CANADIAN PHYSIQUE ALLIANCE July/August 2020 | Page 46
How to Return To Your
Commercial Gym Workouts
DARREN MEHLING BA CSCS PRESIDENT FREAK FITNESS ONLINE
After many months of
mandatory quarantine due
to the novel coronavirus
COVID-19, we are seeing
the slow and gradual
return of our beloved
commercial gyms. It will
take some time for things
to return to the way they were
before this pandemic began, but
at least things are moving in the right direction.
As I’m sure many of you feel like beasts who have
been caged up for an extended period of time, you
want to blast out of the gates and make your first
workout back in your commercial gym an epic
one. But just like the government has scheduled
the re-opening of our cities in phases, we must be
mindful of how we return to full out commercial
gym workouts.
Increased Risk of Injury
For many of us, the last few months of workouts
have centered around exercises using resistance
bands, light dumbbells or kettlebells, suspension
training systems, and bodyweight exercises. We
were limited by space and budget, so we didn’t have
access to power racks, heavy loaded barbells, and
our favorite Leg Press Machine.
There is no denying that resistance band lateral
delt raises and suspension trainer body rows are
effective at building bigger shoulders and back. I
know I have a renewed respect for even a light set of
kettlebell snatches. But what all of these exercises
are missing is the demand on our bodies that only
a heavy loaded barbell can produce.
Unfortunately, a resistance band or bodyweight
exercise cannot place an equivalent amount of
tension on ligaments and tendons, the structural
demand on the skeletal system, and the mental
challenge on our central nervous system that
a heavy external load like a loaded barbell can
produce.
It is because of these missing elements that it is
imperative that you not jump right back into your
commercial gym workouts with the same loads
and intensity you had before the pandemic started.
You run an increased of injury if you attempt to go
right back to 100.
Instead, I recommend you prepare a 3-4 week
progressive return to your pre-pandemic loads and
intensity. Of course, there are individual variables
so this is a general recommendation, but I believe a
slow and gradual return to “normal” is a necessary
one.
Time Restrictions
As part of the re-opening procedures, commercial
gyms must institute procedures to provide enough
room to comply to mandated social distancing
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