How to Avoid Overdoing It When Restarting Your Fitness Routine

COVID-19 brought many changes to people’s routines, especially those having to do with fitness. With gyms closed and people from home, there has been doing a lot less moving and a lot more sitting. Now that we are entering stage 3, many of you may be itching to get back to the gym and exercising regularly. After this prolonged break, it is important to ease yourself back into a workout routine rather than jump right back in where you left off.

To avoid injury, take the following into consideration:

Increase gradually

Did you used to work out 5 days/week? Start with 2 days/week and each week add an extra day. This is especially relevant with weight lifting, assuming most people have been doing body weight or banded workouts from home. Lift less weight than you are used to and slowly ramp things back up.

Include a warm up and a cool down

A good warm up prepares your body for activity and helps loosen up your muscles. A cool down including deep stretching is also very necessary. Don’t skip these!

Listen to your body

Recognize the difference between being sore and being in pain. Adjust your intensity accordingly. Also ,don’t be too hard on yourself if you aren’t training at the level you were pre-quarantine. This can lead to a loss in motivation and feeling discouraged.

Remember to rest

Resting between workouts is imperative for recovery! It is also the least scheduled and under-utilized way to enhance performance. Down time allows the muscles to repair, rebuild and strengthen, as well as adapt to your new routine. Sleep, hydration, nutrition, stretching, foam rolling, ice, etc. are all important aspects of recovery.


If you're not feeling ready to head back to the gym just yet, sign up for our virtual training and stay in the comfort of your own home.

Maintaining Muscle Mass during COVID-19

Gyms are closed. You don’t have an at-home gym. Dumbbells are sold out online. How do you maintain the muscle mass you worked so hard to gain prior to the pandemic? Here are some tips:

• Slow down your movements. For example, if you are doing body weight squats, slow them down and add an isometric hold at the bottom of the squat.

• Increase your repetitions and work till failure. There is no one size fits all to the amount of reps that someone should be doing because everyone is at a different level. 

• Keep constant tension in your movement. For example, if you are doing a lunge, instead of fully straightening your legs to starting position, keep a slight bend in the legs and stay low.

• Elevate your feet. For example, put your legs up on the couch for a decline pushup. Maybe even work your way up to a handstand pushup with legs against the wall.

• Try single limb movements. For example, try a pistol squat or a one arm pushup.

• Use resistance bands. The thicker the band the more weight resistance.

• Increase your protein intake. If you have a hard time including protein at each meal, try a shake!

• Increase your frequency. If you usually trained 3x per week at the gym with weights, increase your workouts to 6x per week with body weight and bands.

Most importantly, don’t be too hard on yourself. These are difficult times both mentally and physically and it is important to give yourself a break.