This month Quang Nguyen shares some of his home training tips for those currently unable to do their usual running outdoors.
For the last two years, many sport events have been rescheduled due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We have spent months training hard for races, then suddenly everything stopped. Many have felt disappointed and wondered what to do next. In this article, I will share my thoughts on adapting your training during lockdowns.
If your area is in lockdown and you do not have a treadmill at home, you could instead do some strength training, plyometrics, rope skipping, burpees, or stair climbing.
These exercises can keep you in good health. What’s more, some plyometrics could actually also improve your running effectiveness. Frequent training with moderate exercises will also strengthen your immunity against diseases.
Maintaining your workout schedule is very important during this difficult time. However, you also need to be careful not to overwork yourself, which could result in decreasing your temporary immunity and increasing the risk of getting infection. I myself have become unwell after running a race under difficult weather conditions and after a week of peak training. Too many good things combined might actually not be a good thing! To avoid overtraining, even during lockdown, ensure you do not over-do your training volume and keep a day or two of complete rest every week.
My 3 Indoor Training Sessions
There are a lot of home training programs on Youtube that anybody can access for free.
Here I have put 3 sessions together using some of those YouTube sessions that I personally use.
- Try 3-5 sets per exercise.
- Each set = 1 minute, with 10-30seconds break in between.
- Also, take a short break between each exercise, getting the next video ready and getting yourself prepared.
Each whole session should take about 30-40 minutes, depending on your own physical condition.
1. Core training Session
- Plank
- Side Plank
- Glute Bridge
- Supine Plank
- Crunch Youtube link (from 8:00)
- Superman Back Extension (hold each pose for 5 seconds) Youtube link
2. Mobility Work
3. Plyometrics
- Frog jump
- Box jump
- Single legged hops or stair hops: hop on a flat surface or upwards on stairs
- Single Leg Square hops
- Depth jump
I hope these sessions will help you all and that this pandemic will soon settle down and we can get back on the trails!
Want to read more about Quang? Read our Q and A with him here.
Want more indoor training inspiration? Read Nhon’s Lockdown Regime here.