The Best Lockdown Workout Routine

You’re about to learn the fitness secrets that will result in you leaving lockdown with the body of a Greek god.

But act fast! This once-in-a-lifetime deal is only going to be available for the next 23 hours for the ludicrously low price of ~~$989~~ ~~$579~~ ~~$299~~ ~~$39.99~~ FREE!

I’m just messing.

Any fitness advice you get from me is always going to be free.

I’m not a gym bro. I don’t run TRT, count my macros, or live in the squat rack. I’m a writer and consultant. My work keeps me sedentary. But I have always done a good job of keeping in top shape without letting fitness rule my life. That was until the whole quarantine-lockdown debacle kicked off.

Ironically we have more time than ever before, but people are still finding even more excuses to stay out of shape. You need to be in the best shape possible. Muscle + cardiovascular fitness + flexibility.

Yes, the gyms are closed. And the major online retailers and delivery companies are taking their sweet-ass time shipping goods out. But that doesn’t mean we can’t get into fierce shape. We just have to be creative! And I’m going to show you how.

The approach/philosophy for lockdown workouts:

You need to approach your lockdown quarantine workouts with a sense of adaptation and play.

You need to be versatile.

I hesitate to recommend any specific equipment that you absolutely need, though if you can get hold of the following, the workouts will be a lot easier to make progress with (not to mention more fun, which is important):

Having a hundred bucks to throw at some fundamental equipment makes exponential difference. If you want more fitness goodies (which are great for motivation and progress if you have the cash), I’d also recommend grabbing a decent protein powder, a running belt, and a foam roller.

Let me show you how the spirit of adaptation works. I have that equipment. But I don’t have dumbbells. Solution? I use 5kg bags of rice, which I have on hand and in reserve anyway, and put them in a sturdy carrier bag. Boom. I got 5kg dumbbells. Or I can double them up to make 10kg. Or I can combine them with the kettlebell to get me to around 20kg or around 25kg.

You don’t need heavier than this. You can get a great workout from focusing on form, getting a pump on with high reps, and challenging yourself with different positions.

Here’s another example of how I’ve had to adapt. My pull-up bar won’t stay in the door frame when I apply my weight. So I’ve opened the door onto my balcony and wedged it between two waist-height windowsills. From there, I can do an inverted row. So whenever I would normally do a pull-up, I just do inverted rows either with bodyweight and perfect form and contraction or with the weighted vest on for some explosive power.

I worked my pull-ups a lot the past year. It’s actually a good thing to alter the movement a little to give myself a break and my body a change of movement.

The mindset: You “owe” a certain amount each week.

I got this idea from hearing Joe Rogan speak about how he plans his week. He spoke about scheduling in his fitness and how he knew that he owed a certain amount of yoga sessions, a certain amount of judo sessions, a certain amount of weight lifting sessions, and so on each week.

I love that concept, because it means you don’t have to hold to an ironclad schedule. You simply know that you have to get a certain amount done by the end of the week.

In that spirit, here’s the kinds of exercise you owe this week, then we’ll talk about the amounts.

What you owe this week:

Road mileage (running)
Bodyweight workouts
Yoga/pilates

My road mileage schedule is influenced by my marathon training.

I was training for a marathon due to take place in May, but it’s now been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. I’m still keeping the mileage and schedule, albeit a slightly scaled down version, because training for a marathon drastically improved my cardiovascular ability in a very short amount of time.

And to any gym-bros who think steady state cardio is going to eat into their muscles: I used to think that too and was ready to suffer the dreadful consequences of marathon training, but, to my surprise, it resulted in the best physique of my life. Don’t knock it until you try it. Just keep your protein high enough, replenish that glycogen, and keep resistance training and you’ll look fantastic.

Rationale behind lots of cardio/running?

It’s easy and cheap (free) to do. Just hit the streets or the parks whenever you like.
Fresh air, fun, stops you getting cooped up with cabin fever. Being locked down in isolation is no fun. Vary up your environment. This will help you stay sane and give you a more productive day – I always get a second wind after running that lets me work for longer and better.
Now is the time to bulletproof your immune system and breathing. And you do that by increasing your cardiovascular capacity through aerobic exercise, like running.

So…

You owe 3-4 cardio sessions a week.
One of these cardio sessions is your “long run”. This is a longer than normal running session. This will take you an hour or longer to complete.

About the “long run”:

This is good time to decompress, let off steam, have some you-time with some nice music playing, think about what you need to get done during the week, and really push your endurance abilities.

You don’t need to sustain quick speeds for your long run. This is about steady-state endurance.

I like to do my long-runs on the weekend, preferably Sunday because that’s kind of a “reset” day for me. I read the newspaper in bed over coffee, I plan my week, do ladmin (life admin) and enjoy my long run.

You can also look forward to a hearty meal after your long run. Whatever you normally need to stay away from – like pancakes slathered in maple syrup or cookie dough ice cream – slot that in, go to town, and enjoy this as a treat after your long run. It also gives you something to look forward to and motivates you to do the run.

What does a month of running in lockdown look like?

Your weekly mileage will look like this (vary the days and mileage to suit you – this is just a sample):

Week 1

Sunday – 6-mile “long run”
Monday – Rest/other training
Tuesday – 3-mile run
Wednesday – 3-mile run
Thursday – 3-mile run
Friday – Rest/other training

Week 2

Sunday – 7-mile “long run”
Monday – Rest/other training
Tuesday – 3-mile run
Wednesday – 3-mile run
Thursday – 3-mile run
Friday – Rest/other training

Week 3

Sunday – 5-mile “long run”
Monday – Rest/other training
Tuesday – 3-mile run
Wednesday – 4-mile run
Thursday – 3-mile run
Friday – Rest/other training

Week 4

Sunday – 9-mile “long run”
Monday – Rest/other training
Tuesday – 3-mile run
Wednesday – 4-mile run
Thursday – 3-mile run
Friday – Rest/other training

You can see there’s a bit of a two steps forward, one step back approach with the long run here.

You also gradually bump up the mid-week shorter run with an extra mile after a couple of weeks.

You get the principle. This is a solid approach and one adapted from the world famous marathon coach Hal Higdon.

A note on personal running preferences:

I’ve found the absolute best time to run is early morning. Especially during the week. It’s also great to run in crummy weather. If it’s drizzly and cold, people won’t be out. The moment the sun appears, suddenly everyone’s a runner.

The worst time to run is on the weekend any time from early afternoon onwards. Even in a huge metropolitan city, you can feel like it’s just you when you hit the streets and parks early morning during the week. It’s the greatest feeling in the world. So don’t delay your run. Get after it!

What you owe for yoga/pilates/flexibility:

Working from home is great, but not so great for posture and flexibility. To prevent injuries and alleviate stiffness, we should incorporate some stretching and rehab (or prehab) style work.

Pick your poison. Whether that’s yoga, pilates, or just spending some time on the foam roller, as long as you get it in.

2 hours cumulative of prehab style work. This might look like a 1-hour yoga class on Monday morning, a 30-minute pilates session on Wednesday afternoon, and 2 x 15-minute foam-roll sessions two nights before bed. Adapt however you see fit, just get your 2 hours in.

If you want personal recommendations of qualified world-class physiotherapists or pilates instructors, feel free to email me at ben@benjaminmcevoy.com – I’ve got some great recommendations of professionals who are offering their services over Zoom and Skype during this lockdown.

What you owe for bodyweight workouts:

You owe 3-4 bodyweight sessions per week.
Do whatever “split” motivates you the most. There are tons of workout routine splits available. You could do a full-body 3 x per week. That means you hit all the major body parts in the workout – chest, back, legs. If I were doing a split, I’d rotate what body part I put at the beginning of the workout so each one gets hit fresh at least once per week. You could also do a pull/push/lift/squat day. Navy Seal Jocko Willink has a great 4-day split in that spirit and has created beginner, intermediate, and expert levels. I won’t regurgitate his workout advice here, but encourage you to check out his book (ebook because delivery takes too long at the moment) if that sounds like something you’d commit to.
I personally like the approach of doing a chest-dominant upper body day, a back-dominant upper body day, a leg day, and then a bit of a fun free-for-all day where I mix it up, likely going full body. If you want to follow what I’ve been doing, you can check out the workout routine I’ve put below.

Workout principles to keep in mind:

Do the exercise whenever works best for you. Run first thing in the morning, bodyweight in the evening, yoga at lunch – whenever fits your schedule and energy levels. And if you want to do more, do more. Overtraining is overplayed. If you don’t exercise much, definitely ease into it. But don’t worry about working out too much. You’re probably doing a lot less than you’re capable of.
Don’t worry about following a set-in-stone schedule. This is why I’ve taken the “what you owe this week” approach. That means you could work out twice in one day if you like. You can work out two days back to back hitting the same muscles twice. Don’t get hung up on dogma. Just hit your weekly quota and enjoy yourself.
Progress! Keep a workout log. This could be a physical notebook, it could be an app on your phone. You just need something to track reps and sets and mileage so you know what to beat next workout. Progression comes in many forms. If you ran 5k one week, try to shave a few minutes off that same 5k the next week. If you did 5 pull-ups a couple of days ago, try to do 6 pull-ups today. You get the picture.

My lockdown workout routine:

Here’s what I’m doing to keep my muscle and get a good pump.

Day 1 – Chest-Dominant Upper Body Workout

Single-arm chest flies with 5kg bags of rice x 100 reps. Slow and controlled movements, focusing on the squeeze. No need for a bench if you don’t have one. Take it to the floor.
Push-ups supersetting with 5kg bags of rice lateral raises 5 x AMAP. That means 5 reps of as many as possible. You bang out, say, fifty-something reps on the push-ups, wait half a minute to catch your breath, then grab those bags with the rice and do a lateral raise movement focusing on the squeeze. 5kg feels heavy on the lateral raise after you’ve maxed out your push-ups. Bet you can’t match the push-ups with the lateral raises.
Incline push-ups with weighted vest 3 x 8-12. Put your feet on the sofa, a chair, or table, so you’re elevated and do these in a slow controlled movement on the way down and explode up. Don’t have a weighted vest? Put your significant other on your back and push up with them. Or stuff those rice bags inside a rucksack. Get creative.
Dumbbell curls with rice bags 3 x AMAP.
Overhead press with kettlebell 3 x 4-8. Lift that kettlebell over your head like a classic strong man and press it with power and control.

Day 2 – Back-Dominant Upper Body Workout

Inverted rows/wide-grip pull-ups x 50 reps. By the end of quarantine, you’re going to want to aim to get those 50 pull-ups done in a single set. Come on, Rocky! You could also try and do a pyramid where you do 1 pull-up, rest, 2 pull-ups, rest, 3 pull-ups, and so on until you reach your max. Then you work your way back down the pyramid.
Kettlebell row 3 x 30. That’s right. Sets of 30. Bet you don’t normally do that in the gym. Now is the time to think outside the box and do things you’re not used to doing. I bet you’ll grow like crazy when you bang out sets of 30 if you’re only used to working out in the typical “hypertrophy” range.
Close-grip push-ups with weighted vest x 100 reps. If you fail, pause and then resume. This is called rest-pause training and is a great way to stimulate new growth.
Bent over rear deltoid flies with rice bags 3 x 10-30 reps.

Day 3 – Leg Workout

Squats with weighted vest or human wrapped around you piggyback style 5 x 20. Slow, controlled, ass-to-the-grass, full range of motion. You don’t have weight to ego lift and show off with. So spend this time in lockdown working on your form and really contracting your glutes and quads.
Stiff legged deadlift with kettlebell 4 x 10-25. Full range of motion, good stretch, pause at the bottom.
Sissy squats 4 x 25 reps. These are killer. I bet you can’t even do 10 in a row with good form.
Box jumps 3 x 25. Find a chair or table or elevated surface and jump up from the ground, then step back and repeat, 25 times. This trains explosive power.
Standing calf raises 3 x 20. Put that weighted vest on or wrap a loved one around you and get a good flex in your calves.

Day 4 – Full Body Wild Card Workout

There’s a few different things you can do for this workout day.

One thing you could try is the one-song set – I learnt this and most things about fitness from John Doe. You pick a song that you gets you fired up. Pick a body part – chest, back, biceps, etc. Then continuously work out that body part until the song is finished.

Do super slow reps, change exercises, drop sets, whatever. Just keep stimulating that body part. Once you’re done, sip an electrolyte drink like Gatorade with some salt thrown in, get your breath for 3-5 minutes, then do the same all over again with another body part.

You could also designate the fourth workout of the week for doing the Murph. Once per week, challenge yourself with one of the most famous, most feared Cross-fit workouts. Try to beat your time each week.

Don your weighted vest and do this:

1 mile run
100 pull-ups
200 push-ups
300 squats
1 mile run

And that’s how you and me are going to get into phenomenal shape during this lockdown.

Any questions?

If there’s interest, I’ll do a part 2 that covers diet tips along with some easy, tasty, healthy recipes you can whip up in lockdown.