Do you want to know how to get back to the gym without hurting yourself?
Check out this quick read to ensure your gym return is fluid and pain free!
Look, we all go through lulls in our training…
Maybe a pandemic hit and gyms across the country closed their doors. Maybe you just got bored. Maybe you moved to the middle of nowhere. Maybe your favorite gym machine was taken from you and, in retaliation, you decide to stop showing up. Maybe you just lost all motivation.
Whatever the reason is, bottom line, you took some time off.
And now you are ready to get back to the gym.
But, should you start in where you left off, or should you change your workout?
Often, after a layoff, gym-goers go nuts that first day back and try to pick up wherever they left off.
Result? You often get hurt, and thus a deadly cycle is born…
You are inevitably forced to take some more time off—could be weeks, could be months—until one day you find yourself motivated and ready to get back. Full of energy and excitement, you slap your old weights on the bar (after skipping your warm-ups of course, because you feel so dang good), and then it happens… A few sets in, your body gives up on you again. Great, now you are forced to take even more time off to heal. So you rest, take it easy, and eventually feel good enough to attack training again… Full of energy and excitement, you slap your old weights on the bar—you can start to see where I’m going here. This is a no bueno situation.
So, let’s look at three key points to ensure a pain-free return to the gym.
First, tie your shoes.
No need to rearrange your face on the pavement before you even get to the door.
Second, use an extended warm-up and be sure to cool down.
You are going to need to spend a little more time on these two pieces of your program. Under normal circumstances you can perform a warm-up that is a little quicker because your body is used to getting in and out of the positions you ask. With time off however, your body cannot get there quite as quickly.
We need to expose your body to movement again by gradually building you up. That starts with a lengthened warm up.
Think of it as an exploration. A movement journey. Use the warm-up as a check-in. Figure out where things feel cranky and tight. Figure out what movements are available to you. And if you find out your shoulder, back, or hip is not giving you what you want, spend some extra time on that spot to open up your movement menu.
Figure out what you have available to you for that day, and train accordingly! And remember you are not stuck; things will feel better with each successive warm-up and training session.
The cool down needs to be approached similarly. Give your body plenty of time to wind down and kick start the recovery process before walking out the door, aiding you to recover well so you can train another day. Consistency matters most, making the next training session the most important one, not the one you are currently doing…
Third, leave your ego in the car!
You are not going to need it for you journey back. We talk a lot about graded exposure at BSP—gradual exposure to load, if you’re scratching your head right now—and this is the backbone of any good training program. When you first start out, everything makes you sore and you get tired from practically just walking into the gym. As time progresses, and you slowly get introduced to more and more work. Your ability to handle more load goes up, you do not get as sore and tired doing the same amount of work. Boom, that is progressive training at work.
We want to apply the same principle to a gym comeback.
There are three scenarios we want to stay away from in our return to the gym:
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- We do not want to throw a ton of work at you, even if it is low intensity (moderate-light weights).
- We also do not want to make you work at a super high intensity (heavy and fast).
- Finally, the absolute worst thing you can do when coming back is a combination of the two—lots of work with lots of weight at high speeds—as that is the ultimate recipe for a painful first day back.
Sorry, I hate to be that guy, but you will not be in the same spot where you left off. You are going to have to take just a few steps back, before moving forward. Ease off the gas pedal at first. Do not go all out. Slowly re-introduce your body to load.
It is a lot like how parents build up a tolerance to changing a diaper full of poop—they are no longer bothered by the sights smells like I would be. Why? Graded exposure—they have done it repeatedly. You hand me a child with an extra heavy load in their pants and I will lose my mind, as I have NEVER experienced what a smelly diaper change is like. Hence, my tolerance to smelly diapers is low.
Like me when it comes to poopy diapers, your body’s tolerance to physical stress is low after all this time off, so you need to match your training load with that lower tolerance.
Start off a little easy and slowly add in more. As the weeks go by, your tolerance goes up, you get to lift more, and before you know it you are back to kicking ass!
Be patient
Do not try to be a hero and crush records day one. Training exists to build ourselves up. Give it time. Trust the process. Set yourself up for success by following these guidelines.
- Tie your shoes
- Use an extended warm-up and be sure to cool down
- Leave your ego in the car
And if you’re not a member, grab your free week below! We will take all the guess work out of your gym return and guide you to the pain free body you want, and have fun doing it!