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 46