technique dialed in by still performing the squat, bench press (push ups will be performed instead), deadlift and their assistance exercises. The only difference is you’ll be performing them with bodyweight and higher reps.
Day one: Lower body
- Bodyweight squats
- superset
- Bodyweight standing good mornings
- Bodyweight deadlift
- Superset
- Bodyweight glute bridges
- Standing calf raise, one leg at a time: 5 sets to failure
Tips: I recommend using a broom stick to mimic a barbell when performing these exercises. I find it helps me keep proper form and feels more like the actual exercise. Perform 3-5 sets of each exercise. Start with sets of 25 reps and work your way up from there. Don’t make the same mistake I did and squat to failure the first time you do this workout, I could barely walk for days after!
Day two: upper body
- Feet elevated push ups
- superset
- Pull ups
- Conventional push ups on flat ground
- superset
- Pull ups
- Crunches: 5 sets
Tips: For feet elevated push ups stairs work great. You can start by putting your feet on the bottom step of a stair case and progressively move up one step at a time as you get used to it. If there are no stairs in your house put your feet up on a chair or couch. And for pull ups you’ll have to get creative. You’ll need to find something to hang off. A door frame, your kids’ swing set, or if you can, mount a bar somewhere. Again perform 3-5 sets for each exercise. For the number of reps, I find going to failure works well for push ups and pull ups.
Bodyweight exercises will probably be pretty easy to recover from for most of you so you can train 6-7 days a week alternating between upper body and lower body from day to day. If you’re finding it too easy don’t be afraid to make the workout more challenging by adding more reps, more supersets, shortening your rest time between sets, etc… And if you’re sore or tired, take a day or two off to recover.
If you’re stuck in your home under quarantine or practicing social distancing, at least try to stay active and stay in shape. Give the COVID-19 powerlifting workout a try and don’t be afraid to improvise and be creative with your exercises!
If you’re looking for ideas for more bodyweight exercises click here:
https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a26202141/best-bodyweight-exercises/