Getting Back Into the Gym? The Only 3 Tips You Need

Have you been able to get back in the gym yet?

Last Thursday was my first day back in the gym in almost three months. And to be honest, I was a little bit nervous.

I routinely take time off from the gym. Usually a few days at the end of a training phase, a full week every 3-4 months, and occasionally, even longer when I may be traveling.

But since I started training consistently almost 8 years ago, even when I had injuries, I’ve never been away from the gym this long.

So I was a little bit nervous about how my body was going to react - simply because of the unknown.

Thankfully, I’ve been taking the time the past few months to prepare my body for this moment. I’ve been working to maximize my sleep and recovery, using yoga to improve mobility and joint integrity, and cleaning up my diet to ensure I’m giving my body the nutrients it needs.

But just because I’ve been optimizing those areas doesn’t mean I could just walk back into the gym and pick up where I left off.

Let me make that very clear: If you’ve been away from the gym for the past few months because of the pandemic, you cannot walk back in and pick up right where you left off.

Now, how you start back in the gym is going to be different for everyone, depending on the style of training you’ve been doing the past few months, the kind of equipment you’ve had access too, and then of course, the factors I mentioned above.

But if you’re used to training in the gym with a variety of exercises and weights, then had that taken away for the past few months, and the most you’ve been able to do is bodyweight exercises - with maybe a few dumbbells to do curls - you need to be very strategic with how you get back in the gym.

Here’s what you want to do the first 2-3 weeks, to help re-acclimate your body to training.

First off, you have to be conscious of volume. When it comes to your body’s ability to repair itself and recover from training, overall volume is going to have the biggest impact.

If you go into the gym day one, and start blasting your body with 15-20 sets per session, you’re very likely going to run yourself into the ground before you even get started.

Similarly, a lot of high rep work right out of the gate is going to build up a lot of metabolic stress and place a greater demand on your recovery as well.

What to do: Cut your overall volume by a third from what you would normally do. Stick with 3-5 exercises per session, for 2-3 sets per exercise (the more movements, the fewer sets per exercise to start), in a moderate rep range of 6-10.

Next, you want to consider training intensity, or how close to mechanical failure you’re pushing yourself.

Ordinarily, in order to properly stimulate the muscles, you want to be training at or near form failure - meaning when you get to the end of a set, you have 0-1 reps left in the tank.

This kind of intensity, however, is not where you want to start when you’re first getting back in the gym - as again, your body isn’t acclimated to it.

What to do: Start light with your weights, and gradually build up each set - but stay 2-3 reps shy of failure for all exercises.

Lastly, you want to consider training frequency, or how many days per week you’re going to be in the gym. Jumping back into daily workouts is absolutely not recommended (now or ever) and even 4-5 days per week may be too much for most people first starting back.

What to do: Start by training in a one day on, one day off fashioned; where you have one training day followed by a full rest day - for a max of three training days your first week. Pay attention to how you feel and how you’re recovering, then in week two bump that up to four training days. In week three, if you’re still feeling good, you can train back to back days. And continue until you’re back up to 4-5 days per week.

A few other things to keep in mind as well…

- Avoid the use of intensifiers in the first month. So ditch the drop sets, partial reps, rest-pause sets, super slow eccentrics, or long pauses.

- Focus on maximizing movement quality by moving the weight in a slow, controlled manner, and making your main goal to really flex through the entirety of each rep - so you can really feel your muscles stretch and contract; while helping take the stress off your joints.

This is how I’m going to be training the next few weeks. It’s not really the way I want to be training, but it’s the way my body needs to be trained right now - so I can get back to training the way I really love.

How about you? How does your training look as you’re getting back into the gym?

Do you have a plan? If not, there’s no time where you would benefit more from having the guidance and accountability of a professional than now - to help you make sure that you getting back in the gym goes exactly the way you want it to.

The biggest mistake people make is they look at training in isolation. They look at their diet in isolation. They look at their fitness as something independent of the rest of their lives. But nothing could be further from the truth.

If your plan isn’t set up to help you succeed today, and to help you succeed a month, year, or decade from now, you’re not going to get the results you want.

If you’re not taking into account important factors like recovery, recent training history, nutrition, sleep, and more, you’re not going to get the results you want.

Take it from someone who spent years making all those mistakes, and didn’t get the results he wanted.

If you want a plan built around you and your life, with the accountability to help you carry out that plan, so you can get in the best shape of your life for the rest of your life, then there’s no better time than now to get that.

Fill out the form below and we’ll talk more about what your plan looks like.

Apply for Coaching.

Talk soon,

Jorden