In the previous 2 parts to this series, we detailed what you can expect from gyms when they first open, as well as what you, the lifter can expect to occur from a physiological point of view. We discussed areas such as PPEs, social distancing, appointment making and even MRV and MEV. If you are starting with this post, you may want to back track to the previous 2 posts titled: Post Quarantine Fitness Gains: what to expect #1 and #2”, respectively.

In this post, we are going to be discussing the good news. The upside of going back to the gym, the side that will motivate you to do the work, even in this new reality!

The Good News:

Sadly, you probably have lost a legitimate amount of muscle mass and bulk, especially if you have not been training with some externa load or have a trainer who is well trained in calisthenics or progressing bodyweight exercises. And, unfortunately to this end, you will be weaker from a muscle cross-sectional area perspective. For example, the larger you are, the stronger you are. But, this is highly transient. What do I mean by this? Well, just because you lost a stimulus (weights), you got smaller and weaker. But bring that same stimulus back, and the gains will come back, and be plentiful. Keep reading to learn how!

Contrary to what you might think, you are in fact not actually weaker, but rather in a situation where you are expressing yourself as weaker. This is a result of a lack of stimulation from a neural perspective, leading to the muscle fibers not being recruited in a manner that allows for strength expression, like your previous pre-COVID self. This is not really an issue, nor should you think of it as one, because this is largely due to the fact that as you train, you will regain your strength, neural synaptic pathways will be re-created and you’ll get back to your form.

Additionally, training increases the number of these special cells called myonuclei (or satellite cells) that help with strength and hypertrophic gains. The cool thing is, These cells, once created, will always exist. In the simplest of terms, this is the muscle memory that gym bros talk about. But at a more physiological level, it is the cells remembering the load and the capacity of work you used to do, being re-trained to the body. This is where the adage of “use it or lose it” becomes muddied, because you can always lose it, but bring it back, when enough myonuclei are present or created. This is fantastic news as an avid lifter, who may be sad that they are smaller and feel weaker than pre-COVID times. The excuse of “I can’t do it” doesn’t really apply anymore, because you can do it, just not at this given moment.

But, what about the individual who has trained consistently during quarantine, but simply did not have enough equipment to progressively overload in a traditional sense, or do big compound lifts, what happens to them? They are also going to be able to take advantage of beginner gains, as discussed in part 2. They are also going to be able to take advantage of myonuclei support for growth and strength. If you have been training, you likely have experimented with new exercises or variations, so you are likely to have maintained some level of strength, stability or output. You will be far better off than the individual who just decided to stop and wait for gyms to open. However, you will still have to work to bring back your pre-COVID self. This is where it gets fun. How exactly do we get back to our pre-COVID self?

Well, it all begins with being able to progressively overload your muscles. This one is a no brainer. You have weights, you lift more, and do more over time. You no longer have to find ways to make a 20 lb dumbbell feel heavy! But, that is only the beginning. There are far more variables you can take advantage of to make the best progress you can. Recall back to blog #2 in this series where we discuss MRV and MEV. You will be starting with a lower MEV: so you can do less sets to make progress. As a result your MRV will also be lower, you will recover from less work. This literally means you can do less work and get more results! But how?

A general rule of thumb is start with volume and intensity lower and then gradually increase 1 or other, in some situations both can rise. This would be one of those situations that you can likely increase both, since you will be so new and fresh to training. Volume can be low, such as 3 sets per muscle group per training session, with an intensity that matches 75% or an RPE of 7 (more on this later). But as time goes on either the volume (sets and reps) will increase or the intensity (going from 75 to 80% or RPE 7 to 8) will result. The largest detriment to your progress would be going with a high amount of volume right away, with a high intensity. It doesn’t make sense from a physiological perspective, and this thought process can lead to injuries.

Now that we understand you should start low and increase over time, let’s discuss something, kind of the elephant in the room for strength coaches. Everything will work at this time. Let me say that again, everything will work! You are going into the gym so fresh that just about anything can lead to a performance increase. You don’t have to be super fancy with your programming, exercise selection or order, so long as it is logical. For example, you can literally run a 5x5 or a 3x8 and have similar hypertrophic responses. You can use a front squat over a back squat and have similar DOMs or quad strength increases. You are in essence, a gym noob again. Linear progression will become your friend again. This is likely to be one of the simplest times of training for you in a long time!

With making beginner gains all over again, as someone who really isn’t a beginner, you now have the luxury to program for yourself in different ways. One way that I believe is the advantageous and perfect time to learn is the use of RPE scales. RPE stands for rate of perceived exertion. This is typically a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is a task that is really easy, you can do multiple more reps of, and 10 is a max effort, balls to the walls, couldn’t do another rep even if you tried type of set. For example, a set of 5 with an RPE of 8 means that you could theoretically do 7 reps, but you stopped early at 5. An easy way to think of this is “reps left in the tank”. From 10 there are 0 reps, 9 there is 1, 8 there are 2, and so on. However, after about 6 the accuracy diminishes. The largest downside to RPE scales is not understanding how to be truly subjective with your lifts but objective with how they look. For example, it might feel like a 6 but look like an 8. Don’t let the objective outcomes rule you! But also don’t let the subjective overrun your training. There has to be a happy medium that you will know and feel for.

The beauty of RPE scales is that it allows you to moderate fatigue and reduce the risk of doing too much, too soon. If you are really tired, you can do less, if you feel great you can do more. You get to break away from percentage based loading. This can be very beneficial when you first return to the gym because quite frankly you won’t have an accurate representation for percentage based loading right away. The only way you will know is by testing your rep maxes, which would be foolish to do when you immediately begin training.

Now that we’ve discussed and understand RPE scales, the last area that is pertinent to discuss would be deloads. Should you do one when you first get back to training or should you wait after several mesocycles or training blocks? This is highly individual specific, but for purposes of regulating fatigue it may be beneficial to have a deload (a period of reduced stress: either from intensity, volume or both) at the 5th week of training. This would be a proactive deload, where you are proactively choosing to deload every 5th week. However, the idea of a reactive deload, where you would deload when you see a decrease in performance or feel extremely fatigued and no longer desire training, can also be incorporated. For example, a deload at week 8 sometimes, but other times it is week 4, 6 or 3. The main take away is to plan to have a deload. Whether it is proactive or reactive is your choice. But don’t think simply because gyms have re-opened that you have months of “gains to make back” by skipping deloads when you feel you need it.

And that is it my friends. That is what you can expect from your gym, your body and your gains when you return to the gym. Obviously individual variances will exist from gym to gym, person to person, training history to training history. But, don’t miss the forest for the trees. Things will be different, training will be different. Don’t jump back in to your old training ways just because you think you can. Think about your long term training health and progressions. Think about where you want to be this time next year, rather than 2 months from now. I know it sucks, I’ve been there with the Crohn’s surgery, but it is better to wait and be patient, than lack self-control and injure yourself, leading to further setbacks.

As always,

Stay strong ladies and gentleman,

David