How Bodybuilders Prepare For Lockdown

In this episode, we ask Christine how to prepare for a second lockdown and how to train straight after months without a gym.

• Build your own gym or be creative
• Bodybuilders always find a way to train.
• Don't jump straight into your old routine after a lockdown.

Muscle Talk - Bodybuilding podcast by International Protein

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Transcript

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Ash Horton:
Welcome to Muscle Talk, where you'll get world champion advice about nutrition and stacking on muscle. Our host, Christine Envall , she's three time world champion bodybuilder and IFBB professional, a food scientist and a founding co-owner of our podcast sponsor, International Protein.

Ash Horton:
In this podcast, we get Christine's advice on how to prepare for a second lockdown, how to accumulate first-class home setups, the importance of online banter and gym buddies.

Ash Horton:
All right, Christine, the world is heading into a second lockdown or it somewhat has already, especially in Europe. America, not quite sure, there's all sorts of things going on over there. But how can people prepare for this second wave or third wave, in some countries, around the bodybuilding routines that, obviously, got really quite derailed? What's your advice?

Christine Envall:
To be honest, I think bodybuilders are very, very resilient and we're very, very routine based and we're also very, very determined about our training. So, from what I see, in America in particular, say a lot of the competitions have been going on. I don't know how and I don't know where but a lot of people have been training. So, I would say, from that and just from being in certain fitness groups, particularly for people my age, over 40 and stuff, we have found a way around it. Now, whether that be because they're doing in the garage kind of a workout, people have been purchasing up little pieces of equipment here and there. So, I think, from going from one period of lockdown, maybe coming out of it for a brief period and then, moving back into another one, I think a lot of people, whilst it's not mentally great because it's obviously very, very frustrating.

Christine Envall:
I think a lot of people that probably have their lockdown routine and they had that period of time where they were, basically, accruing equipment, learning exercises, using products, which set them up for that. So I know, I still get a lot of emails and notifications from some of the gyms I had memberships within in the States, when I'll be over there and they are still trying to do as much online work as possible and progressing in that way. So, I think, I guess, it depends on every individual because there's obviously going to be some people who, it was that relief of, suddenly, okay, now we can go train at a gym and the social aspect of it and then to be told suddenly, oh no, again, you've been cut off again. I think that that would be, for some people, that'd be very, very difficult because it's like, you made it through and then you're just not ready for that second slap, basically.

Christine Envall:
So, I think the main thing is that, people do try to stay connected with other people and utilize the electronics and the things that we have at our disposal to really connect with people and talk about what they're doing and talk about the experience and try to recreate that gym environment. Because the training aspect is one thing, the physical aspect and the health and the actual weight training but I think it's that same people and the social side of it, which is maybe what people talking about, mental health and then, giving them that relief. I think it is more just the general social thing. So, looking for fitness groups and looking for groups where people can share your workout, post your workout, comment on other people's workouts, talk about it and get ideas, is probably the best way now.

Christine Envall:
And it's probably very easy for me to sit here and say that we're in Queensland, we had a very mild couple of months of lockdown and then, we moved straight back into the gym. So, we are very spoiled and we're very blessed to be in a situation where it's business as usual, so to speak. But, I guess, what I'm saying is, what I would be doing if I was in that situation, I would be accruing as much gym equipment as possible. Now, I know when lockdown first happened, everything sold out, nobody could get anything but I believe things have restocked now, in most places and- [crosstalk 00:04:15].

Ash Horton:
Probably over supplied as well. So, there's probably some deals out there.

Christine Envall:
Yeah. Or even crazy things. If some gyms are shut down, that's the sad reality that a lot of... some smaller gyms, it's not worth it for them. So, this is, I guess, just talking about what I know in America, where you've got two situations happening. You've got all your corporate gyms, which essentially can't run because you're potentially only allowed to have 10% of your capacity. So, for them to staff and run at all of the overheads, they're the ones that are moved online and just running the classes that they can, trying to the keep people motivated, trying to keep them active and that's really the main thing, is just trying to keep some type of routine in your life. And it's still eating healthy and still being mindful of looking after your health.

Christine Envall:
But the more independent gyms, where they have been able to either move equipment outside or control the number of people coming through, they have actually been able to, and I hate to say this, they jacked the prices up. So, they've gone from having to charge, say $40 a month to being able to charge over $100 a month because they haven't got the competition from the cheap corporate gyms but they've got the people that really want to work out. But those guys, they are doing okay but then, some people aren't that lucky and they weren't able to ride out the period of time and they were shut down. But so, there's potentially even equipment, if people have space, to pick up a few bits and pieces. Because once you have a bench, a bench press, a bar, a barbell suitable for that, you've got some dumbbells, maybe you've got something set up as a squat rack, then you need to start looking at [inaudible 00:05:48] piece of a cable equipment or individual different style benches or different handles. You're being as creative as possible.

Christine Envall:
Say, for example, back, you suddenly want to start picking up a few individual machines, which specifically work your back because you're so sick of barbell rowing or chinning, then that's where people might start looking around in different places. And if they do have the space, they start to build up a little bit of a gym in their home, if they have that ability. But if not, I think that, just as I said, keeping what they can going and utilizing what's available online to get ideas for different workouts. I am seeing such a flood of no equipment workout, home workout, every second thing is really, really focused around that. So, I think that there's been a huge shift. People have recognized that that's what people need and they're putting out programs to adapt to that.

Christine Envall:
And then, I believe that people will come back to the gym once they can. But I think it's that, in the meantime, if you need to do something, then there's definitely, if you look for it, you'll find some really, really creative solutions to keep you on track and to give you ideas as to, ways that you can work your body and, hey, you're going to pick up a few exercises that you're going to be able to bring into the gym. Even something very simple like today, you're just using a [inaudible 00:07:10] bar to do your triceps where, it's essentially like what you would grab a dumbbell and do an overhead dumbbell tricep movement. But if you don't have a dumbbell but you have a heavy enough bar or something, then you can pretty much do something for triceps. So, there's just looking around and being creative and seeing what you can actually use and make up some things. And if you feel it in that muscle, it's probably working that muscle. So, that's the lockdown side of things.

Christine Envall:
So, as I said, I've obviously been a little bit blessed in not been through it and I hope I'm not making it sound easier than what it is because I understand that, for some people to be six months or so without training. But as I said, I believe bodybuilders are very resourceful because competitions have gone on, the people have looked good, so they're obviously training somewhere, doing something.

Ash Horton:
Plus, it's a community of very mentally disciplined people.

Christine Envall:
Exactly. Very, very determined. So, I know that as a group, the bodybuilding communities, they've figured it out. It's probably the more weekend warrior type people that maybe struggled with keeping on track and- [crosstalk 00:08:17]

Ash Horton:
People like me.

Christine Envall:
Yes. And then, try to go running. Because that's always an option. But in America, basically, they shifted all of the competitions to the States that were open, to places like Atlanta and Florida. So, the New York Pro was held down there, the Chicago Pro was held down there. So, literally, they just moved everything to where they could actually have it and this means, they found a way of making that happen. I guess, on the flip side, then you've got the coming out of it and getting back into the gym.

Christine Envall:
So, what I noticed in Queensland, when things opened back up, they first, obviously, we had the mini restrictions where you were allowed to have a certain number of people in at a time. And there was either a booking system, maybe only scheduled an hour period and everything was very, very monitored. Probably the hardcore people came back first and I think it was that little bit of a fear. And that's the other thing too, where I think, in Australia we're very lucky because with the community transmission being non-existent in Queensland and, I believe, in Melbourne, it's coming back to nothing, that you can go out and you could be fairly comfortable that if you're in a place that you're not going to be coming in context. So, we're doing all the cleaning and sanitizing for every gym now that I go to, has the spray bottles with sanitizer and wipes and in multiple areas and everyone's abiding to that.

Christine Envall:
Cleaning the equipment down and doing the right thing and using towels. And it's not terribly different to what we were all doing before, obviously, just not the actual sanitizer, most people were using towels but now there's hand sanitizer around, an actual sanitizer for the equipment. So, abiding to those kinds of things. But it's slowly over, probably, the last four months, it's crept back and the gyms are as busy as ever. So, everyone's back and it's almost like it never happened , in a way, in terms of just people aren't scared to be back in the gym, they're not worried about getting it. But if you're, I guess, in Europe or America, even when it does come back through, I know a lot of the talk, now that people have gyms set up and they've got used to training at home, I think, I see the discussions going like, oh, are you going to go back to the gym once this is all over? Because people have adapted and learned how to train.

Christine Envall:
But I say, don't underestimate the social aspect of a gym. The motivation that you get from other people and seeing other people do things and just getting different ideas and even just seeing the same people every day. Humans, as a species, like people- [crosstalk 00:10:54]

Ash Horton:
Social creatures.

Christine Envall:
We're social creatures. So, I think that, maybe, for the gyms, as it comes back, it's not going to be a big flood. Not everyone's going to storm back into the gym on the first day, they are going to drift back. And that's what I noticed up here. For the first month it was like, there was 10 people in a section. And then, another month later you turn around you're like, oh my God, what if there's more people than there were before? It's July. Why are there's so many people in the gym? So, it did have a little bit of a lag and then, everyone's just become so much more mindful or looking after their health and the importance of training on keeping your immune system strong, keeping you physically healthy so that you have less chance of getting really sick if you do get sick. But just coming back into it, if you haven't been training, I always stress to people, don't jump back straight into where you left off. You do need to remember that your body will deadapt, particularly if you haven't been able to do heavy leg work.

Christine Envall:
You don't realize, a 16 kilos kettlebell is nothing like 100 kilos under the squat rack. So, you've probably had that period of time where you've maybe had a maintenance and you've done what you can, either body weight work or just some lighter work on your legs. And then you're going to go jump, get back on a 45 degree leg press, you're going to get under a squat where you are using hundreds of kilos of weight, not just as a much smaller weight. So, just be mindful of that and you're going to experience that soreness. And you want to adapt back in and give yourself that time to get the fitness back again. I know when we went back to the F45 and still now, we're running ultimate timing, which means that, we do more on the one piece of equipment before we move, so we don't have to be... It allows you to clean that piece of equipment and then move on.

Christine Envall:
And then, you don't have to... Gives you that little bit more rest time. And I know that as they've swapped back to some of the regular timing, we don't have as much rest as what we did on the ultimate timing. And just that little bit of five extra seconds of work and 10 less seconds of rest or something, you're like, oh my God, what happened? Because you do adapt to different things. So, be mindful that you may have been training at home and you may have been training hard but when you get back into the gym and you have that greater variety of equipment and you're doing more exercises or just different exercises, that you do have to pace yourself and work back into it and retest your durance, retest your strength. And don't try to go too crazy because that's when you risk having injuries then, you don't want to have gone through all of that time and then, you put yourself out for the sake of an injury. So, ease into it as much as you might want to get out there and just go crazy.

Christine Envall:
And, I guess, remember that your muscle will come back. It'll come back, in a months after you start training again, you won't even know that you weren't in the gym, so it's not the end of the world for that. But hopefully, the Victorians will be, by end of the year, everything will have settled back down and hopefully, continues to improve the way that it has. And then, hopefully, for Europe, that they are fairing a lot better. But as I said, I believe that... Fitness and I think what this really, really showed us is that, it's not a fad. People underestimated how much a part of people's lives it was. And I know that it's been a lot of people campaigning in different countries, where the gyms have been closed, to get it recognized as an essential service, I guess, or to get it recognized as something essential. Which it is, for physical health, mental health. I think it's something where- [crosstalk 00:14:41].

Ash Horton:
Mental health is the one that really- [crosstalk 00:14:41]

Christine Envall:
Yeah. It's sad that a lot of the politicians, I guess, it's fairly obvious that they maybe don't have the most physically fit lifestyle because they would have been a lot more- [crosstalk 00:14:56]

Ash Horton:
You're not talking about old ScoMo there, are you?

Christine Envall:
I'm talking about anyone across the world, to be honest. Because I know I was speaking to a guy in Canada, he'd been heavily campaigning about the importance of weight training to mental health and getting on a lot of talk shows and getting some momentum behind that. And it's not just an Australian issue, it's across the whole world. They think a brisk walk is enough exercise. And they need to, I guess, have that little bit of a shift and recognize that it does actually have a major role because we're sitting here with all these problems and then we've got this solution to it right here and we're not actually encouraging that as a way to actually rehab people or to use it as an option. Instead, we just go, oh yeah, these people have a problem. And either try to medicate them or something, instead of actually getting them into a physical program.

Christine Envall:
Because for the people who do train, they understand how it actually works for them. So, I think that it would be good at, if what came out of this, that people actually recognized or not people, political people and people who can make these kinds of changes actually acknowledge the importance of it. And as I said, it's not just a fad or a nice to do but it's actually a part of our culture and it's a worldwide culture, bodybuilding- [crosstalk 00:16:13]

Ash Horton:
[crosstalk 00:16:13] could have been a good influencer there.

Christine Envall:
I'm not quite sure what role he did play. But I know he was definitely trying to get people to quarantine, which is obviously a major issue in America, getting people to adhere to that- [crosstalk 00:16:28]

Ash Horton:
I saw his Facebook Live's, I think.

Christine Envall:
It would have been a great opportunity. As I said, I'm not entirely sure exactly what he did. I don't know if you saw what he was doing politically for that. But I know Tony Doherty was doing a lot of campaigning as well. Obviously, he runs the IFBB, the pro league in Australia and has, obviously, the Doherty's Gym chain in Melbourne, heavily impacted by all of this. And I know he was complaining heavily around that, the impact of mental health because, obviously, having so many members where it's their home away from home and the long-term impact of that on people. So, as I said, I hope that moving forward, rather than making bottle shops an essential thing, that gyms would be seen in the same way.

Ash Horton:
That's crazy, isn't it?

Christine Envall:
Yeah.

Ash Horton:
So, for the people that are in Europe or in their second or third lock down, I think France went into their third lockdown, is that correct? I might be factually incorrect. But either way, for those guys, the communities, the really important part, to make sure that you're talking to people, maybe even getting a remote gym buddy, motivating each other along.

Christine Envall:
Well, that's where, again, I'm not sure of what specific countries have what but I know that there's a lot of Facebook groups around fitness, where it is, basically, people from all over the world. If someone is a little bit isolated or not quite sure what to do, then search out these groups, they're not hard to find. And I know, just myself, from looking and- [crosstalk 00:18:00]

Ash Horton:
Even The Aussie Muscle Guru Facebook page could be used for that, couldn't it?

Christine Envall:
It could be, absolutely. If people want to reach out and start to, either ask questions about what other people are doing, share ideas, that would be a really, really great vehicle. Because that's what we're trying to create here, I guess, is that, people sharing their journeys. I know my good friend, Heather Foster, we made our project debut together. I know she often jumps in and put some posts in there, which is really, really cool. I know she put something up of Bev Francis. And if anyone doesn't know who she is, she's a legend of Australian bodybuilding as well.

Ash Horton:
I though you were.

Christine Envall:
I'm modern legend. She's predecessor of mine. But if people would like to utilize that then certainly. The more that people interact, the more that people will join you and jump in and offer ideas and even we can jump in and do that. But if not us, as I said, there's a lot of fitness groups around, where people are talking about the ways that they're dealing with things and sharing ideas and even just sharing workouts and that because it is part of what we like to do.

Ash Horton:
I'm sure this is very, very valuable for a lot of people around the world. So, thank you very much for your wise words.

Christine Envall:
No problem.

Ash Horton:
Words of wisdom. If you like what you've heard, recognize that these tips are free. So, show your support by becoming a loyal International Protein customer by jumping online, hunt out product down and hit that buy now button. So, once again, like, share and subscribe to our podcast so we can continue to bring you these episodes from our one and only, Aussie Muscle Guru, three times world champion, Christine Envall .