The Detrained Athlete (hey, that’s all of us at some point)

We all go through plenty of different seasons in our lives which means our priorities, our diets, and our daily movements change among other things. I’m here to tell you that this is completely normal. I don’t know one person who has had the same amount of time at the same time of day, every week to exercise. And since this is a time we aren’t used to exercising, maybe our bodies or brains just aren’t ready for the type of training we have grown so accustomed to. How do we handle this??

If you’ve been so busy that training has been pushed to the side, take a deep breath and listen to your body. Are you tight? Maybe you’re sore, fatigued, or you feel weak? Remember what you used to do for your warmups? Start there. Begin your days, whenever possible, with a lightweight, high rep warmup. Since we’re fresh to the game, we will not be going to failure. Keep at least 5 reps in the tank for these “warmup” type exercises. Once you start to feel more comfortable, you can lessen the number of reps in the tank to 4, then 3, then keep it for a while at 2. BUT - if it’s been a really long time since you’ve trained, keep it at five for at least 3-6 weeks.

We’re slowly rebuilding ourselves. There will be muscle memory and muscle growth in a very short amount of time but this doesn’t give you the green light to jump straight back into your old training days. It’s been a minute, so give your tendons, ligaments, and bones time to reheal these new accommodations. Plus, it takes tendons and ligaments much longer to heal than muscles and we do not want to set ourselves further back than we already are. Even just one week of a deload or vacation takes time to come back from.

For a more in-depth explanation with a few examples, here’s the video for you. Shoot me a message if you have any questions. Detrained Athlete or Beginner Programming