How to Get Back into Shape After Inactivity

How to Get Back into Shape After Inactivity

No matter how fit you are or how much you exercise, there are often times when you don’t go to the gym or workout. It might be because of an injury or perhaps the holidays have come around, and you have been sitting on the couch for a couple of weeks. Whatever the reason, it can be hard to get back up and into the swing of things again. Here are some tips to getting you back in shape.

Don’t Be Too Hard on Yourself

An important part of getting back into the habit of working out is not to be hard on yourself for stopping. If you are too engrossed in guilt, it might stop you from ever getting back to the gym. You just need to think to yourself that everyone falls off the horse sometimes, but it shows determination to get back to it and stick to it. Another thing to consider is how good you will feel when you get back in training.

Evaluate Your Condition

After you have decided to go back to the workouts, you should evaluate what shape you are in now. If your period of inactivity was less than three months, then chances are you haven’t lost much in the way of muscle mass. Even if you have been away from the gym for a year or so, there is no need to worry, studies have shown that when you get back into the gym, your strength and muscle mass can return quite quickly. Scientists recently found that the nuclei of the muscle remain intact even when there is no activity.  Make sure you choose some ethically sourced gym gear to match your goals as looking good also helps a little towards feeling good!

Weight Gain

If you have been slipping with your diet, then you may find that your weight has gone up when you get back to training. It is perfectly normal for this to happen, but the chances are it won’t all be fat. It will mostly be fluid that has been retained by the body, so when you go back to healthy eating and exercise, it should fall off quite quickly. To get a better idea of your actual weight, you should spend a week on a moderate calorific diet of about 20%. After that, you can reweight yourself, and this should be a correct reading.   

Set Yourself a Goal and a To-Do List

The last step is to create yourself a list of the things you need to do to get back in shape. The important thing to remember is to get back into it slowly if you start too fast all that will happen is you will hurt yourself and spend more time on the sidelines. There are sites that can help you with getting back into shape slowly such as mobilityguardian.com.

It doesn’t matter whether you have been out of the gym for a few weeks or years, you can quickly get back into the routine and start to get back into shape. Pretty soon, you won’t even feel like you stopped.