How to maintain muscle strength at home

Until gyms open up, we're all still training at home. It can be hard to maintain muscle strength. If you primarily do strength training and rely on it to maintain muscle, you may be concerned. After all, a home workout might not be as great as the gym workouts you’ve grown accustomed to. Does that mean you’ll lose all of your muscular strength now?

The answer to that is no! As a matter of fact, it's entirely possible to maintain said strength despite currently not having access to a gym. Here are some ways on how you can maintain your muscular strength while at home for the time being.

If strength training at home is something you want to take seriously, you may want to buy some equipment that will make exercising easier. Depending on the exercises you plan to do, you'll want to purchase dumbbells in a couple different weights, resistance bands, and a mat. If you're willing to drop some more money, purchase, kettlebells, a one-inch resistance band, a TRX. The choice of what equipment you want is ultimately up to you.

But what exercises should you do? Experts suggest that your best bet in this situation is to take up resistance-training. It isn't easy like cardio and mobility exercises are, but it's still possible. The key here is to focus solely on what fitness experts call "the fundamental human movements"— push, pull, squat, hinge, and lunge. You’ll want to look into exercises that fit at least one of these. Creating or following pre-made workout routines that have all of them is critical in getting the best strength training possible.

It’s also important that you try to be as consistent as possible when it comes to working out. It can be hard to do so when your regular workout routine has been turned on its ear. But being consistent and measuring out your progress is a great way to keep yourself accountable. The best way to ensure consistently is by scheduling your workout ahead of time. It can be in a paper planner or a digital calendar; it depends on what works best for you. As for measuring out progress, keep challenging yourself by making your workouts more and more difficult as time goes on. Structure is important for both accountability and consistency.

While you may think that focusing on your home workouts is important in maintaining muscular strength, you shouldn’t forget about your diet. This includes being mindful of the amount of protein, fat and carbohydrates you're consuming. While this is always important in helping maintain muscular strength, it's especially important now. If your activity level has taken a hit due to the coronavirus pandemic, you may want to be more careful as to what you’re eating and how much.

You may be nervous about losing your muscular strength while at home. But it’s important to keep in mind that it’s impossible to suddenly lose all of that quickly. Fitness experts say that strength training can last for up to four weeks after the fact. You should also remember— we’re currently dealing with a global pandemic. Things aren’t as they should be right now, and that includes your access to the gym.

So don’t be so hard on yourself if maintaining your muscular strength at home proves to be difficult. It can be done, but it shouldn’t be your top priority. It’ll come with both the proper amount of time and effort.