Back To Gym

Summer holidays done and dusted? Check. Good food, good drink, good volumes? Check. Not quite managed the level of fitness work you’d hoped to fit in? Check. Looking at getting back in the gym to create some space for December? Check.

Ease your way back in there! As with any significant break in training routine, there will be a level of deconditioning and picking up exactly where you left off might not be the most comfortable approach to getting back into the swing of things. It is better to come out of the first two to three sessions feeling like you could have done more or that previously reactive areas or muscles don’t feel fully worked on than charging back in full pace and hurting yourself, leading to a longer period out.

Regardless of whether your workouts are class based, load based or volume based, take it down a notch or two for the first few sessions back. Spend this time during your workouts getting a feel for what is working well and what might need a bit of attention to get back up to full speed. E.g if some muscle groups are perhaps not responding as well as they might have done pre-break, what might you need to do to get them back to pre-holiday levels and how might that affect the rest of your workouts.

Once you have ironed these little creases out, pick it up again over the next two to three sessions and you’re back in the game!

Happy holidays!

Words by Paul Martin.