Lifting
Have you ever taken time off from training only to find yourself struggling to get back into the groove of things? You are not alone. Taking extra rest days for travel, sickness, or even just because is a normal part of training. In fact, I encourage time off from structured exercise every now and then as part of my clients’ training programs. But it’s important to get back into the swing of things and know how to approach the reintroduction period so you can continue to be fit for life.
So, how do you get back into a workout routine? Where do you find the motivation? And, what if a week or two turned into months or years off of training?
It’s never too late to start or restart your fitness routine. Become a 1:1 client to get the guidance and accountability you need, or join Sustainably Fit to stay fit for life.
Did you take a couple weeks off of training for the holidays? Or were your workouts kind of wonky and consistently inconsistent since around Thanksgiving time? It’s understandable how this could happen. With visitors coming to your house, you traveling to others, additional social outings, and/or extra work gatherings, it can be hectic to squeeze your “regular” fitness routine in. Hopefully you were able to mitigate that and get a few workout sessions in here and there, but if you didn’t, that’s okay. The important part is that you are getting back into it now.
Here are 4 tips on how to get back into training after taking time off:
1. Determine your fitness goals. Make sure that your goals are realistic and appropriate for your abilities and training availability. This may not be as applicable if you only took a week or so off of training, but it can be helpful to revisit your goals, as well as your “why”. Knowing why you are doing something can help give you direction and align you with action.
2. Meet yourself where you are in your fitness. If you haven’t noticed already, this is part of our tagline here at Kathletics. We meet you where you are at in your fitness. This means that your training frequency and training program should align with your goals, training availability, and abilities. You should keep this in mind not only as you get back into the swing of things, but also throughout your entire fitness lifetime.
3. Use the RPE (rate of perceived exertion) scale. The RPE scale is something we rely on heavily in my hybrid training programs, both for lifting and aerobic activity. As you ease back into fitness, allow your first few days or first week of workouts to be around an RPE 6. This should feel like you have about 4 reps left in the tank. Using the RPE scale is a skill that takes time (months and years) to develop, but it is a helpful tool to refer to for times like these. After your first few sessions or so of RPE 6, gradually increase to RPE 7-9 to continue to follow progressive overload. Properly programmed progressive overload will encourage you to gain strength, muscle, endurance, and/or power consistently over time.
Learn more about using the RPE scale in my blog.
4. Listen to your body. It’s common to want to jump in head first when you get back into your fitness routine. This isn’t always the best approach as you could set yourself up for burn out or push too hard too quickly. Although challenging yourself is important in a training program, you must meet yourself where you are at and ease back into the challenge. Refer to numbers two and three to make sure you are aligned with your goals. Listening to your body is a skill. Give yourself some grace.
Understand that these tips are valid for more than just re-entering the fitness world post-holiday. These are also useful if you have taken time off for travel, illness, after running a race, or other circumstances such as stress, work related reasons, or family/personal reasons.
Finding motivation after taking time off from the gym can be a challenge. You find yourself enjoying the “extra” time in your day to do other things like read a book or start a new TV series. (This is all post-travel and -holidays, of course). It can be refreshing! While these activities likely spark joy, I encourage you to build off the New Year’s momentum. Around the New Year, goals and resolutions are often set due to the natural break in the year. Coined terms: “New Year, new me”. While I’m certainly not suggesting you change your entire personality, there is something to be said about feeding off of the momentum of the year's natural break.
What I don’t suggest is only relying on this type of motivation. Unfortunately, motivation does not stick around. It is transient. It isn’t reliable nor consistent. Motivation is dependent on many other factors, such as your environment and mental state (hence, the excitement of entering a New Year). When motivation is around, ride it out! When it’s not, you need to rely on your habits and “non-negotiables”.
You may not have all the habits and non-negotiables you’d like in your toolbox, yet, but let’s build it together. Creating habits that are all encompassing of your health like strength training, cardiovascular training, sleep regime, fueling, hydration, and stress management can set you up so you don’t have to rely on motivation when it decides to come around. Once you have developed habits, you can decide what your non-negotiables are. Your non-negotiables should be the bare minimum actions you will take even if there’s travel, stress, or other expected or unexpected circumstances. Here are a few examples of non-negotiables:
- Sleep 7 hours
- Go for a 15 minute walk
- Drink 64oz of water
- Eat a vegetable
- Consume protein at each meal
You may already be doing these, but maybe you aren’t. Either way, meet yourself where you are at to create YOUR non-negotiables, YOUR bare minimum. This way you don’t have to rely on motivation.
If you’re struggling more so with the showing up to train part… Here are a few tips for getting motivated for a workout:
- Set out your workout clothes the night before. This is a game changer, especially for those of you who workout in the morning.
- Put on your workout shoes. You might not think that this would make a difference in your motivation, but once those shoes are on, GAME ON.
- Throw on your gym jams. Spotify has tons of gym workout playlists, but feel free to create your own with the tracks that get you most amped!
- Do a little dancey dance. You’ll need to get your heart rate up anyway, right? Might as well get your muscles moving to your favorite workout song!
- Get through your warm up. Once you start your warm up, you’re nearly in the clear. The likelihood that you stop now is a lot lower than it was 10 minutes ago, right? Right!?
- BOOM! You’re suddenly doing your workout.
Starting is the hardest part. You got this!
First things first, you are not alone. Many people experience an extended period of time off from training throughout their life. This could be due to many factors such as growing your family, mental and/or emotional health, physical injuries, caring for family members, or something else. Understand that just because you took time off does not mean “too much time has passed for it to count” or it’s “not worth trying to get fit again”. Working on your strength and endurance has multiple health benefits regardless if this is your first day ever working out or your 90th first day. It is never too late to start or restart your strength and endurance training regime.
I’ve worked with clients who didn’t touch their first weight until they were well into their 50s. I’ve also worked with clients who took decades off of training. Both people are worthy of gaining strength, muscle, and endurance regardless of their experience or age.
When you decide to get back into an exercise routine, consider the similar tips listed above. Here are 4 tips more specific to taking 1 month to several years off of training:
1. Meet yourself where you are in your fitness. If it’s been months or years since you have trained, you will want to ease back into things. Consider your training availability and lifestyle when you initially commit to fitness. Jumping right into 5 days per week may sound like a great idea initially, but that is going to be a big change in lifestyle. Think about starting with 1-3 days per week of exercise first, so you have time to adapt and make sustainable changes. Once this becomes a habit, consider adding a day or two more to your regime as you see fit.
2. You today vs you today. Refrain from comparing yourself to what your stats were x amount of months or years ago. What you used to bench press or deadlift then is not what you are aiming for now. What you used to run then is not what you are aiming for now. Now you are looking for consistency and stacking the building blocks one by one. Who knows, you could end up even stronger and faster than you were before! This has happened to many of my clients! Consistency wins every time.
3. Seek accountability. This could be from your friends, family, a fellow gym member, and/or your trainer. Having someone who will check in with you informally or formally can make a big difference in adherence and keep you motivated in the long run.
4. Find a way to enjoy movement. Do you need to love every second of your lift or run? No. But having glimmers of fun within your preferred form of exercise can make all the difference. Consider working out with a friend to have some laughs along the way, go to a fitness class or join a run club to be a part of a community, or hire a trainer who encourages you to work hard while having fun.
My biggest recommendation for you is to ask for help and use your resources as you navigate getting back into training. These could be free resources or paid resources. I have many free and accessible tools and recommendations available on my Instagram and within my blog. If you are ready to jump in, receive expert training guidance, and have accountability right at your fingertips, join one of our hybrid training programs.
Get strength and endurance tips, running recs, and all the Kathletics updates right to your inbox.
