I stood there this morning staring at my 15 pound dumbbells not dreading them as usual or silently cursing the stopwatch next to them. I stood with trepidation and hope. It had been 10 days since I last picked up a weight or even been in the gym. I had been battling a virus that just would not let me go and doing what I have never done before, I rested and rested and rested…Yes, 10 days! So, I hit the start button on my stopwatch and let The Vitruvian unfold. 34 minutes later, drenched in sweat and feeling slightly nauseous and my legs trembling, I limped to the shower. I didn’t complete the entire workout and I used a lower weight than usual but I felt good! I was back or at least on the way.
Illness, injury, or other stressful situations will arise in your workout career and like everything in life it is not the event that matters but how we deal with that event. Is it a game changer, an end-all event or is it a mere setback that allows us to regroup, recuperate, and come back that much stronger? This article will attempt to give you some insight into how to take those events that cause us to not workout or do very little of it and make them learning events and stepping stones to greatness. For the purposes of this article I will be referring to setbacks as an illness, like my most recent experience, or an injury that limits your ability to workout to the point that you just don’t workout most days.
Your focus while not working out is to get better and fully healed before getting back into working out. All you will do by jumping back into the gym too early is be disappointed at your abilities, not see many gains, and possibly create a worse situation thus prolonging your leave. So, if that means taking 10 days off to rest and just focus on getting fully recovered so be it but keep a positive attitude and know that when you do return you will be strong and ready to work.
The second thing to keep in mind is to maintain your off-day diet. Don’t get down and say to yourself, “Well, I’m not working out anyway so I might as well ignore my workout diet.” Wrong! That will make your comeback that much more difficult and, if you are like me, make you feel that much worse during your time off. Maintain low carbohydrates and reserve them for early in the day, eat 5 – 6 small meals a day and keep the lean protein high. This will give your body the fuel it needs to recover as well as reduce muscle atrophy and fat gain.
That first trip to the gym after an extended leave is always filled with anxiety. You wonder if you will be strong enough to do your old workouts, how much have you lost, and when will the pain or headache set in? This is normal but don’t let that keep you from going. If you are feeling well enough to get out there and workout then you need to go. Too many people let a small setback turn into a major stay away from their workouts because they are simply too scared. They feel they will never get their body back or never recover the strength they lost and they let the days turn to weeks, turn to months, turn to years. Then it becomes an excuse and that “old football injury” story comes up at the bar. Get there, it is half the battle.
Once at the gym don’t expect to be at the level you were before the illness or injury. You need to ease back into the workouts but again, this is a razors edge, don’t let that be an excuse for you to go too easy. Do your same workouts as if you were doing them for the first time. Use lower weights than you were before the setback and if you are feeling more lethargic than usual don’t push it too far but do try to finish.
The amazing thing about your body is it remembers where it was in strength and fat loss within two weeks of no working out. Beyond two weeks off we start to see the muscles breakdown and the recovery will be longer but know you will be back. Just get healthy then ease back into it.
Set goals, register for races or competitions, and read inspiring biographies of people who have overcome great setbacks to come back to world class athletes so when setbacks and plateaus arrive you will see where you are going and it will help you push when you are healthy again. One of the most important things to keep in mind when returning from an extended period away from your routine is to listen to your body. Do not push to where you were prior to the time off but strive to create metabolic disturbance in every workout.
Keep working hard, share this article, subscribe, and contact me directly at shawndross@sdrinspire.com to let me know how the workouts are going and any topic or subjects you would like to read more about.
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