2020 Review: How Our Training Has Changed Following the Pandemic & What Equipment Should You Consider For Home Exercise

Welcome to the Back Pain Solutions Podcast – 2020 Review: How Our Training Has Changed Following the Pandemic & What Equipment Should You Consider For Home Exercise

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Listen To The Episode Below

Episode Introduction

2020 has been a year of change, and a year of reflection for us all! Businesses have had to adapt; work has had to change and the way many people have approached exercise has changed. For some people they have simply cancelled their gym memberships, whilst others have taken up exercise at home to become fitter as part of their response to the pandemic. As big advocates of exercise for back health we feel that there is a lot that can be done at home in order to look after your health so there are no excuses for having been more sedentary in 2020!

In this episode we discuss our own adaptations to training following the lockdown environment that most of us have faced. We discuss the benefits of exercising in a gym environment, not just from a physical viewpoint but also due to the social benefits. We delve into some of the equipment that is worth consideration for you to exercise effectively at home as well as other benefits to working outside of the gym environment.

Some of the things you’ll discover…

Some of the benefits to home exercise versus working out in the gym
Great exercises to consider as part of your home workout routine
Equipment to consider as part of your home workout plan
Some of the things we’ve missed from gym closures
Inspiration to stay motivated in 2021!
The benefits of cold showers as part of your daily routine

Episode Highlights

Don’t let gym closures effect your ability to partake in regular exercise. More so than ever there are great resources available to support your home exercise, as well as fantastic, and cost-effective equipment that you can purchase for all round exercise routines. Take advantage of the additional time you have from working at home and establish a regular routine to support your health!

Episode Transcription

Unknown Speaker 0:01
When we’re young, we move with freedom and confidence with a great resilience to injury. But somewhere along the line, we develop poor habits and become more vulnerable to back pain, back pain solutions features evidence based and practical advice to help you take back control of your health and get back to the activities you love. This is your guide to better back health through movement. So join us as we demystify some of the commonly held beliefs about back pain and build your confidence to a stronger back the smart way.

Ben James 0:28
Welcome back to the back pain solutions podcast everybody with me, Ben James. And as always my co host, Jacob Steyn. Good evening, Jacob.

Jacob Steyn 0:36
Good evening, Ben.

Ben James 0:38
So today’s show is all about a reflection on the year. And I guess I focus on the reflection of our own training to a large extent, and how this year is changed the way that we train, or at least in the short term, it’s changed the way we train given the lockdown situations that we’ve all experienced. And it’s 2020 people are listening back, it’s the eighth of December, at this stage, so fresh in the mind for us at this stage. But if you’re listening, listening back one day, then maybe this all seems a bit surreal. Jacob, welcome. And let’s talk about 2020 from a training point of view, because for me, certainly, you know, we’ve we’ve not been able to go to the gym here as much in any sense of the word as usual. And so I’ve had to adapt. And we talk a lot about movement, we talk a lot about exercising trade, and a lot of people will do that a lot of their work at the gym. But, you know, what are your thoughts on the the kind of situation the experiences and, you know, do you feel that it will change the way that people train forever? You know, because I think a lot of people have quit the gym locally, and maybe they they will never go back? I don’t know, what are your thoughts?

Jacob Steyn 2:01
Yes, first of all, for myself, I, I’ve had an interesting experience, because I thought with the first initial March, April, May, what was two and a half months of having my practice clothes that I would, you know, I would train at home. And as soon as this thing is calming down, everything is going to open up and we’re going to go back and we’re going to just return to having a lovely summer. And summer is usually the time we at the CrossFit gym, we train outside. So it’s really the highlight of the year and everybody’s, you know, it’s just a lot of fun being there and it’s also a very social so I was really looking forward to that. But it turned out very different now looking back at it, to what I expected at that point. I would say for me at the moment, instead of the two to three times at least in the winter that I went a week. Now I’m more or less going once in two weeks to the gym, where I do things that are otherwise can’t do home like rope pull, sled push, farmer’s walk, and sandbag carry, you know, things that I really like to do. But I need obviously the equipment to do. And I also go just because of the social aspect of it. I know the owners very well and some of the trainers, the personal trainers are the guys who give lessons. And they’re my friends. And when I haven’t gone for a couple of weeks, I just feel like I really missed them. I really missed the environment.

Ben James 3:43
Okay, and if it wasn’t for the social side of it, would you would you still go just because of the sleds and things like that. But otherwise, you feel like you feel like you’re you’re getting what you need from working, working out at home and, and why why not go back? You know, from a training point of view.

Jacob Steyn 4:00
I think it’s about 5050. I mean, as much as I want to see my friends, I really miss the, the training possibilities as well. And so I really want to go and you know, I don’t always train as hard as I do when I was a bit younger. And also the winter I do a little bit less intensity than summer but you know, I really want to push myself with low intensity or low skill level exercises where I do high intensity, such as the sled or farmers walk or send my carrier rope pull, you know, the sort of strong typical strongman exercises.

Ben James 4:36
Sure. And we’re just, I’m just just having this when you train at home, you’re not necessarily you’re saying always in in your house because I’m kind of taking a sandbag at the minute I’ve got three floor so I’m walking from one end of the lower floor as it were and then walking all the way to the top all the way to the bottom. And that’s quite a distance when you get when it stacks up so its quite a nice exercise.

Jacob Steyn 5:01
That’s, that’s very smart. That’s very smart. You walk up the stairs with a sandbag.

Ben James 5:04
Exactly, yeah. So then I’m kind of group you get in, you get in that additional workout and, and it’s really effective. And you realize, you know, on reflection, you can be pretty, you can be pretty creative. You know, yes, I know where you live. But you you were saying that you do some of the farmers walks with kettlebells. But you’ll you’ll walk outside. So talk us through what you’ve been taught the studio equipment that you’ve got that you find is useful.

Jacob Steyn 5:32
Yes, I will live in an apartment four storeys high. So I put some kettlebells a lift, go all the way down. And then I, I will just go outside, and we have a park right at the back of our apartment building. And so what I often do is I set my Tabata timer, and I’ll run it for 32nd intervals. And then I I start my killable series, every 30 seconds, I changed my exercise, whether it’s from my right to my left arm or to a different exercise. And I’ll do that for 10 minutes long.

Ben James 6:09
Okay,

Jacob Steyn 6:11
And that I feel that especially around the worlds, you know, all the swinging exercises, there’s numerous really creative kettlebell moves that you can make. And I feel like it’s really a good core workout safe if you do it properly. And I really feel my core turning on. And then from there, I would, you know, maybe I’ll do some other exercises, but I usually end with a farmer’s walk, and I’ll take 2 32 kettlebells in my hands. And then I’ll just walk as far as I can along a path. When I get to the end, I feel like I can’t hold it anymore. I say okay, I’m going to do another 50 meters. And I do that 50 meters, then I’ll, I’ll have I’ll put it down. And I have to make the way back as well. Okay, just and I do that for the grip strength. Obviously, always work also good for the core, the rest of my body, but I mainly do it for the grip strength.

Ben James 7:11
So talk us through, talk us through I’m interested in air in a an average or kind of weekly session you would do outdoors you are you saying it your walk back to the apartment two or three times with your kettlebells or you saying well take the the heavy ones for the farmers walk and I’ll do another workout while I’m out there doing other exercises, how’s it work for you in terms of being efficient with it? Or are you as I say, going to from the house,

Jacob Steyn 7:40
I would, I would generally do what I said now and what I would do extra is some kettlebell racked lunges. And I would do a double kettlebell erect, walk. So I’ll just rack them up onto my my chest, you know, fingers intertwined. raise my elbows, and I’ll just walk for maybe 40/50 meters. And then this is really good for the chorus, but your core just lights up, you have to really stay braced, you’re forced to stay braced. And that’s more or less what I do with my kettlebells. And then if I train otherwise, which I do another couple of times a week I do that inside, because I have I have some other gear inside that I use that I can’t get outside.

Ben James 8:29
Yeah, sure. And what what equipment would be a good would be a good starting point for anyone that says, You know what, you know, I’ve found that doing a bit of a workout from home has been more effective. I’m saving more time I’m saving money not going to the gym, I’ve got the space to do it. And maybe I want to just take it up a level and get a bit of equipment. What sort of equipment would you suggest and from a kettlebell point of view? You know resources for exercising things is all what you do self taught, are you are you following anyone specifically? What’s your? What’s your kind of advice around that?

Yes, I, I would suggest looking at what’s called a pull up mate or something similar. So the pullupmate.co.uk I think is where you can get it. It’s a very simple, basic, cheap construction, basically a pull up as a pull up or a dip station. And my favorite exercise on there is neither the pull up or the debits actually the inverse row. So that’s that’s where I hang upside down at my back to the floor. I put my feet on a chair or a little stool. And I take a wide grip and I really focus on my on my technique where I really activate my pecs and my lats so I don’t have any shoulder upwards traction. And I’ll just bring the bar to my chest or my chest to the bar. So it’s really upper back oriented. I do..

Jacob Steyn 9:59
Say again

Ben James 10:00
I was doing those this morning. Nice. I’d gone back to the gym for a session because we were posted recently down here. So that was one of the exercise of choice this morning. It’s a great exercise for the upper back.

Jacob Steyn 10:12
Yeah, yeah. And I, I tried to do it on a regular basis. So I don’t get muscle pain anymore. And you know, I’ll do it once a week, I’ll do it heavy, or I have a weight vest 15 kilograms. And so I’ll just do sessions sets of five, maybe four sessions, and in between those, I do push ups with a weight vest. So I think…

Ben James 10:33
And why, why those not the product any reason?

Jacob Steyn 10:38
I, I think, you know, I could do the pull up, but I do the pull up in a way where I’m really activating my upper back, I need a band, this point, because I haven’t been doing them enough recently. And the inverse row, I just feel like I have a much better orientation, pulling it to my chest, when I’m horizontal. Also, it’s easier for me to activate my lats fully. So I can, I can really activate my lats. And so that, you know, and I do that, because I think that one of the missing links in our training today is actually not training the upper back properly. And I feel being a chiropractor, hanging over people all day, that doing this, my upper back is just great. It just takes care of the problem.

Ben James 11:26
Yeah, I find as well. It, you tend to focus more on the technique, with a pull up you often you kind of jerk or you can jerk and it’s a little bit I find it a little bit harder on the shoulders, you know, erm…whereas the Yeah, you know, this exercise, you’re explained there is, is I think, a bit kinder on on the shoulders, and yet, you can still really target those muscles, which is, which is the lats, as you say, really effectively. So it’s an excellent place to, to try, I would say.

Jacob Steyn 12:02
I think..I agree with you, because the thing is that what, just to, to add to what you’re saying there, I think the the inverse row is actually a step towards doing a good pull up. I think the inverse row can be used to develop your upper back. So you’re able to do a proper pull up, you know, gymnastic pull up and not some kind of kipping or, or bicep driven pull up? Yeah, yeah, for sure. I think that’s that, you know, we’ve talked about a lot this year in terms of people trying to get from A to A to C before they’ve, you know, they’ve passed B as it were, yes, trying to take shortcuts. And this is you definitely see this in the kind of CrossFit culture where people are. Yeah, they might do a bit of a an onboarding session, depending on that, you know, the quality of that depends on the quality of the trainers in the gym. But then all of the Olympic lifts and you’re doing all these things that actually, you just not conditioned already for me, you know? And yeah, and so I think, you know, that’s one of the biggest learnings this year for me, particularly when I’ve gone back into the gym, kind of post these different lockdowns, almost you’ve seen people try and get back to where they were previously, as quickly as they can, rather than just saying, Well, okay, I’ve had a bit of time out. And that’s that scaling back and interesting. And that was one of the reasons that I wasn’t doing pull ups was because I haven’t been doing them so much recently. And so common sense said to me, okay, just ease off a little bit. And you’ll get back to where you were previously, pretty quickly. But you’ll do it without getting any injury rather than trying to just get back to where I was, and go do something stupid. You know, it’s all about progression. Yeah. Those shortcuts, because we know from a, from a bank, health and back rehab, rehabilitation point of view, you’ve got to be sensible, and you’ve got to be, you’ve got to be patient with your approach. You know, same goes with training. I think that’s a big lesson.

I think I think the skill is to, if you know that you’re not able to really push it because of your circumstances, not allowing it either working too much, or being in a stressful situation, or having children something that’s costing a lot of energy, I think the skill is to taper your training, keeping it at a low level. Not trying to do stupid to do silly stuff, push it too much. But keep it at that level, until you find that you’re out of that situation where you can now give more and you can push yourself more where you know that you’re gonna have more time to recover more time to to rest. And I think that’s a skill and it’s a skill that took me a long time to acquire. Whereas before I would just even if I’m really tired or you know, don’t have the capacity to train hard, I would just go hard because I felt like it and it and it would just hit me back further further than where I started.

Ben James 15:04
Yeah, sure. Sure, sure. And so what’s your What are your plans for next year in terms of trading for yourself, Jacob, because you’ve worked a lot on your core over the years, we talked about this and the issues that you had post post study? And do you see yourself going back to the gym more next year? Are you quite happy with the way that your your trainees go? And is it? Is it more time? Is it more? What do you what do you mean reflections and your vision for next year?

Jacob Steyn 15:34
I would really like to go twice a week, at least, you know, and I’d like to do one session, sort of more sort, strongman training orientated and another session more, maybe barbell oriented. And I, I think that would be the ideal for me, but I I’m not sure if that’s going to happen, considering the situation. And also, I like you, I have a little one, and it takes up a lot of time. So you gotta gotta be sensible and smart. And every little bit of time, you can utilize you have to so……but I’d like to definitely go more than once in two weeks, or at least once a week, where I can regularly do my strongman training. And then I think, you know, what we just discussed is, I need to see how busy I am with what we’re doing here. That’s not strong. And also what, what, what I’m doing in my practice, you know, see how that goes, what it allows me to do, and how much I’m willing to take time off to train, and then find a balance. But it’s, and I find that, you know, that actually, my body, having had this time where I’m not doing so much intense training, so heavy has actually been very good for me.

Ben James 16:51
Yeah, you can definitely, you can definitely get into that kind of, mentality of, yeah, I mean, it’s enjoyable, but you kind of sometimes, you know, it takes these moments to realize just how much you’re doing. And actually, you know, some sometimes it’s not necessary, you know, a couple of times a week, you’re keep on top of where you are, andyou know, and yeah it takes takes a bit more effort at the beginning to, to maybe get to that initial goal or that, that end. But to maintain it, you don’t need to do as much. And that’s where, yes, in the hard work is taking the opportunity to take a step back. And yes, do yourself and enjoy the rest as well, you know, because that’s just so important as well. You know, we live such busy lives, taking those rest periods, taking that time out is, is incredibly important. And I think that’s another thing from this year that people, people beat themselves up sometimes for the additional time they’ve had, and it’s, we’re so not used to that, that we’re where we’re trying to fill the void as it were, and actually sometimes taking the opportunity to just relax. And then we’ll take a moment, you know, and because no doubt is locked down, and vaccines roll out, because today’s the first day that anyone’s got a vaccine for COVID in the UK, and that’s gonna roll out in the, in the coming weeks, as you can imagine, globally. And suddenly, life’s probably going to go back to relative normality, which in many ways is a good thing. But ultimately, for a lot of people, it’s going to be more time in the office again, and suddenly this free time is going to be gone. So it’s, we’ve talked a lot about keeping motivated, keeping active and taking the time to look after yourself, but at the same time, I don’t know, that involves taking those opportunities to rest, I think that’s gonna be a big thing moving forward that people are gonna want to hold on to is that additional time that they did have a miss. So those moments, feel guilty and, and, and take the opportunity to rest while it’s going to be my, my mantra in 2021. You know, don’t fizzy fall, you know, take those opportunities to rest, relax, and that’s just my nan body, you know.

Jacob Steyn 19:09
Yes. Great. Yeah, so what would you say when what is your, what is your goal for the next year?

Ben James 19:17
Well, it’s in recent weeks with the with the opening of the new clinic, the trainings taken a hit, even more so than the not being able to go to the gym. But I think what I’ve noticed particularly is is just how much you can actually do at home, I’ve got a reasonable amount of space. So, you know, I’m, I’m privileged in that sense, but I think it’s more for me a little bit more consistency and structure, you know, that the I’ve been a little bit reactive…I’ve got a moment on I do a bit of training and it doesn’t it feel great. So I just want to add a little bit of structure and get a little bit more equipment and take advantage of the space outside and do a bit more out in the in the fresh air, I think that’s where I have enjoyed it rather than being in the gym, getting the fresh air in the lungs as well alongside the training, has been enjoyable as the exercise itself, you know. So I want to get a bit of stuff out in the garden, pull up bar, and those kind of things that are kind of set in the garden I want to look at some equipment, kind of gym garden stuff, and get a few more kettlebells and just add a bit of structure and routine to my training. But I think like you, the gym is great, and it has its place for things like and sandbags, I’ve got it home and but rope pull sleds and things you you definitely need the space and you need the right setup. So there will always be a place for that. So for me, it’s definitely having a bit of a hybrid approach to, to how I exercise, but certainly a lot more, a lot more I’ll do at home, but it’s just that in a bit of structure. So for me, it’s it’s getting the balance with getting the clinic up and running, balancing the family and, and just having time that’s dedicated to me and exercise on a weekly basis because I definitely feel better for it both mentally and physically. And so it is an important part of my routine, it’s important that I get to do it. Because at the moment when it’s been so busy at early mornings, sometimes sometimes Something’s got to give, and it’s been a training and then then I’m feeling frustrated and guilty. And that’s just me and my. So it’s just getting the structure, right, and the routine. But I know there’s no excuses, you know, there’s enough time in the week to do it, I’ve just got to dedicate the appropriate time to it. And the message for my patients, you know, there’s always exercises fundamentally important. If you’re going to recover, and you’re going to be more resilient, then you need to move and you need to exercise and and no excuses for not doing it. So I’ve got to…I’ve got to live by that same same value. And I generally find time for it. Sometimes some thing’s got to give, but absolutely, it will, it will be a mainstay of what I do next year and beyond, you know, because it just important, were designed to do right.

Jacob Steyn 22:23
Great prospects, and a beautiful goal. And I remember when we were at college, studying together how we got up in the mornings to go training in the gym before we actually started our first class. I think we… what time do we would meet in the gym? I think it was 7am.

Ben James 22:40
Yeah, it was often 6.30/7.00 and then we’d be we’d be straight in practicing.

Jacob Steyn 22:46
Still have to take a shower after training.

Ben James 22:49
Yeah, exactly. So, you know we get comfortable. And you know, and this is another thing, people working from home, we talked about it on a number of sessions that it’s just too easy to roll over and have another 20 minutes, 30 minutes, you know, all it takes, you know, long, early, get up in the dark.

Jacob Steyn 23:09
Especially in the cold.

Ben James 23:10
Yeah, exactly. You know, but get that fresh air, get a bit of exercise, do a walk, do a run, you’re gonna feel better for it. And you know, it feels good mentally and physically. So it feels so much better afterwards. And it just takes a bit of routine. You know, I’ve been doing the Wim Hof cold showers, and it’s invigorating now. And even in these really cold, dark, early mornings. I just committed in it. And I feel so much better as a result. But initially, it’s not comfortable. It’s not enjoyable. But sometimes we’ve got to put ourselves in our comfort zones to take a step forward. And, you know, I think that’s a message for everybody. I think that’s great. So I want to say thanks, my friend for a great podcast in 2020. It’s flown by also because because of COVID. Corona. And what we are here and we’ve when exactly did we start?

Well, it was it was over a year ago now that we first we first published an episode we’ve we’ve been organized with racking up a few so that we had a bit of a platform. Yeah, exactly. And, and we’ve been pretty consistent. And we’ve had some good guests on the show. More guests planned for next year. I think that’s going to be a big focus for us having more yes episodes than just kind of solo joint shows. But they’ll continue with a little bit more focus as we get a bit more time and continuing to improve the quality and ultimately get that course out there which we’ve talked a lot about and we’ve made a lot of progress and we’ve had a lot of feedback and and it’s definitely going to be a beneficial product for people listening. So excited to launch that next year excited to continue the podcast, excited to get more guests on the show and excited to continue spreading the word, word and helping people to build stronger backs and get back to the activities they love. So, you know, I look forward to continuing that journey with you my friend next year, and we’ve got a potential guest or so on the show before the end of 2020. But we we hit it hard again from from next year. And we appreciate everyone that’s listened to everyone that’s got in touch everyone that’s reached out with questions and everybody that’s so far shared. Using feedback on iTunes, it’s, it’s really been a beneficial thing for us in terms of improving the show, but it’s it’s great to share the message and share the information and help more people. So please, as always, head over to iTunes, give us a rating give us a review, head on over to the website, leave a comment and we’re happy to get back in touch, happy to help and happy to share more of your message and on the show. So we thank you as always for listening and we will look forward to seeing you again next show.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai