Lockdown Training VS Indoor Training
Training outdoors or in a garage due to lockdown, believe it or not, can yield some benefits and has the possibility to improve your training. This is obviously the same when it comes to training at the gym, indoors, not in lockdown.
Headspace
I think firstly we need to address the training outdoors during lockdown is a way to socialise with anyone else finishing up or starting their session near you, people at the park or even your coach. A chance to socialise in lockdown is a great benefit to someone’s mental health. Within an indoor gym setting, you will often have plenty of people to interact with and socialise with (or ignore with headphones). An indoor gym is a great place of culture and communication though it is one of many (pub, friends house, weekend event, work etc.). The outdoor gym has a very small amount of culture and communication though it might be one of the only forms of culture and communication you might experience all day/week. Outdoor training can be very valuable for mental health in a possibly mentally draining time.
Time
Outdoor training and lockdown training more specifically can result in someone having a lot of spare time as they might either not be working at all or have reduced hours. This results in more chances to work on injury prevention, more time for volume accumulation, getting in steps, cooking food etc. This extra time obviously is not guaranteed for everyone as some people end up working even more during lockdown. Those that do have more time for these things or are even more flexible with their time have a great opportunity here to improve their training habits beyond what they were before. “I don’t have time” is no longer an excuse for these people.
Machines
The primary downside of training outdoors is the lack of machine variability. Some gyms have access to machines when in lockdown though most gyms do not. This is not always a bad thing to not have access to machines, especially if the lockdown is only a short one. A long lockdown makes for riskier volume accumulation and a requirement for more creative exercise ideas. So if you have to go a few months without machines you can still progress your volume, intensity, muscle mass etc. The longer you go without it, the harder it becomes. I recommend as soon as you get into the gym, slowly add some machines into your program. This is a key benefit of training within an indoor gym environment.
Convenience
When setting up a home gym or using someone’s outdoor set-up, both are going to be an inconvenience in some way. When setting up a home gym, it is initially a huge inconvenience of needing to buy all this equipment and you cannot train until it is all set up. This can take days. The home gym then becomes a huge convenience as it is just in your garage. Until lockdown is over and the gyms open up again. You will likely want to sell your equipment either then or at a later date. Selling the equipment can be a pain, especially if selling everything individually. I suggest selling it all together for a slight discount to avoid this trouble. The outdoor gym is an inconvenience to those setting and packing it up. It is also going to cost money if you are not setting it up. You will need to pay money and set up machine-like exercises with confusing banded exercises (which can still be very beneficial). For convenience, the indoor (non-home gym) is the best option here.
Overall, let’s be glad the gyms are open again and be thankful for the training we were able to do during lockdown.
