Engineering the perfect lockdown workout plan: Home and outside full body workouts
By now the internet is flooded with all manner of home workouts for the COVID-19 quarantine and lockdown situation we’re all living, but since I've put a fair amount of thought into it, I thought I'd share mine too. Variety is the spice of life, after all! In this weekly program we cover all the bases of a holistic wellness routine: strength, speed, power, cardio, and mobility. Many parts of this program were inspired by Ben Greenfield, Peter Attia, and Gymnastic Bodies.
The program is presented in a very practical way. This is a weekly schedule with daily workouts, and no home gym is required. In fact, no equipment of any kind is required. I’ve added in options for home or the park, if you have such access.
Your weekly schedule
Here’s an overview of what this is going to look like. Scroll down the page to learn about each program along with scientific benefits.
Monday - Explosive Strength Training
Tuesday - High Intensity Interval Training
Wednesday - Extreme Isometric Strength Training
Thursday - Zone 2 Cardio
Friday - Super Slow Strength Training
Saturday - Zone 2 Cardio
Sunday - Mobility Training
Explosive Strength Training
While most of us are at best weekend athletes, anyone can incorporate some explosive strength training that is safe and beneficial. It is exactly what it sounds like. Strength training exercises, just done as quickly (and safely) as possible.
Read more: Science of Strength Training
Benefits of Explosive Strength Training
Strength, bone density, neuromuscular adaption to higher speed.
Increased Rate of Force Development (source)
Increased tendon stiffness (source)
Nervous system adaptations to faster speeds (source)
Program for Explosive Strength Training (15 mins)
The idea here is to focus on short, explosive muscle contractions. You’re not trying to struggle against gravity here. That also means that you may need to adjust the exercises, to make sure you can do them explosively instead of barely at all.
Sets: 5 rounds circuit, no rest in between.
Switch between exercises after each set of 3 explosive reps. After each complete round, you can also choose to do a quick sprint or stair climb, if available.
#1: Jump Squat x 3
You can just jump in the air from a squat position, or if you have safe access to a stable bench you can jump on or off the bench.
#2: Drop Pushup x 3
Start from your knees on the ground, sitting on your ankles, ideally on a soft surface like a carpet. Then drop down into a pushup, and explode back up to your knees.
Easier: Drop hands against an elevated surface like the couch.
Harder: If you need more resistance, you can do a clap pushup or just narrow your hand position.
#3: Fast Pulls x 3
Back muscles are harder to train with just bodyweight, so ideally try to find a bar to hang from, even a hand rail can work. If not, you can grab the end of a table with your body underneath. Just make sure it’s stable for your weight!
From there, just make three explosive pulls from bottom position up to your chin.
Harder: Might require a full pull up bar. Add a backpack for extra weight.
Extreme Isometric Strength Training
This is going to hurt, not gonna lie. If you’ve ever done a plank or a wall-sit, those are isometrics. Anything beyond a minute would count as “extreme”. Although here we don’t recommend planks, because over several minutes you will lose healthy posture and potentially do damage. Therefore, we want to choose appropriate exercises for the purpose.
Read more: Science of Strength Training
Benefits of Extreme Isometric Strength Training
Reduces injury rates through improved tendon properties (source)
Increased skeletal muscle activation (source)
Increased joint stability (source)
Lower blood pressure (source)
Increased pain threshold and pain relief from injuries (source)
Improves movement efficiency by reducing muscle compensation patterns (source)
Program for Extreme Isometric Strength Training (25 mins)
These are the familiar bodyweight exercises you know, but just done as a static hold. For each exercise, you should find the bottom part of the motion and stay there with arms/legs at a 90 degree angle. WHEN you fail, you just shake it off and go back to the same position. Even if that happens every 10 seconds, just stick to it. Embrace the burn!
Sets: 1 round circuit, short rest in between.
You just do one “rep” for each exercise, it just takes 5 minutes for one rep.
#1: Iso Lunge x 5mins (left)
Get into the lunge position at the bottom position where your front leg and thigh are at a 90 degree angle.
Easier: Hold on to a chair to stabilize. Rest hands against your front knee. Lower back knee on the ground.
#2: Iso Lunge x 5mins (right)
Get into the lunge position at the bottom position where your front leg and thigh are at a 90 degree angle.
Easier: Hold on to a chair to stabilize. Rest hands against your front knee. Lower back knee on the ground.
#3: Iso Pushup x 5mins
Get into the pushup position at the bottom position where your upper arm and lower arm are at a 90 degree angle.
Easier: Knees on the ground. Even belly on the ground is fine, just engage and squeeze your chest to resist gravity.
#4: Iso Pull x 5mins
Back muscles are harder to train with just bodyweight, so ideally try to find a bar to hang from, even a hand rail can work. If not, you can grab the end of a table with your body underneath. Just make sure it’s stable for your weight! Since this is a static hold, you could even just put a towel over a strong door, or even just pull upwards by standing on a towel while holding on to the ends.
Get into a pull position, again roughly arms at a 90% angle.
Easier: Adjust the angle or partially rest your weight on the floor to decrease the pulling weight.
Super Slow Strength Training
The idea here is to maximize time-under-tension, i.e. how much strain you are putting on the muscle. This is a fatigue seeking form of training, so it makes sense to do it just once a week. You really won’t want to do it more often, anyway!
Read more: Science of Strength Training
Benefits of Super Slow Strength Training
Increased insulin sensitivity (source)
Increased skeletal muscle hypertrophy (source)
Maximum motor unit recruitment from constant tension (source)
Improved cardiovascular efficiency (source)
Slow movement patterns allow safe training to failure (source)
Program for Super Slow Strength Training (15 mins)
Since the focus is on slow movement, bodyweight exercises work very well.
Sets: 1 round circuit, no rest in between.
You will only do a single set for each exercise, moving the weights very slowly back and forth in a continuous motion. You will keep moving until you simply cannot move against the resistance any longer. Shaking will ensue. Usually that would be around 5-10 reps, ideally less than 2 minutes. IF you feel like you can keep going, try a harder variation!
Tempo: 10s up, 10s down, no lockup until can’t move!
#1: Slow Lunge (right) x max reps
Regular lunge exercise, but just super slow until you just can’t move.
Easier: Try a regular air squat.
Harder: Set your back foot on a chair. Backpack full of books. Pistol squat if you dare!
#2: Slow Lunge (left) x max reps
Regular lunge exercise, but just super slow until you just can’t move.
Easier: Try a regular air squat.
Harder: Set your back foot on a chair. Backpack full of books. Pistol squat if you dare!
#3: Slow Pushup x max reps
Regular pushup exercise, but just super slow until you just can’t move.
Easier: Knees on the ground.
Harder: Narrow pushup. Diamond pushup. Single hand.
#4: Slow Pull x max reps
Back muscles are harder to train with just bodyweight, so ideally try to find a bar to hang from, even a hand rail can work. If not, you can grab the end of a table with your body underneath. Just make sure it’s stable for your weight!
Pull as many reps as you can, but just super slow until you just can’t move.
Easier: Adjust the bar angle or partially rest your weight on the floor to decrease the pulling weight.
High Intensity Interval Training
HIIT (“High-Intensity Interval Training”) is a form of exercise that is mostly cardiovascular based but can include weights. The idea is that one alters between high-intensity bursts of output followed by a period of rest or moderate movement. HIIT can make one’s heart rate vary greatly. A very simple example HIIT could be a 400m sprint on a treadmill followed by a 3-minute interval of walking. HIIT has gained a lot of popularity in recent years for a good reason. HIIT is often found a part of programming in workout methods such as Crossfit or Spinning.
Benefits of High Intensity Interval Training
Luckily, there are decades of research into HIIT effectiveness:
Improved Heart rate variability vs moderate state exercise (1)
Increased VO2Max, a leading longevity indicator (2)
Weight loss (3)
Reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (4)
Improved cognitive abilities (5)
And the above is just to name a few. HIIT is a very recommendable addition to your workout regime.
Program for High Intensity Interval Training (32 mins)
This is pretty simple. All you need is a timer for when to go hard, and when to rest.
Sets: 4 x 4 minutes @ 90% speed, 4 mins active rest between sets
Without a treadmill, you’ll just have to feel it out. Run at a rate you can sustain for 4 minutes, which is definitely more than a light jog! You should be at your max heart rate by the end of each set. Don’t sit down between sets, keep walking for active rest.
Outside: Running in the best scenery you can find!
Home: Assuming you can’t run even in a yard, you can do light bodyweight exercises like knee raises, jumping jacks, and air squats. Just keep rotating exercises to keep it fun! Stairs can be a good alternative in apartment buildings.
Zone 2 Cardio
Despite the fancy name, this is just basic, boring cardio. While sexier modalities like HIIT have taken over in recent years, research is now showing that we’ve forgotten a key piece of the toolkit. Dusty cardio programs are now being rebranded as Cardiac Output or Long Slow Distance. They all roughly target the same adaptation: keeping your cardiovascular system in an oxygen burning state for an extended period of time.
Read more: Science of Cardio, Benefits of Zone 2
Benefits of Zone 2 Cardio
Increased mitochondrial density and function (source)
Increased fat burning efficiency (source)
Increased lactate clearance (source)
Program for Zone 2 Cardio (60 mins)
How do you know you’re in Zone 2? Some wearables will do that for you, but a good rule of thumb is being able to hold a conversation, approx. 130-140 bpm.
Sets: 60 minutes @ Zone 2 Heart Rate
Outside: Running in the best scenery you can find!
Home: Assuming you can’t run even in a yard, you can do light bodyweight exercises like knee raises, jumping jacks, and air squats. Just keep rotating exercises to keep it fun!
Mobility Training
Last but not least, mobility is what keeps you in the game. Without mobility, you will learn poor movement patterns, ruin your joints, and simply stop exercising in middle age like most people. Yes, some have great genes allowing them to smoke cigars and play tennis into old age, but everyone else has to work hard to keep our bodies functional for the longterm.
Read more: Science of Mobility Exercise
Benefits of Mobility Training
First and foremost for those that exercise, what Mobility gives you is the ability to keep exercising. Avoiding injuries ideally, but also improving your ability to recover and rebuild after the inevitable pulls and tears that come with decades of workout-related stress.
Delaying age related limitations of mobility (study link)
Increase of range-of-motion to natural levels (study link)
Ability to perform healthy exercise into advanced age (study link)
Program for Mobility Training (25 mins)
For people who are used to repetitive exercises like running or lifting weights, mobility training can be quite fun to explore. There are dozens of modalities and hundreds of individual exercises to explore. They will all do the job of developing your core strength and joints in different ways. Anything is better than nothing applies here more than ever! These are easy to do in front of the TV, and you don’t even need to break a sweat.
Sets: Do as many exercises/rounds as you feel.
Don’t go to exhaustion, and stop if you feel pain in any joints like knees, neck, or back!
Yoga and Pilates
Your local Yoga and Pilates classes incorporate a broad spectrum of both flexibility and mobility exercises, so that covers all bases with some additional mindfulness practice built-in. Tons of free videos of different lengths on Youtube.
The Big Three
A very simple yet effective program that you can add to your existing gym routine as a warmup and/or cooldown is called “The Big Three” by Dr. Stuart McGill of Waterloo University. Just three movements done properly can do a lot towards preparing you correctly for heavy weights, and develop your core stability to endure. Check out a detailed overview and videos here.
The Supple Leopard & Mobility WOD
One of the OGs of Mobility that put it on the map as a trend was Kelly Starrett with is book The Supple Leopard and his Mobility WOD site (since rebranded to The Ready State). They maintain a great collection of useful Youtube videos on Mobility exercises.
Dr. Peter Attia & Stability Training
Dr. Peter Attia has put up a number of programs incl. tear sheets and videos under what he calls Stability here and here.
Dr. Mercola & Natural Movement
Dr. Mercola has a nice section on MovNat and related programs with some videos on his site.