Wednesday Workout Series: Creative Strategies to Keep Things Fun

BostonBruins.com - Maintaining a consistent training routine at home is a significant challenge.

Everyone is facing different challenges. While some people may have more free time, many are struggling to balance running a "homeschool" and working from home.

The reality is that the current situation is stressful, and despite the best intentions, it's easy to let training take a back seat to a few rounds of hitting the snooze button, binging Netflix, or any number of other possible distractions we face on a daily basis.

The last four articles have presented different types of training methods you can complete at your house to specifically train your core, conditioning , mobility, and strength . Collectively, these articles included 34 different exercises you can perform with minimal equipment (i.e. just a towel and cardboard box).

While any of these training sessions can be performed exactly as described in those articles, if you're struggling to find the time or motivation to train consistently, I wanted to share a few strategies to help keep you going.

Something is Better than Nothing

First, it's important to recognize that you aren't always going to "have it". Whether you're lacking on time, energy, or both, it's often helpful to carve out a few minutes to just do SOMETHING.

This can be as simple as running through the mobility routine once.

More often than not, once you get moving, you'll start to have more energy and your motivation for pushing harder in training will improve.

At a minimum, going through a quick routine that gets your joints moving and heart rate up will help you "destress" and improve your energy throughout the rest of the day.

Find a Partner

One of the most powerful strategies to improve accountability is to engage a social network in your goal.

One easy and highly effective way to employ this strategy is to find a training partner. Given the current social distancing recommendations, the training partner doesn't actually have to be in your physical presence.

The important thing is that you find someone with whom you can set and share training goals (more on this to come).

For example, if your goal is to workout three days per week, talk with a friend that also wants to work out and set up a schedule in advance (e.g. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings), and tell them what you're specifically hoping to achieve (e.g. improve conditioning, get stronger, increase energy, etc.).

At a minimum, this will allow your training partner to check in with you the night before to make sure you're prepared to work out the next day (i.e. set an alarm) and ask how things went afterward.

Ideally, you'd also be able to "FaceTime" each other to work out together, or at least share exactly what you did and any specific goals you achieved throughout.

Simply, engaging another person in your training process will help keep you accountable.

Track Your Training

Another powerful strategy to keep you engaged in training is to track your progress. This should not be an overly complicated procedure. Here are three simple things you can easily track:

Total Training Time: One way to progress training is to accumulate more "work" time. Tracking total training time will help keep things in perspective as your training adjusts to your schedule. For example, one week your schedule is relatively open and you're able to get in three 40-minute training sessions for a total of 120 minutes. In contrast, in a busier week, you may not have long windows of time for training, so you do four quick 15-minute routines, and two slightly longer 30-minute sessions, again for a total of 120 minutes.

The same training time could also come from two 60-minute sessions or six 20-minute sessions. Track your total training time throughout the week and use this to help establish a goal for each week.

Time to Complete a Routine:Increasing work time isn't always feasible for people, as time is often the most limited resource. With this in mind, another strategy to progress your training is increasing the "density" of your workout. Density simply refers to the amount of work you do in a given amount of time.

As an easy example, if you run a mile in eight minutes one day, and then seven minutes another, the density is higher after the seven-minute mile because you did the same work in less time.

This strategy can also be applied to individual workouts, particularly with full body circuits or "ladders" (a few examples to follow).

Sets in a Specific Time:Just as you can increase your training density by performing the same work in less time, you can also increase training density by increasing the amount of work you do in the same time. Building on the example above, if you ran 1.2 miles in eight minutes, the total running time is the same as the initial eight-minute run, but now you've done 20% more work.

This strategy underlies "Escalating Density Training" sessions, which typically involve performing a couple exercises for as many sets as possible within a set amount of time (example below).

Getting Creative with Designing Programs

Using some of the same exercises I've shared in previous articles (or slight variations), here are three different routines you can try to make your training more fun, help you set goals for yourself and to challenge your training partner, and to provide some easy strategies to track progress.

As a quick disclaimer, the top priority in any training program is your health and safety. While some exercises can be uncomfortable, no exercise should ever be painful. If you experience pain with any exercise, substitute an alternative that you can perform pain-free.

As you work to increase your "training density", remember that your form should look exactly the same on the last rep as it does the first. Maintaining movement quality is essential for ensuring the exercises are both safe and effective.

High to Low Ladders

Perform 10 reps of each exercise within a pair, then 9, then 8, all the way down to 1. Try to minimize rest between sets to perform the entire sequence as fast as possible. Record the total time it takes to complete the ladders, then rest for 2-3 minutes before starting the next section.

Ladder 1

A1) Split Squat: 10/side to 1/side

A2) Push-Up: 10 to 1

Record total time

Ladder 2

B1) Lying Leg Curl: 10 to 1

B2) Split Stance Towel Row (2s hold): 10/side to 1/side

Record total time

Ladder 3

C1) 1-Leg Hip Bridge: 10/side to 1/side

C2) Double Leg Lower: 10 to 1

C3) Forward Bear Crawl: 10/side to 1/side

Record total time

\Ladders are a great variation to perform with a "FaceTime" partner. While you work, the partner rests, and vice versa.*

Video: Split Squat: 6-8/side

Escalating Density Training Blocks

In each section, alternate between performing 6 reps of each exercise for as many sets as possible in six minutes. Record the total number of sets you did of each exercise within a block, then rest for 2-3 minutes before starting the next section.

Block 1

A1) Lateral Lunge to Reverse Cross-under Lunge: 6/side

A2) Front Plank w/ Alt Arm Reach: 6/side

Block 2

B1) Alternating Lateral Push-Up Walk w/ Push-Up: 6/side

B2) 1-Leg Reach w/ Knee Drive: 6/side

Block 3

C1) Side Plank w/ Top Leg Lift: 6/side

C2) 2-Leg Hip Bridge: 6

Full Body Circuit 2.0

Perform one set of each of these exercises in a continuous circuit. When you hit the last exercise, start back at the top, and continue for 3 total cycles. Rest as needed between exercises and record the total time it takes to complete all three rounds.

1) 1-Leg Squat: 8/side

2) Alternate Single-Leg Lower w/ 2-Arm Reach: 8/side

3) Spiderman Push-Up: 8/side

4) Lying Leg Curl: 8

5) Lateral Kneeling Foot Lift Hold (2s hold): 8/side

6) Bent Over 1-Arm Towel Row (2s hold): 8/side

7) Step-Up w/ Knee Drive: 8/side

8) Bear Position Alt. Shoulder Taps: 8/side

Wrapping Up

The key to effective training is consistency. While everyone is currently facing unique challenges, there are a few simple strategies you can employ to help improve your accountability and motivation, track your progress, and ultimately make training more fun.