Are you finding it hard to stay motivated to continue strength training? During this crazy time with gym closures, social distancing and evaluating our goals and priorities, you might find yourself struggling to know what to do and how to stick with your strength plan at home. You might have limited access to equipment, you don’t have access to your favorite gym class or your routine has changed. This is a great time to re-evaluate why you want to continue strength training. Maybe now it’s less about building muscles and looking good in a swimsuit, maybe it’s even less about preventing injury before your race. Maybe it’s more about training for life, maintaining strength and balance to improve your immune system or so you can lift those large cases of water and toilet paper while you’re stocking up for your family. Whatever your reasons, maintaining a strength routine is important. 

Here are a few principles and tips to help you figure out how to keep pushing through with all the changes in the world. 

1 – The principle of periodization. 

 What does that even mean? Whenever you’re starting a new routine–whether you’re a complete newbie to the gym or an experienced gym rat just trying something different–you should ease into the plan. Working through phases allows your body to adapt and then build on each phase as you gain strength and endurance. We recommend staying in each phase for three to four weeks or until you feel your body has adapted to the demands. Once you’re ready it’s important to continue to the next phase to continue improving your fitness and strength. 

The four phases we recommend when starting a strength training plan are: 

Activation – This is basically waking up your muscles and creating that mind-muscle connection so your brain and your body can talk to each other while you’re lifting and running. Activated muscles make for a more balanced stride and better running economy. Activation moves include isolation and isometric poses and exercises, such as clams shells to activate your hips. 

Endurance – This is a familiar concept for runners, who are used to working on their cardiovascular endurance. But your muscles need endurance, too, so they can carry you for all those miles. Lifting for muscle endurance increases longevity not only for running, but also for long term bone and joint health, and decreases muscle fatigue for those long runs. To improve your muscle endurance start with a light to medium heavy weight and perform higher reps and higher number of sets until muscle failure. 

Building – Building strength in your muscles is essential. This is my favorite phase. It feels so good to lift heavy and this is usually where I can see the most results, aesthetically. But what’s more exciting are the improvements that are happening on the inside. Strong muscles support strong bones, joints, and ligaments. Strong muscles improve vascularity (blood flow) in your body, which improves your immune system and overall health. 

Power – Explosive movement like plyometrics, sprints, and heavy (power) lifting helps engage those fast twitch muscle fibers you use when running. You can’t grow more fast twitch muscle fibers than you were born with, but you can strengthen the ones you’ve got. Jumping training increases the impact on your muscles, which trains them to absorb the impact of running, especially hills!