Post Quarantine Fitness Gains: What to Expect Part #2

In my previous blog, I outlined the areas that we believe gyms are going to be changing to, in order to accommodate a changing milieu due to COVID-19. If you haven’t read it yet, you can find it here (https://www.smartfitness1.com/blog/p8p7qliky29khy54tydjg83ogrxhv1 ). In today’s blog I want to go over what you can expect from your body when you return to gyms. This entire blog is predicated under the assumption that you likely do not have access to all the equipment you would normally train with at the gym. If you have either acquired equipment or already have a home gym, you may not find a ton of applicable value to you specifically. But the physiology being applied is nothing short of fun. So, I would be thrilled if you continued to read, and provided me your thoughts on where your MRV and MEV are, in the comment section below!

Okay, enough side talk, let’s jump right in. What can you expect from your body? Well, for starters it won’t be the lean, mean fighting machine that it used to be. But what exactly does that mean?        

What to expect from your body:

The very obvious and glaring reality when you return to the gym is that you will be less strong, you will be less muscular, and you may potentially, have gained body fat. This is not out of the ordinary. However, you can treat this as a time that would be no different than an extensive injury or a surgery, which limited your ability to train. I for one, upon having the Crohn’s surgery ( a right hemi-colectomy, noticed that I not only lost weight- in the realm of 40 lbs, but I was weaker and had more body fat with less muscle. This is fairly normal. When you take an extended period of time away from training, these things can and likely will result. Especially if you aren’t doing anything else to supplement the removal of barbell or gym related resistance training! The running joke on social media is calling this current pandemic’s physical fitness effect “the COVID- 15”: similar to a “freshman-15”, with roughly 15 lbs of weight gain. If it has become a joke on the social media world, then clearly you are not alone. But that does not mean you should do nothing about it. We recommend working within the capabilities that you have currently, not the previous pre-COVID you.

Prior to COVID you were likely someone training rigorously, either for health, performance of some sort or sport. But when COVID hit, you had to change what you were doing, for the worse. Either training with what you have or buying equipment as quarantine raged on. This is great, but it is not the same thing as true training-unless you purchased just about everything you used before. If you did not, or could not, which is likely to be the situation for most individuals, you are likely to see a decreased work capacity: or ability to simply do work (work as in sets, reps, weight- as a general term, not relative to ‘force x distance’ as within physics). So, if you’re weaker it does not make sense to max out, or even come near your new max effort. The likelihood of injury increases and the likelihood of it being detrimental to long term progression becomes a real issue. Now that we have the logical applications of what is likely to happen when you return, let’s jump into the nuts and bolts of your programming to-be.

First, we need to recognize that you are going to be more susceptible to DOMS, or delayed onset muscle soreness. This essentially means that you are likely to be more sore after your workout post-COVID then you were for the same application pre-COVID. This is also normal. But, you need to recognize this. Do not think that you can go into the gym and simply resume what you were doing before. You are likely setting yourself up for a world of hurt (no pun intended). So, now you’re probably thinking, “Damn, not only are they saying I’m going to be weaker and smaller, with fat gain, but I can’t simply do what I did before and hope it works? What am I supposed to do?” And that is fine. It is normal. That thought leads this discussion to some fairly abstract but important terms: MRV and MEV (ideas created and proposed by Dr. Mike Isratel).

·        MRV: Maximum Recoverable Volume

·        MEV: Minimum Effective Volume

These two terms are important for recovery and output within one’s exercise bout. It would be negligent as an avid gym goer to not at least have a baseline level of understanding of the two. So, to explain what they are continue to read below.

Both of these terms are related to volume over an entire week, within the mesocycle’s microcycle. It is the total reps and sets performed. MRV and MEV are both explaining volume relative to a specific muscle, such as the quads and biceps. Each will increase over time, but you coming off of a quarantine-decreased training bout, will have a lower MRV and MEV.

MRV is the maximum volume that you can recover from on a weekly basis. This is different per muscle group. Some muscle groups require a larger time to recover, while others do not. Some muscles require more sets to reach “max”, while others do not. But on average, anywhere between: 15-20 total sets per week per muscle can suffice as a maximum. A true explanation, from a muscle to muscle perspective is beyond the scope of this blog and will be fulfilled in future write ups.

MEV is essentially as the words suggest, the minimum amount of volume you can do in order to see positive benefits. So for example, if 12 sets of bicep curls maintains your gains, and 10 puts you at a loss, 13 could be the minimum dose to see continued progress. Again, much like MRV, the total amount of sets per week is more relative to the muscle being worked than anything else. For example, biceps may require less sets than the hamstrings.

Now that we understand MRV and MEV, let’s take a look at why they are important. Both play a role on how many sets and reps you will do in the gym. Prior to quarantine your MRV and MEV would be at a baseline, we’ll call it “X”. Now, post quarantine this same baseline is far reduced, we’ll call this “X-minus”. If you go in and try to perform baseline X, while having a true baseline of X-minus, you increase the risk of injury in the form of overuse and misuses, and potentially more severe injuries due to poor loading habits.

From a performance stand point, you are providing your body a disservice. You are effectively doing more volume for no real reason, a reason that is not beneficial. The beauty of having a lower MRV and MEV means you can basically do less and get more! Think back to the last time that occurred for you. Chances are, you are just starting out training! Previously, you may have had to do 5 sets of 10 to feel a decrement in performance or a hypertrophic response. Now, you may only have to do 3. Training requires progressive overload. Therefore, it does not make sense to start high, largely because you can only increase from there. If you’re already at a high rate, not getting the best bang for your buck, then you’re setting yourself up for more work and less results. Who wants that?

I think that is enough about the bleakness of performance and your current situation. We’ve highlighted what has happened to your performance, health and programming. I think it is high time we discuss the good, positive strides you can expect upon entering the gym.

And that my friends, that will be a separate blog post in itself. Be on the look-out in next week to read the good news your body is about to deal with when it becomes able to train again!

As always,

Stay strong ladies and gentleman,

David