How to Make the Most of Gyms Opening Back Up

Who remembers the excitement of drinking pre workout on the drive to the gym, the loud music, and the motivation of seeing everyone else working their hardest? For most of us, it's been almost two months since we last stepped foot in a gym. In Knoxville, all gyms were officially shut down because of the coronavirus for the month of April. It was obviously what needed to happen, and we are fortunate enough that cases in Tennessee were able to stay under control and because of these actions, most gyms will reopen on May 1. 

We've seen a lot of talk about losing progress, gaining weight, or just otherwise getting out of shape during this quarantine. And while maybe you aren't feeling as great about your physique as you did at the start of 2020, here's some good news: 1) The damage is probably not as bad as you think, and 2) No damage done is irreversible. Now, you probably already knew this, but isn't it nice to hear those words? Repeat them to yourself, because confidence and positivity are everything.

Taking that positivity a step further, we actually believe that this time away from the gym could be a good thing, for a few reasons:

1) Renewed motivation and appreciation: Unless you have an incredible home gym, you probably haven't been able to train at your fullest potential. Even if you do have an incredible home gym, you probably feel like you train harder when you're not in the comfort of your own home! Because of this, when you finally do get back in the gym, you're going to be ready for it, and ready to get after your goals. You will appreciate all of the awesome equipment on a different level than you did before. Channel your motivation; think about how great it's going to feel. Appreciate that you are physically healthy and that you get to go back to training like a beast!

2) Time to adequately rest and recover: If you're used to hitting your workouts hard in the gym 5-6x/week, your body has probably never been so well recovered. You will likely find that your body feels great and strong after a prolonged period of recovery. Sure, you'll also likely be extremely sore for the first week or two, but you'll also have more energy than you typically would.

3) Ability to shock your system: Like we said... you're going to be sore. Your muscles are going to be shocked and stimulated from the variation in activity. Since you haven't been leg pressing (unless you have a leg press at home... that would be awesome), when you do leg press again, your muscles aren't going to be used to the stress of it, which is one of the mechanisms of muscle growth! The fact that you haven't been able to do some of your go-to muscle-building movements means that once you come back to them after time off, they will likely produce greater results than they were before! 

4) Time to try new things: There's a good chance you had to adapt your workouts over the past month. There's a good chance you had to do things that provide stress in a different way than usual--using resistance bands, body weight, or even dumbbells instead of barbells. Your body probably has already seen some good results from just this simple change. I know I surprised myself with how sore I got from some home leg days! And on a similar note, some of you might have taken this time to adopt another physical practice, like running instead of lifting or yoga. It might not be your preferred method of movement, but it's still a win and healthy for your body to change things up.

5) Reset caffeine tolerance: Again, this one probably doesn't apply to everybody (I know I doubled down on my coffee intake), but odds are you weren't chugging a crazy high stimulant preworkout to lift weights at home. Once we go back to the good stuff (our current favorites here at Eddie's at the moment is the locally made Tennessee Pre), the effects are going to be felt much more strongly than before. Remember that glorious first time you tried pre workout? You can experience that again! 

Tennessee Pre is an especially great option right now because of its ingredients that support both muscle growth AND muscle recovery for your extra sore muscles--It's loaded with scientifically studied doses of creatine HCL, glutamine, BCAAs, and more. 

We hope that these (all very true) reasons have you sitting in the right head space as the local gyms prepare to open back up. What are you most excited for? The tingle and pump from a new pre workout? The bliss of sipping that first sip of protein shake on the way home? Simply being able to see everyone else crushing their goals and getting better? We want to know!