Regaining the Gains: 5 Things To Remember When Getting Back Into Fitness After a Break

Getting back into health and fitness after a long break is a concern for most of us. You might have let your health slip during the pandemic, and now you are taking it upon yourself to try and get back to the way you were, but getting back into some form of fitness after a long break can be quite difficult. Partly it can be to do with motivation, but also the lack of perceived time. We can also worry that we’re not at the level we should be. Let’s show you what you can do to reintroduce exercise into your life after a long break.

Set the Expectations 

This is crucial because so many people believe that they’ve got to get back to the level they once were almost instantly. When you take time away from exercise, you’ve got to be realistic and believe that you will have taken a few steps back. Sometimes it can help to put the things in place to help us feel more motivated, which means that we start to push quickly. So many people think that as soon as they have the right protein shakes, sports bra, running shoes set, or some dumbbells, this will be enough motivation. But you have to remember that it will happen and you will regain your strength quicker than it took you to achieve it in the first place, but you may have to set the bar lower initially by having a shorter running time or starting at a lower weight.

Ready Yourself for the Pain

They say “no pain, no gain,” and if you are planning on strength training, you have to prepare yourself for some soreness. Delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS, is usually unavoidable, especially in people who are getting back into exercise after a long time. The good news about these types of soreness is that you can find ways to minimize them with the right level of self-care, for example, ice packs and foam rolling, but you have got to decide as to what points the level of DOMS is impacting your daily life. You may have grand plans to strength train 3 days a week, but if this is having an impact on your abilities to work and function in other parts of your life, you may want to cut it down to 2 days a week and see how you feel. The most important thing you need to do is to completely recover before you head back, and this means that it could take some time for you to recover properly at the outset.

Enlist a Friend

If you’ve got motivation issues, this is one of the best ways to increase accountability. Gym buddies can give you extra motivation, but they can also keep you on track. Working out with someone has a lot of benefits in terms of your mental well-being. It also gives you someone else to share your journey with.

Consistency Is So Important

Being fit and healthy is not something that happens overnight, it requires a lot of dedication. You may have to decide the level of dedication you can give, especially if you are busy in another part of your life. If you can only realistically do two sessions a week, this is better than nothing and in fact, two sessions a week is more than enough for you to see some serious gains. Because when you add the right amount of time for you to do exercise, you will be able to get back to the strength you had before your break, but you can also build upon it. Consistency is the most important thing because we need to keep hitting a muscle or an endurance skill enough for it to become a physiological function. This is something that’s not necessarily spoken of in health and fitness circles, but if you can remain consistent, this is what gives you the motivation to carry on because it becomes a habit, but is the key to building strength, muscle, and any form of endurance on a physiological level.

Do Not Push Through Illness

Part of the problem we all have when we are trying to get back into a health and fitness routine is thinking that we can go as hard as we used to, but if you haven’t exercised in a few years, especially since the pandemic you have to be aware of of the impacts of things like long COVID, which can make it harder to get back into fitness. But any exercise is better than nothing. You should always listen to your body, no matter how long you have or haven’t been training.