Having some layoff from exercise is not the end of the world. You can always rebound hard and improve your physique.
Training breaks are not uncommon. There are many reasons why people take breaks from exercising, such as starting a new job, family responsibilities, injuries, long holidays, or any other reason. There is nothing wrong with taking a break if the situation demands it, and you do not need to worry that much, as you can always rebound the gaps that were created during the training break.
My father was hospitalized for some time, and I had to take a break from exercising as I needed to take care of him. So I know exactly what training breaks look like and how to return back to your previous form.
Many mistakes are made when returning from a long training break, which does more harm than good. That is why I will discuss things you need to keep in mind if you are starting over. Expectations must be clear when you are coming back from a training break.
There are two things that you need to be very clear about when you are starting over:
- You will eventually lose some of your strength. If you were able to do the bench press with 60 KG when you took a break, you would not be able to do the same. So do not try to press the same weight, as you might get injured.
- It will take almost half the time to return to ground zero (your previous fitness level). For example, if you take a break for six months, it can be assumed that it will take almost 3 months to return to your prior fitness level unless you are genetically blessed.
After setting clear expectations, you can restart your fitness journey.
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Tips that will help you when you are returning to training
When you come back to training, the tips I am about to give will help you avoid the mistakes I initially made and also help you achieve linear progression in a very short amount of time.
Progress Gradually
It is a very common mentality to go all out in exercise. It is not a bad thing, but when you return to the training, it is not a wise choice to make. When you restart the training, the motivation will be at the peak to get back to the best version of yourself, but if you rush at the time, it will set you backward, not toward the progress.
Muscles are built when they receive stimuli, get adequate nutrition and recovery, and then adapt. When going all out, people tend to focus on annihilating the muscles through exercise and not on recovery. I did it, too, and that is why I am telling you not to. If you do, you will face excessive soreness, costing you your gains.
Find out your current fitness level and whether you have the flexibility to do certain exercises or not, and do them with lighter weights. Dr. Mike Israetel (Ph.D. in sports physiology) stated that when you come back from a long layoff, in the first session, you do a full-body workout with one light set of each body part. This will give your body the time for adaptation, which is needed the most at the time.
In the initial week, just let your body get reintroduced to the exercises. Perform sets with light weights. If you have been out of training for a long time, you will find some advantages of newbie gains. If you do not know what they are, then you can check “What are newbie gains?”
Try to improve your form
As you will be training lighter at the time, you should focus on improving exercise forms. You might think that since you were able to do exercises with the correct form previously, you can also do them now. This is not correct in almost all cases. As you are out of training, your flexibility might also have decreased.
Do not worry—some stretching and training for a few weeks will fix the issue. Think of it like a marathon runner who has not run for over a year and needs some time to regain his/her endurance.
There is a thing called muscle memory. When you start training again, your muscle memory will kick in, and you will be able to adapt very fast. This will help you get back on track much faster than when you initially started your journey to reach that state.
Choose Exercises Wisely
When you return from a break, it will be wise to cherry-pick the exercise. Why is that?
The reason behind that is the fatigue or soreness level of the exercises. Some exercises have a high fatigue-to-stimuli ratio, meaning they will make you more sore compared to the stimuli they provide for a particular muscle group. For example, deadlifts have a high stimulus-to-fatigue ratio, and when you return from a break, you should try to avoid them initially. If you start deadlifting, your whole posterior chain will be very sore for some days, and it will hamper both your training and recovery.
If you have access to a gym, make machine exercises your best friend for a couple of weeks. If you work out with free weights, choose exercises that will generate less fatigue for your body.
Train Muscles Twice a Week
It will not be wise to follow the bro split when you restart training, as you will miss some gaining potential. Bro split is training one muscle group in one session. Research has found that muscle protein synthesis occurs every 36 to 48 hours. In simple terms, muscles have another growth potential every 36 to 48 hours. If you train your biceps on Monday, then there will be another growth potential on Wednesday. So, your training split should be designed to target each muscle twice a week. It will benefit you a lot when you are returning to training.
You can follow the following splits based on how many days you train.
If you plan to train for 6 days, then you can follow PPL Split (Push Pull Legs). It will look somewhat like this:
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 |
Legs | Push | Pull | Legs | Push | Pull | Rest |
You can take the rest day in between if you want.
If you plan to train for 4 days, then you can follow Upper Lower Split. It will look somewhat like this:
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 |
Upper | Lower | Rest | Upper | Lower | Rest | Rest |
I learned this from Jeff Nipard, as it is logical and scientific, I suggest you follow it.
There are also many hybrid splits that you can do to achieve the same outcome. If you want to learn more about training splits you can check “What workout split should you follow?”