I have lost weight and have always struggled with muscle gains and I was finally getting some nice gains at 28 years old and now I lost 15 lbs due to the pandemic. Got laid off of a newly obtained job due to pandemic. I don’t have any home equipment except for 5 lbs dumbbells. I live with my mom right now and I’m stuck until the pandemic is over. My gym just opened up but I’m not comfortable going straight back to the gym. I know some people who got the coronavirus and my uncle lost some of his co-workers to the virus as well. So, this shit is serious. We all have to be safe. I looked up online for gym equipment like a bench, some dumbbells, and a squat rack. It’s crazy expensive and I don’t have any money. I’ve been doing a home workout with bodyweight but another problem is my diet. I can’t just go to the grocery store every week and most people in my area are not wearing masks.
What advice do you have? What’s your quarantine diet like? I could stockpile on chicken breast, eggs, whole grain bread, cottage cheese, and sweet potatoes.
These are extraordinary times - but I still reject the idea that you lost 15 unwanted lbs from the pandemic, especially when you can stockpile what countless others have used as the building blocks for gains.
Start by forgetting this:
and focus on this:
Then fix whatever training program you’re on. Remember that bodyweight workouts are not just about adding more reps - when the goal is hypertrophy, you should focus on increasing the strength-skill progression. Pushups could evolve into one-armed pushups or handstand pushups. Pullups could rotate varying grips or, if you’re really determined, turn into one-armed pullups. Squats could turn into shrimp or pistol squats. Crunches could go to dragon flags. Glute bridges could turn into glute-ham raises.
Change “find a reason not to” into “find a way to” and you’ll see some serious improvement. Not everything is possible right now - i.e. you don’t have to just blow fuckloads of money on a home gym - but you can do more than what you’ve been doing.
As an aside - there are a lot of businesses that are incredibly short staffed right now, hiring. Even if it’s temporary, try to do something for some money at this time.
Eat sufficient protein. Overall eat enough to maintain bodyweight.
Workout all major muscle groups as intensely as possible. Might have to get creative with exercise selection. Fortunately the volume/worked needed to maintain is less than what is required to gain. If u working then u are reducing muscle loss. Strength will probs drop because of neural adaptions but they come back fast.
In the end you’ll get back to the gym and muscle memory will kick in and before u know it you’ll be back full speed on the gain train in a few months.
