After a long break. Now, in order not to break loose and not give up this venture, you need a plan that will help you adapt physically and mentally!

Walter Thompson, an exercise physiologist at the University of Georgia, studied what happens to the body during a break and what to expect when you decide to start exercising again. The good news is that in any case, you can return to the previous level and become stronger, faster and more resilient. The main thing is to do it right to avoid injury.

Termination of training or the use of loads that are not capable of maintaining the achieved level leads to deadaptation - a process that is the opposite of adaptation.

Deadadaptation is a remarkable ability of the body to use the released resources in other body systems. That is, resources are taken from where they are no longer used, to where the building material is needed.

How did the break affect your fitness?

There are no formulas that would allow you to accurately calculate how much you have lost and how long it will take to recover, but there are studies on the basis of which you can at least get an idea of ​​​​the big picture.

• If your break was several weeks, your respiratory and cardiovascular systems will lose a few points, while the strength qualities will remain unchanged.
• If the break was a year, but before that you were in good physical shape, cardio loads will be given to you 15% more difficult, power characteristics fall at least half.
• If your break was measured in years you will most likely have to start from scratch. But you will make progress faster than people who did not play sports at all.

The new training plan will depend on why you quit exercising and what happened to your body in the meantime.

If you had to stop because of an injury, you must be sure that you have fully recovered. Therefore, you must definitely visit a doctor. The physical therapist will be able to tell you about general condition of your muscles, point out imbalances and identify weaknesses.

If the break was taken due to the appearance in the family or a busy work schedule (you gave all the time to a new project), you need to understand how you can find time for proper sleep and nutrition so that there are no psychological and physical problems in the future.

Recovery rate

If your break was only a few weeks (holidays or vacation), just a couple of light workouts will be enough for recovery, and you will be back in shape.

But what if you haven't exercised in a year or more? If you went to gym, Thompson advises to start with half or a third of the weight that you took a year ago, and after a few weeks try your standard kilograms. Recovery usually takes 1-2 months.

As for sports that require endurance (cycling, triathlon, and so on), the intensity will also have to be reduced. In this case, Thompson advises starting with long walks, then moving on to interval running with walking breaks or running at a very low pace. The distance in this case does not matter.

If after two months you have not returned to your previous form, then you need to reconsider training program, and even better - to find good coach who will make it for you, based on your physical condition and capabilities.

What to do if you have to take a break again

Things happen in life and we can't guarantee we'll never take that big break again. The main rule is not to give up physical activity fully. Let it be walks or light workouts for 10-15 minutes a day, but they must be in your schedule!

Fortunately, you can now find a huge number of short workouts, both strength and interval. And if you can arrange such mini-workouts for yourself, then return to the previous physical form you will be much easier. Yes, and psychological adaptation will be easier than if you completely give up sports.

With training in the amount of 25-30% of the previous ones, you will be able to maintain your shape for two to three months.

On average, the adaptation time after reduced physical activity (you left and you did not have the opportunity to train fully) is 2 weeks.

How to start playing sports after a long break is one of the most frequently asked questions among former athletes. Not everyone knows how to start playing sports after long break, face some difficulties and quit again, thereby further exacerbating their situation. Return to former form starting after the break is very difficult. But very often people want to achieve this very quickly, which often leads to injury and overtraining. No need to strive for instant results, do not forget about the rest.

How to start exercising after a long break - expert advice

Steps to Restoring Intensity Training

If the break from training lasts more than a few weeks, then the body loses strength significantly. This must be taken into account when resuming training. On average, after 2 weeks of a break, a person loses about 40% of his strength from the previous level. Without load, the work of the body changes significantly, and the strength decreases at an incredible rate. This affects the overall level of your strength, and not just the maximum performance.

So, when you start exercising after a long break, you come to the gym weaker than they were before. Recovery will be much longer and more painful. To properly return to training, you need to follow a few simple steps:

• focus on the essentials;
• find a source of inspiration;
• get carried away with training;
• do not hurry;
• write down goals and mark their accomplishment;
• do not give up;
• get support;
• praise yourself.

In order to to start playing sports after a long break, you need to clearly know what you want to achieve, and how to get it. The forces of the body are not infinite, and therefore it is necessary to find someone who will help you in training and support, as well as encourage you by your own example. Do not rush to change everything in an instant, even if you really want to immediately return to intensive after a long break.

How to start exercising after a long break

To resume training and return to the gym again, it is usually enough to look in the mirror, which reflects a completely untight body and shortness of breath, after running up the stairs several floors. After that, you immediately remember the gym. It is not possible to instantly return to the original form, and 3-4 workouts a week are not yet available to you, otherwise you will only hurt yourself. It is best to start training after a long break by visiting the gym twice a week, with an equal interval of time. In this way, you will remind the muscles of the load, and give them the opportunity to adapt to new efforts.

And only after 3-4 months of classes twice a week, you can insert another workout into the schedule. When training, more effort should be devoted to basic exercises that affect a larger volume of muscles and help restore muscle memory. In the question of how to start playing sports after a long break, it is also worth addressing the issue proper nutrition and rest. The vital activity of the body changes, and this leads to an increase in the need for nutrients. And remember, the longer you put off resuming, the harder it will end up being.

Due to various circumstances, people are forced to take long breaks in sports training. This is not about a week-long pause, but about the absence physical activity for several months or more.

After a long break, many are trying to return to the gym as soon as possible and continue exercising as usual.

However, such actions cause injuries and other consequences that only complicate the restoration of physical fitness.

What happens to the body when you take a long break between classes in the gym

With a long break between workouts, a number of processes start in the body that need to be taken into account when returning to further classes. The stamina and strength that a person has acquired is lost at a catastrophic rate.

For example, 14 days after stopping classes, overall strength indicators decrease by 40%. For this reason, a person becomes unable to take on the level of load that he could easily perform before the break.

To maintain vital functions, the body constantly saves and conserves the energy received from food. During sports loads a person accumulates muscle mass, which subsequently is the main source of energy expenditure. The body of a person who has not been involved in sports for a long time cuts the amount of energy resources consumed by the muscles. As a result, there is a gradual decrease in stamina, muscle mass, strength.

The physical condition of the athlete after a long pause is more like that which he had before training. After class, he will experience pain and aching muscles, like the first time. The only difference is that a previously trained person knows how to perform this or that exercise.

Be sure to check out:

Detailed training program own weight at home

Where to start classes if you haven’t trained for a long time

The first rule that an athlete should remember after a long absence of loads is a gradual and systematic return to the previous level, despite the desire to quickly achieve the same results.

There are a few basic rules to consider before returning to sports:

1. Organize classes with a frequency of 2 times a week. The body is not yet ready for a greater level of stress. This schedule is followed for the first 2 months after the pause. Before proceeding to more intense training you should consult your doctor or fitness instructor.
2. Each program begins with a short warm-up, preparing the muscles for further work. During a break in sports, ligaments and joints lose their elasticity, so warming them up before exercising in the gym is mandatory.
3. Perform exercises that work out individual muscle groups with the same intensity. You can not concentrate on pumping any one area of ​​the body. Perfect option training in the first days after the break - 1 complex for the muscles of the back, chest, legs, biceps and triceps. To avoid "wear and tear" of the body, it is necessary to leave forces in reserve, even if there are physical opportunities to do more exercises or approaches.

Coming back after a long break is also a great opportunity to revisit a past training program. Previously, it was impossible to change the technique for performing some complexes, as this would mean a reduction in the load on the body.

After the break, you will have to start the program with the simplest exercises, so you can learn new exercises. However, one more rule should be remembered - an experienced instructor should come up with a training scheme after a long pause.

Shape recovery software

Let's consider in more detail the training program for 3 weeks.

First week with two sessions:

1. Squats with weights (dumbbells, barbell, sandbags, bottles of water) - 10 times in 3 sets.
2. Bench press in the supine position - 10 times in 3 sets.
3. Leg extension for special simulator- 10 times in 2 sets.
4. Lifting the knees to the chest in a hanging position - 15 times in 2 sets.

Second week with two workouts a day:

1. Squats with dumbbells - 10 times in 3 repetitions.
2. Pull-ups on the horizontal bar or crossbar - 5 times in 3 repetitions.
3. Lifting the simulator with the toes of the legs - 12 times in 2 repetitions.
4. Lifting the body in a position lying on the floor - 15 times in 2 repetitions.

Third week with two sessions:

1. Press with narrow grip- 10 times in 3 repetitions.
2. Working out the biceps on the block - 10 times in 2 repetitions.
3. Bending the arms with a barbell - 10 times in 3 repetitions.
4. Lifting the body incline bench- 15 times in 2 repetitions.

Before each of the workouts, a warm-up is performed, for example, a 5-minute walk on elliptical trainer and other exercises aimed at warming up the muscles. On average, the duration of the warm-up is 10-15 minutes.

Important! Rest 1-2 minutes between each set. A break must be taken before different types exercises.

It takes about half of the time that made up the break to restore physical fitness. For example, if the pause was 1 year, then it will take 6 months to return to the previous physical form. With a well-designed complex, it will be possible to quickly and safely make up for lost time.

How to quickly get in shape after a long break, tips from trusted experts + video.

There are situations in life when it is necessary to resume training after a long break, and at the same time, a forced break in training came against their will, some do it because of an injury, others because of life situations, I mean not a break of 2-3 weeks, and when it drags on for several months. During this time, the body greatly loses strength and muscle volume, physical endurance is lost and the overall shape of the body decreases by several levels.

It would be a normal reaction to come to the gym and start training at a frantic pace, trying to return to the previous form with leaps and bounds, because the mind remembers how powerful and resilient you were, but here you need not to break firewood in a hurry, otherwise the injury will delay more longer.

Do not be discouraged, the muscles remember the technique and, therefore, it will take much less time to set the previous results than for beginners who come to the gym.

How to start exercising after a break

1. Warm up

First of all, take 5-10 minutes of a general warm-up of the body before starting strength training, during a long break, the muscles have lost their elasticity and flexibility, if you start training without warming them up, you can get injured much faster tendons, joints or muscle strain, which will again unsettle you in training.

2. Take your time with sports nutrition

There is no need to immediately refuel with sports nutrition or, even worse, pharmacology, the body now needs a proper rest, properly built training process and healthy natural food. At least work according to this scheme for 1-2 months, so that the body comes to the tone of the training regime.

Coming to the gym after a long break, remember the exercise technique and the possible mistakes that you made in the exercises. Remember all your tricks to raise more or trick to finish the exercise easier. Try now to remove all these shortcomings, improve the technique and make the training close to ideal.

Unfortunately, we do not always manage to train regularly - work, study, family and a number of other important issues often leave their mark on the regularity of visiting the gym. It is clear that you need to strive for more competent planning and not miss training, but what if the break in training has already occurred and it has become long enough? I will talk about this in our today's article.

Where to begin?

First of all, with the understanding that all your past results are in the past and there is no point in trying to repeat them in today's conditions. Of course, muscle memory will make itself felt, and with subsequent regular training, you will catch up pretty quickly, but it will be later and not immediately. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to abstract from past results and start exercising as if you first came to the gym. This is very important rule which practically no one ever follows. Meanwhile, it is it that significantly shortens the time for returning to the usual physical form.

Principles of training after a long break

• Deep warm up. Before starting the main workout, spend 20-30 minutes warming up the main muscle groups and the cardio system. The use of light aerobic exercises will also be excellent. This will bring the body into a state of readiness, increase the effectiveness of training and significantly reduce the risk of injury.
• Training of all muscles. It is optimal after a long pause in training to use programs for all muscle groups, for example,. It is not as heavy as usual strength programs, however, it allows you to quickly bring the muscles into working condition. Use circuit training for 1-2 weeks.
• Training without "failure". Classic bodybuilding training involves training to failure, but after a long break, this technique should be temporarily excluded. The fact is that neither muscle, nor cardio, nor nervous system are not ready to give all their best and demonstrate their maximum potential, and therefore failure training can become too stressful for the body, which will significantly slow down the time to get to their usual form.
• Rejection sports nutrition and pharma. At the first time (2-4 weeks) of training after a long pause, the intake of sports nutrition and pharmaceuticals must be completely excluded, since this makes no sense. And although training during this period may be difficult for you, this severity is relative, since the muscles and nervous system do not work at full strength.
• At the base - basic exercises . Try to use mainly basic exercises with free and. Don't use too much isolation and exercise equipment. This will allow you to get back in shape faster and significantly increase the effectiveness of training.
• Don't get overwhelmed. In the first 1-2 weeks, try to use minimal weights and a small amount of exercise. Otherwise, severe damage muscle fibers and, as a result, muscle pain will not allow you to work normally in the next workout.

How to quickly expect the result?

How quickly you get back to your previous shape depends on the length of your break (the longer you have not been exercising, the more time it will take to recover and get in shape) and on the regularity and correct subsequent training. As a rule, it takes half the time to set the optimal shape and work with the usual working weights than the duration of the break. That is, if you have not been exercising for a month, then you will need at least 2 weeks to reach your usual level. It is clear that everything depends on the individual characteristics of the body, age, lifestyle and a number of other factors, but these figures can be completely guided.