Hi Team,
I’m nearly two years into consistent training and, at 44, nearly hitting numbers I was hitting in my early 30s. Currently in Week 4, Block 2 of Low Fatigue Powerlifting program.
My family (2 adults, 2 kids - 7 and 10yo) are travelling around Australia for 6 months in a caravan beginning late December and opportunities to lift barbells will be limited - I’ll be able to get into a gym every one or two weeks to get in a quick Squat, Bench, Press and Dead session just so I don’t totally lose the movements. In trying to save on fuel, I can’t pack much that’s heavy.
Do you have any advice on keeping as much strength (even though a lot of it is movement specific) and limiting detraining so that I can pick things up again in July? I’m bringing a set of roman rings and could buy an adjustable kettlebell if you thought that would be useful. I ran the At Home template a few years ago but didn’t love it.
Cheers,
Angus
Howdy!
Sounds like a hell of a trip, dude. I think the main thing here is to not worry about it. Six months isn’t going to generate a lot of detraining, especially since you’ll be active, likely eating enough protein, and as a result, the muscle itself and its ability to produce force stay largely intact over that window. What you’ll lose is the movement-specific skills pertaining to the lifts, e.g. SBD. So you’ll have to knock the rust off in July, but you won’t be starting over. If you want to go to a gym every so often on the trip, that’s cool with me for enjoyment purposes 
As far as what I’d recommend you do exercise-wise, the At-Home template is really the basis for how to train with limited access to equipment. You mentioned you ran it before and didn’t love it. I’d be curious what you didn’t like to see if there’s an opportunity there.
Further reading
Thanks for another quick reply Jordan - I appreciate it.
I ran the At-Home template sometime during lockdowns - mid 2021 I think. I don’t love cardio. It’s fine but not interesting or motivating. The At-Home template felt like I had to run high-rep sets to get close to muscular fatigue, with exercises/movements feeling like metcon WODs. But perhaps I approached it in the wrong way and should have chosen more challenging movements.
One of my favourite feelings is beginning a set with a barbell and the first rep being heavy enough for me to have to focus. This is one of the things I love about training. So perhaps I need to be OK with missing this for the trip.
And yes, it’s going to be an amazing experience. We decided 10 years ago to do this now. It really will be the trip of a lifetime.
Cheers.
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Yea, I hear you re: wanting the first rep to feel heavy/hard enough to lock in. I find that hard to replicate with calisthenics as well, but I still prefer it to not training. I got pretty decent at 1-arm push-ups and handstand push-ups there for awhile 
Either way, have a great trip!