Returning to your former in-shape self can sometimes seem like a daunting task. Knowing how to take the first few steps in this journey can help make it easier and more effective.
Assess your body before getting back.
The first step is to identify any limitations or restrictions that may impact your exercise routine. You may have developed some new injuries or health issues during your abstinence. Do you have a bad back or knees? Do you have a new health condition, such as a cardiovascular issue, that could impact your exercise routine? You’ve seen those legal disclaimers that encourage medical assessment before exercise. This isn’t just for legal protection; it also protects the readers.
A commonly used questionnaire to help determine if you are ready to exercise is the PAR-Q+ (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire) and PARQ-MEDX (Physical Activity Readiness Medical Examination). These questionnaires (available at eparmedx.com) can help you determine if you may have an issue that requires further investigation. You can take the PAR-Q+ online here or the PAR-MEDX online here. Some common conditions that can affect how you choose to get back into exercise include
- previous or current joint injuries
- osteoarthritis
- cardiovascular conditions such as heart problems and high blood pressure, and
- as well as metabolic issues like obesity and diabetes.
This is a brief list, and many other factors can affect your workout approach. Therefore, it is always advisable to consult a medical professional if you have questions or concerns.
Know your limitations.
Although you may feel like a superhero, your fitness level can be significantly different than the last time you exercised. After just two weeks, your body can begin to decline in cardiovascular fitness. Strength can decrease in as little as four weeks. Muscle development typically lags behind strength declines. Noticeable decreases might not occur until after 6-8 weeks or more. Increasing age accelerates this process, with decreases occurring earlier and to a greater magnitude. In addition, a change in health status or a new injury can impose new limitations on what is safe to do and what is not.
Make a realistic schedule.
The keyword here is realistic. A schedule that you know you can follow with minimal interruption is likely to yield the best and fastest results. Can you exercise 3 times a week? 5 times a week? Only once a week? Can you spend an hour or only 20 minutes? You might counter that question about what is best? I could say 7 days a week for 2-3 hours at a time, which would probably end the conversation right there.
It comes down to what is best for you and what you WANT, not what you SHOULD commit to. The clichéd saying, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” is aptly true in this case. For example, committing to walking just 20 minutes twice a week could lead to forming a habit. This might then lead to adding some strength training once or twice a week. Continuing along these lines, you have a routine that continues to build and develop over time.
The habit part is the most essential part of the process, but it doesn’t start until you start. You can always change the methods whenever you want. It’s making and nurturing that habit that is most important and the most challenging.
Have a vision and avoid past deterrents.
Why are you doing this? Why do you want to get back in shape? It may seem like an obvious answer, but everyone will have a different take on it. For example, you may miss the camaraderie that comes with the fitness journey. Or maybe it’s the feeling of setting and achieving a physical challenge. Others may not feel comfortable with their current appearance or self-perception. Remember, the reasons are yours and yours alone, the result of personal reflection on what you want to achieve. No goal is too small or insignificant. The goal is yours and no one else’s. If your goal becomes intrinsic and holds value for you based on how you feel, it is much more likely to become a reality.
Having a goal can help with consistency, but keep it flexible and let it develop freely as you become more active. To take a contrarian point of view, not having a specific goal can also be strangely liberating. This psychological freedom enables you to adopt a new approach to getting back into shape, revealing options you may not have previously considered.
Equally crucial to knowing why you are starting back up is examining why you stopped in the first place. Was it an injury? Did you get bored? Did you dislike it? You might say you don’t know, which could also be a valid point. Often, the latter is a result of a shifting of priorities that reduces your time to spend on yourself. Try to avoid the same scenario that led you to take a hiatus in the first place.
Start slow and make it a habit.
So far, you might be thinking this is short on specifics, and you are right. One thing that has surprised me, having worked with thousands of people over 30 years to achieve their fitness and performance goals, is that it is not so much the specifics of the routine that bring success, but rather consistency. To help reinforce this consistency, it is always smart to start slowly for the first couple of weeks.
A cautious approach makes it more enjoyable and gives a sort of “that’s easy “feeling that enables you to push forward. The benefits that come with under-training those first couple of times far outweigh the risks of over-reaching and the subsequent injuries, forced breaks, and discomfort that can result.
Getting back to a schedule.
Current Canadian recommendations for physical activity recommend 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity along with exercises that strengthen the major muscle groups twice a week ( https://csepguidelines.ca ). That being said, even once a week can make a difference in your fitness level and mental health status. Twice a week yields better results than once a week, and three times a week is moderately better than twice a week. For those seeking optimal amounts, strive to do it four or more times a week if you genuinely enjoy it. In practice, 2-3 times a week is generally the most popular frequency and yields good results when combined with other lifestyle changes, including a balanced diet and regular physical activity.
Choose a well-balanced routine.
Strength train each muscle group once or twice a week using some type of resistance training (weights, elastic bands, callisthenics, etc.). Choose a weight that makes 12 to 15 repetitions difficult. Repeat those reps once or twice more for a total of 2 to 3 sets per exercise.
For cardiovascular fitness, choose an exercise that you can sustain for 15 – 20 minutes or more (sports, run, walk, bike, swim, whatever you prefer) for 2 to 3 times a week. An easy way to make sure you are working at a good intensity is if you can talk to someone, but would rather not because of the need to breathe. Heart rate can be a valuable tool for monitoring intensity, but heart rate responses can vary significantly from person to person. If you choose to use this approach, consider a fitness assessment that yields heart rate training zones. With the current trend in wearables, not all heart rate monitors are created equal, and some wrist-worn models can lose accuracy at higher heart rates.
Stretching and exercises that move you through a full range of motion (flexibility exercises, yoga, pilates, etc.) are always essential to include, but tend to be left out the most. Try to squeeze some flexibility training at the end if you aren’t doing it regularly.
Bottom line for getting back into your best shape.
As trainers, we love to structure and measure exercise load since it makes it easier to predict the results and chart progress. The reality is that at the beginning, overall movement performed a few times a week is an excellent setup for future success.
If you’re planning to get back into shape, make it enjoyable by doing the things you enjoy, trying something new, and changing the things you didn’t do regularly, several times a week, in combination with healthy eating and increased physical activity. Now, go exercise!