Life can be full of surprises. It can be welcoming at the same time shocking. For someone who has been consistent with their diet and workout routines, an unwelcome break is actually quite frustrating. It really takes time to re-build the lost momentum.
But, there’s nothing to panic, that’s how life is, and you ought to get back after a break. When we discuss break, it simply means – ‘total break’, where you haven’t really been able to do even basic body weight workouts.
There can be several reasons for the training break. It can be due to an injury, where you have to come back through a planned rehab. For e.g. if you had a shoulder or knee injury, or may have undergone a surgery too. Here, it’s only after a proper rehab through physiotherapy, that you should plan to join the gym.
For other reasons, like a medical, financial, business etc. emergency with self or in the family, one can resume the training straight away by getting back to the gym or regular endurance.
But in both the cases the process to restart structured strength training workouts, should be more or less similar. Let’s see how to really make the process better and smoother:
- The first thing which you will experience after you get back to a workout after a break is a lot of soreness. DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) happens due to a new stimulus of exercise, like a new exercise pattern, higher intensity, eccentric movements etc. When you start a strength training routine after a long break, it’s like a new stimulus for the body.
To prevent it the first advice is to ‘Go Slow’. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your muscle memory will do the rest of the job, but to avoid extreme soreness, start with a full body workout alternate days a week. Try for 3 times a week for the first week. Add your endurance sessions on other days. if you want to be more consistent.
Remember, the intensity, volume and frequency, all have to be lower to start with. Avoid going over 40-50% 1RM in the first week, progressing to 60-70% in the second week, and moving to 80% by the 3rd.
Keep the rep range a bit higher (15,12,10) for the first week, reducing them acc. to increased weights in the 2nd & 3rd week.
Don’t even think of training to failure in any exercise, for at least 3 weeks. Also, take adequate rest between sets.
When it comes to lifts, focus on major compound lifts which will help engage most of the muscle mass and not target any specific muscle as such.
2. The second reason why you should be going slow for the initial weeks is added fatigue. As you start your workouts, you will be more tired physically, due to an added stress after a period of no physical activity.
This will result in the body demanding more sleep. Please take adequate sleep or it would be hard to recover properly, and more importantly – progress efficiently.
3. The next is of course ‘the Diet’. One has to be careful here, especially if you have gained excess body fat and kilos.
Don’t drastically cut down on your calories. This is a classic mistake a lot of people do. There are two issues with this. First, you have come back after a break and it’s not easy to suddenly balance a low calorie diet, structured workouts and other aspects of your life, all in one go. Aim should be to be more consistent.
The second, issue is that, when you start your workout, your body is trying to regain its strength and lost muscle mass, and you will need energy to not just sustain, but progress in your workouts. Cutting back too much on calories, will result in low energy not just during the workout, but also lack of energy during the day.
It’s better to cut your calories by 100-300 calories to begin with, and then sustain it for some time. Make sure your protein intake is adequate to support the progressive strength workouts.
FULL BODY WORKOUT ROUTINE
3+2 DAYS/WEEK
TOTAL – 3 WEEKS
WEEK – 1 & 2
DAY 1
| SEQUENCE | EXERCISE | SETS | REPS | TEMPO | REST BETWEEN SETS | MUSCLES USED | NOTES |
| A | GOBLET SQUATS | 03 | 15, 12, 10 | 2011 | 60-90 sec | LEGS | Progressively increase the weight in every set |
| B | INCLINE DUMBBELL PRESS | 03 | 15, 12, 10 | 3010 | 60-90 sec | CHEST | Progressively increase the weight in every set |
| C | NEUTRAL GRIP LAT PULLDOWN | 03 | 15, 12, 10 | 2011 | 60-90 sec | BACK | Progressively increase the weight |
| D | LYING LEG CURL (TOES NEUTRAL) | 03 | 10, 10, 10 | 3010 | 60-90 sec | HAMSTRING | Progressively increase the weight |
| E | STANDING CALF RAISES | 03 | 12, 12, 12 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | CALVES | Progressively increase the weight. Last set should be heaviest. |
| F | DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISES | 03 | 10, 10, 10 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | SHOULDERS | Keep the weight constant in all sets. Don’t go very heavy on lateral raises |
DAY 2 – ENDURANCE WORKOUT – 30 min of your favourite routine. Don’t push it hard, but you should be sweating and a little out of breath.
DAY 3
| SEQUENCE | EXERCISE | SETS | REPS | TEMPO | REST BETWEEN SETS | MUSCLES USED | NOTES |
| A | LEG PRESS | 03 | 15, 12, 10, 10 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | LEGS | Progressively increase the weight in every set |
| B | BENT OVER BOTH HANDS CABLE ROW (REVERSE GRIP) | 03 | 12, 10, 10 | 3010 | 60-90 sec | BACK | Progressively increase the weight in every set |
| C | STIFF LEG DEADLIFT | 03 | 10, 10, 10 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | HAMSTRING | Progressively increase the weight |
| D | BARBELL BENCH PRESS | 03 | 15, 12, 10 | 3010 | 60-90 sec | CHEST | Progressively increase the weight |
| E | DUMBBELL SHRUGS | 03 | 10, 10, 10 | 2011 | 60-90 sec | TRAPS | Progressively increase the weight |
| F | SEATED DUMBBELL PRESS | 03 | 12, 10, 10 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | SHOULDER | Keep the weight constant in all sets. |
DAY 4 – ENDURANCE WORKOUT – 30 min of your favourite routine. Don’t push it hard, but you should be sweating and a little out of breath.
DAY 5
| SEQUENCE | EXERCISE | SETS | REPS | TEMPO | REST BETWEEN SETS | MUSCLES USED | NOTES |
| A | DUMBBELL SUMO SQUATS | 04 | 12, 10, 10, 10 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | LEGS | Progressively increase the weight in every set |
| B | STIFF LEG DEADLIFT | 04 | 12, 10, 8, 8 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | HAMSTRING | Progressively increase the weight in every set |
| C | BARBELL HIP THRUST | 03 | 12, 12, 12 | 1011 | 60-90 sec | GLUTES | Progressively increase the weight in every set |
| D | SEATED DUMBBELL HAMMER PRESS | 03 | 10, 10, 10 | 2011 | 60-90 sec | SHOULDERS | Progressively increase the weight |
| E | HAMMER GRIP INCLINE DUMBBELL PRESS | 03 | 12, 10, 10 | 3010 | 60-90 sec | CHEST | Progressively increase the weight |
| F | NEUTRAL GRIP LAT PULLDOWN | 03 | 12, 10, 10 | 2010 | 90-120 sec | BACK | Progressively increase the weight. |
WEEK – 3 & 4 (optional)
DAY 1
| SEQUENCE | EXERCISE | SETS | REPS | TEMPO | REST BETWEEN SETS | MUSCLES USED | NOTES |
| A | INCLINE DUMBBELL PRESS | 03 | 12, 10, 10 | 3010 | 60-90 sec | CHEST | Progressively increase the weight in every set |
| B | BENT OVER BARBELL ROW (SUPINATED GRIP) | 03 | 12, 10, 10 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | BACK | Progressively increase the weight in every set |
| C | DUMBBELL CYCLING SQUATS | 04 | 10, 10, 10, 10 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | LEGS | Progressively increase the weight in every set |
| D | LYING LEG CURL (TOES PUSHED OUT) | 03 | 10, 10, 10 | 3010 | 60-90 sec | HAMSTRING | Progressively increase the weight |
| E | STANDING CALF RAISE | 03 | 12, 12, 12 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | CALVES | Progressively increase the weight. Last set should be heaviest. |
| F | MILITARY PRESS | 03 | 12, 10, 10 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | SHOULDERS | Progressively increase the weight. |
DAY 2 – ENDURANCE WORKOUT
DAY 3
| SEQUENCE | EXERCISE | SETS | REPS | TEMPO | REST BETWEEN SETS | MUSCLES USED | NOTES |
| A | CLOSE GRIP SMITH MACHINE BENCH PRESS | 04 | 12, 10, 10, 10 | 3010 | 60-90 sec | CHEST | Progressively increase the weight in every set |
| B | SINGLE ARM DUMBBELL ROW (NEUTRAL GRIP – FLAT BENCH) | 03 | 10/ARM/SET | 2010 | 60-90 sec | BACK | Progressively increase the weight in every set |
| C | GOBLET SUMO SQUATS | 03 | 12, 12, 12 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | LEGS | Progressively increase the weight |
| D | LYING LEG CURLS (TOES PULLED IN) | 03 | 10, 10, 10 | 2011 | 60-90 sec | HAMSTRING | Progressively increase the weight |
| E | DUMBBELL SHRUGS | 03 | 10, 10, 10 | 2011 | 60-90 sec | TRAPS | Progressively increase the weight |
| F | INCLINE BENCH PRONATED DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISE | 03 | 10, 10, 10 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | SHOULDERS | Keep the weight constant in all sets. Don’t go very heavy in lateral raises |
| G | SMITH MACHINE CALF RAISE | 03 | 12, 12, 12 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | CALVES | Choose a moderately heavy weight, but keep the weight constant in all sets. |
DAY 4 – ENDURANCE WORKOUT – 45 min of your favourite routine. Push it harder than first two weeks. You should be sweating and panting.
DAY 5
| SEQUENCE | EXERCISE | SETS | REPS | TEMPO | REST BETWEEN SETS | MUSCLES USED | NOTES |
| A | DUMBBELL SPLIT SQUATS | 04 | 10/LEG – TOTAL 20 REPS/SET | 2010 | 60-90 sec | LEGS | Progressively increase the weight in every set. |
| B | LYING LEG CURLS | 03 | 12, 12, 12 | 2010 | 60-90 sec | HAMSTRING | Progressively increase the weight in every set |
| C | DECLINE BENCH DUMBBELL PULLOVERS | 03 | 10, 10, 10 | 2110 | 60-90 sec | BACK & CHEST | Keep the weight moderately heavy but constant. Don’t go very heavy in pullovers. |
| D | SEATED DUMBBELL HAMMER PRESS | 03 | 10, 10, 10 | 2011 | 60-90 sec | SHOULDERS | Progressively increase the weight |
| E | DUMBBELL BENCH PRESS | 04 | 12, 10, 10 | 3010 | 60-90 sec | CHEST | Progressively increase the weight |
| F | T-BAR ROW | 03 | 12, 10, 10 | – | 90-120 sec | BACK | Progressively increase the weight. |