Taking time off from your training happens. Injury, burnout, life, work, stress, travel – Whatever the reason, getting back into the gym can feel harder mentally than physically. We’ve been there. It sucks, and it’s hard to get back into it, but these tips should help.
How to Find the Motivation to Workout Again?
Yes, there are actually studies on motivation and exercise behavior, and they show a few consistent patterns: motivation is fleeting and what actually builds consistent workouts is intrinsic motivation and consistency.
According to your body, there’s a big difference between starting a new routine and sticking with it. Starting a new routine or program relies on motivation: the motivation to get strong, be healthy, or look like that person on Instagram. But habit formation is another story.
Research has found that one of the biggest predictors for adherence is when a behavior is driven by personal values, enjoyment, and identity. That’s why it’s important to like whatever exercise you are doing. Another predictor for adherence is past behavior. If you’ve been off the bandwagon for a couple of weeks or months, but you’ve been athletic and drawn to working out your entire life, chances are you’ll find your rhythm again.
A great cheat code for motivation in general is context. You can easily elicit motivation from loving where you work out, having a great playlist, and working out with a buddy or group. Inversely, context can create friction with motivation. Trying to work out after a hard day, thinking you need to punish yourself with workouts, and doing something you honestly don’t like (i.e. running on a treadmill) can actively derail any gym habits you’re trying to build.
How to Get Back Into Working Out After a Long Break
Taking time off from working out is just a part of life. Whether you’re experiencing burnout, depression, a huge life change, injury, etc., it’s understandable if you need to let go of your fitness routine for a little bit. However, when you’re ready to get back into it, most of the obstacles you’ll encounter are mental obstacles. That’s why our #1 piece of advice is to leave your self-judgment at the door.
Check Your Ego (You Won’t Be As Strong & That’s Okay)
Even if you’ve taken two weeks off, you might have a little judgment over how weak you feel. However, self-judgment isn’t going to help anything. You need to accept and recognize that you are not going to have the strength you used to have – YET. Strength does, in fact, come back quickly, but you need to take the time for your body to acclimate again. Just because you used to deadlift over 300 lbs does not mean you’ll be walking into the gym and loading up 6 plates. The first step is to recognize and accept this.
Start With Less Than You Think
In strength training, a little bit goes a long way. If you’re starting after a long break, you might not be able to (and should not, to minimize injury risk) train at the volume you were doing before you stopped training.
The optimal volume per muscle group is 10-30 sets per week. Start around 10 sets per week per muscle group. You’ll have plenty of time to increase volume and intensity as you start to settle into your routine again, and you might even be surprised by how quickly your body will adapt, and you’ll get back to the same volume as before. In the meantime, starting slow will spark muscle growth if you haven’t been doing anything. An example of this is starting with 1-2 full body workouts per week and 2 sets of everything. Increase to 3 sets after 3-4 weeks or your first completed mesocycle back.
Another piece of advice is to focus on movement outside of the workouts. Walk more, engage in daily activities, and incorporate more general movement into your day.
It’s common to add cardio and strength training all at once after you’ve been off the wagon. We understand the desperation to start moving again, however, this can lead to a chronic cardio state and potential burnout. In short, adding everything in all at once is not ideal for longevity and can impact your rest and recovery. In fact, most people that are strength training add cardio into their routine through hiking or walking – not the kind of cardio you think you need to kill yourself doing. You can always start walking immediately. But If you do want to add moderate to high intensity cardio in, make sure you’re consistent with your strength training first.
Prioritize Consistency Over Intensity
Another strategy is to start with very short, frequent movement sessions at 10-15 minutes per day, which would be around 3 movements. This can be very effective. You can just do one move per day if you wanted to, which would equate to one workout a week.
The best part about going slow is that it builds consistency right away and it’s not daunting. Everyone can find 10 minutes per day to move.
If you have the means, hiring a trainer is the best way to build consistency, and they can guide your fitness journey without any guesswork. Research shows that when you’re paying for a trainer, you are more likely to show up consistently.
Expect Delayed Soreness & Fatigue
Anytime your body experiences a change in stimulus, you’re going to feel sore. It will feel rough for a week or two, but the more you can ease in, the more you can mitigate intense soreness.
Use RPE, Not Percentages
Choose the right weight when you’re returning by RPE (rate of perceived exertion). If you’re returning to your routine, you’ll want to start with an RPE of 6 out of 10, which means you have 4 reps in the tank after a set. This ensures you’re creating enough stimulus to progress without sacrificing recovery and joint health.
Volume Over Intensity As Your Increasing
When returning to training, it can be helpful to prioritize gradual increases in volume week to week. Volume is simply sets × reps × weight, so there are multiple ways to progress before adding load.
In many cases, building up sets and reps before adding more weight allows you to accumulate more quality work while reinforcing good movement patterns. This approach tends to support progress and reduce unnecessary strain, rather than jumping to heavier weights too quickly in the first few weeks.
Proper Recovery is Vital
Proper recovery means taking your time getting back into working out, eating enough protein, hydrating, getting enough sleep, and getting your steps in. If you go too hard right away, you risk not being able to properly recover, which can impact your consistency and longevity.
Simple Workout Routine for Working Out After a Long Break
Here’s a simple routine you can do 1-2 times a week for 4 weeks. You can also break it up to one move per day. Try each with 2 sets, 8-10 reps at an RPE of 6. Planks should be 3 sets of one 20-30 second rep.
Goblet Squat
Split Squat
Romanian Deadlift
Shoulder Press
Single-Arm Row
Plank
Listen To Your Body & Don’t Be Strict
Sometimes people project their body shame or how they want to look into their fitness routine, especially when they are starting fresh with a new routine. Remember, movement is medicine and it needs to work with your lifestyle. Coming back to your routine with the intention of making it stick this time is all about listening to your body rather than being super strict about your program. That time will come, but you need to get through the acclimation phase first. Be patient and enjoy this process that feels a bit like “starting again”. Even if the first few workouts feel hard, you’ll be back to your previous strength surprisingly quickly if you’re managing recovery right.
Want to learn more about getting back into working out after a long break? Listen to Episode 270 of the Stronger Than Your Boyfriend Podcast: How to Get Back Into Training After a Long Break
