How to Return to the Gym Safely After Time Off
Unfortunately, we are coming to the end of the school holidays and summer vacations. In a couple of weeks, routines will start to look more normal again. For some of you, that means you’ll be back in the gym after some time away…
You might think that you’ve still been active; walking the dog, doing water sports or evening running for your summer fitness and feel like you can just jump right back into the gym where you left off. This probably isn’t the best idea!
I want to make sure you get back into the gym safely and don’t set yourself back by getting an injury or being so sore you can hardly walk!
It only takes a few weeks away from a specific type of training and that first session back will be a shock to the system. Side note: that’s why we are big fans of Functional Fitness year round as your body gets a nice dose of everything, consistently.
So for those of you who have been away from a gym for the last couple of months, you likely haven’t spent much time squatting or lifting much weight and if you have been ‘active’ it’s probably been at a lot lower intensity than you’ve been used to.
Not to worry though it won’t take long to get back moving again. Just follow these simple steps:
- Start with 3x a week – even if you’ve been used to doing 5 before. Do this for two weeks then get back up to 4 or 5.
- Go at about a 7/10 effort on all weighted activities – don’t try to lift what you were doing before the summer break. Again do this for about 2 weeks and slowly build back up
- Ask the coach for a rep reduction. If there are high rep movements in a workout (like skipping or box jumps), ask the coach to help reduce the reps so you’re not doing lots of the same movement which may aggravate joints and tendons until you build the frequency back up
- Have no expectations. Just have some fun with training and don’t have any expectations. You’ll bounce back quick enough
- Focus on recovery; good sleep, hydration, nutrition
That’s about it honestly. It’s key to come back safely and not try to rush it. This protocol will take a couple of weeks and you’ll be back building no problem. Compare that to getting a silly injury which could take weeks to rehab.
September is always a busy buzzing time at Defy and we look forward to getting everyone back in the gym after summer.
Train Hard but Train Smart
