Athlete’s Daily Quarantine Routine

A lot of athletes are still confused on what to do during this whole quarantine situation.

And while I’ve been sharing tips over the last few weeks, I figured I’d spell it out for the athletes who are still filling their day with Call of Duty matches and Tiger King binges.

I’m going to share a COMPLETE athlete’s daily quarantine routine.

It will serve as a general structure for the processes you have already created. If you follow it there’s not a doubt in my mind that you’ll come out of this situation a better athlete.

You’ll have a better body, sharper speed mechanics, more athleticism.

You’ll also have a sharper mind, more discipline, better work ethic.

And not only will this get your body right. It’ll also get your mind right.

Lets jump into it:

7:30 AM: Wake up, Mental Prep

This wakeup time is a little later than I’d recommend. But, I think this quarantine is a good time to catch up on sleep.

After you roll out of bed, immediately find a spot to engage in some kind of mental preparation.

Mental preparation is any practice that will get your mind in the zone to tackle your day. It could be meditation, visualization, or watching a motivational video.

Everyone’s different.

Find what works for you.

8:00 AM First Meal

For those of you who’ve already sunk your teeth into Performance Nutrition, you should know what your first meal is looking like. If you haven’t got a handle on your nutrition, now’s a better time than ever.

In general, you’ll want to eat a meal that has a moderate amount of protein (under 30 grams), contains some healthy fats, and contains a lot of simple carbs (because we’re going to train soon).

Keep it light, because you don’t want to toss up your breakfast during your training session.

8:30 AM Mobility/Stretching

I’ve made a bunch of videos and blog posts on the best mobility and stretching drills for athletes. And you should make an effort to do these daily, especially to wring out the tension in your body after a your night of sleep.

I recommend taking some time to attack your particular imbalances. In most athletes these occur in the hips and shoulders.

Stretch these areas first, then mobilize the joints.

9:00 AM Train

Whatever your strength training looks like at the moment. Now’s the time for that.

It should consist of power movements, strength, and core training.

Most athletes during this time will be leaning on bodyweight training for their training stimulus.

If you’re doing this make sure you have enough volume to work on each movement pattern. Try and make use ofย tempos andย contrast training for more stimulus too.

10:30 AM Post Workout Meal

Your post workout meal should be protein heavy (but no more than 40 grams), and contain a combination of complex and simple carbs to replenish glycogen.

11:00 AM Study

Now’s your time to increase your athletic IQ. Here, you can watch film of yourself, or film of the greats to get a deeper understanding of the game, learn new moves, and become an all around smarter/better player.

There are full breakdowns of team’s plays and player’s moves plastered all over YouTube.

Go study them.

12:00 PM Skills Work

Now that you’ve let your body recover from your strength training, it’s time to work on your sports specific skills.

Ball handling, route running, or whatever you need to dominate your sport.

You can also try to implement some of the moves you learned during your study session.

Another important note is that you should have a plan for your skills work.

People who walk into the gym without a plan end up fiddling with different machines, but never actually get enough stimulus to grow. By the same token, if you don’t have a plan of attack for your skills work, you’ll lack focus, and you’ll waste your time.

2:00 PM Meal

This is the third meal of five of the day. By this time you should have consumed over half of your macronutrients for the day. You just finished training for two hours, so again you should be eating high protein, carbs, and some healthy fats.

2:30 PM Open

In these few hours awake, you’ve accomplished more than some “athletes” accomplish in an entire week.

Here, you have some time to enjoy life.

I’m never a fan of playing video games or watching TV during the day.

I’d much rather engage in recreation. That means doing something outside that will re-energize you.

5:30 Meal

Meal 4 out of 5 should set you up to almost finish your macronutrient requirements on the day. I’ve been in situations where I stockpiled too much protein throughout the day and had to pound down chicken breast late at night to hit my protein goal.

It’s not fun.

6:00 Mobility/Correctives

Here, we’ll spend more time facilitating good structure.

When you go to physical therapy, they usually recommend you do your correctives twice a day.

It only makes sense that if you have aย structural deficiency, you do the same.

This will lead to better movement efficiency, more overall stability, and lower chances of injury.

8:30 Last Meal

Time to top off your macronutrients for the day. Hopefully you balanced them throughout the day so you don’t have to stuff your face.

9:00 Bedtime Rituals

Just like most people have morning rituals, the most successful athletes have bedtime rituals.

This includes reading, laying out the next day’s schedule, or even meditation to calm the mind before bed.

Once you’ve finished these rituals, begin to simmer down. Try to get in bed by 10:30 at the latest.

Daily Life of a Quarantined Athlete

You can see that a day in the life of a quarantined athlete is simple.

You just need the focus and self discipline to consistently execute this routine.

Don’t get me wrong…

Doing the same thing every day can get monotonous and mentally draining.

But, if you can continue to execute, there will be a HUGE payoff.

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overtimeathletes

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