Training around quarantines and exposure

Hi Docs,

I was wondering if you could lend your insight into a situation that I’m sure I can’t be the only one facing. Given the recent spikes in new cases and spread around the country, I’ve found myself in a situation where I keep having my training interrupted by either being a close contact of someone with Covid-19 or having some symptoms myself (luckily it hasn’t been covid yet).

I was wondering what your recommendations would be for me if I miss 3 - 7 days of training due to quarantine as a close contact? I’m fully vaccinated and boosted, so I probably don’t actually need to quarantine based on current CDC recommendations since I currently have no symptoms, however, I’ve had a lot of close calls in the last few days/weeks so I wanna play it save and not risk exposing others. I’m currently running PB II (week 8) and had a recent exposure on Monday (notified yesterday). Assuming I test negative later this week, should I just repeat the last week I finished (week 7) next week? If I am actually positive and have to quarantine for longer than this week, would you recommend I start from the most recent pivot week, or restart the template entirely (assuming mild/asymptomatic and/or full recovery if I do get sick)? I understand this last question entirely depends on the individual and severity of illness, but was wondering what your approach would be if it were you.

I hope this is an appropriate topic for this thread. Figured it was worth asking about since this is seemingly becoming the new normal for many of us.

Thank you for your time.

-Anthony

We have a general article on this topic here: Returning to the Gym | Barbell Medicine

If you miss a few days I’d just re-run the week.

For longer layoffs it depends a bit on where you are in the template, since just “picking back up” in a peaking phase for 1RMs, for example, probably won’t work very well. In that situation I’d be more likely to rewind a bit and try to get some momentum going again.