If you’ve been exercising at home and avoiding the gym or if you’ve taken a break for any other reason, you’re undoubtedly excited to resume lifting and the gym environment as soon as it’s possible. However, it’s a good idea to have a strategy in place for how you’ll modify your gym routines after a lengthy break before you dash into the building at the crack of dawn on the day it opens. Here are five things to keep in mind which will assist you in adjusting your workouts so that you enjoy them.

1. Start a new fitness routine slowly.
Anyone who is starting to exercise again should prepare to go slowly at first. For instance, trying to lift too much weight quickly can place undue strain on muscles and tendons that haven’t been used in a while. Similar advice applies to starting a lengthy run right away or simply forcing your body to perform a difficult stretch. It’s not a good idea to start a new fitness routine by pushing yourself too hard or too quickly since you run the danger of becoming hurt. To ascertain your level of fitness, start at a lesser intensity. After that, try to retrain your muscles and build up your stamina.

2. Prepare yourself for exercising again.
If you’ve ever exercised, you are aware of the fact that working your muscles to the limit can cause some soreness. But it’s a good sore. Starting a new workout routine may make that sensation a little stronger. Exercises that were once simple could initially seem a little more difficult than you recall. But that’s only a step in the procedure. Don’t lose patience, be tolerant. The more you practice, the simpler it will become. Another thing to be on the lookout for? A broken pride. Try not to think about your previous activities while you scale back your routines during a fitness restart. Instead, concentrate on improving little by little as you go back into your routine. Looking ahead produces more results than looking back.

3. Focus on recovery.
After your first few workouts back, you’ll undoubtedly feel stiff and sore. It might be wise to concentrate more on recovery at this time. Before you hit a muscle group again, leave it at least 3 to 4 days for it to fully recover. Keep in mind that the first few sessions won't require as much volume or stimulus. At the conclusion of every workout, stretch to aid with healing. Also, be careful to hold the stretches for a long time. It’s not optimal to stretch each body component for only five seconds. Hold each stretch for at least 15 to 20 seconds while keeping it comfortable. To speed up the healing process at this point, you might experiment with foam rolling. This could be the ideal moment to establish a successful recovery program if you haven’t done so already.

4. Don’t Worry About the Weights
The most frustrating part of a prolonged break is frequently the inability to perform your previous duties. If you regularly take a week off every three months, you are aware that you might even come back stronger. You’ve given your body some time off and given your body a chance to repair. Yet, if it has been a while since your last visit to the gym, your strength will undoubtedly be lesser than it was. Rest assured that it will return. Moreover, muscle memory will aid in restoring your body’s former shape. Once more, start with lesser weights and pay attention to your form, range of motion, and muscle feeling. Note that even a lesser weight will cause muscle breakdown, especially if it has been a while since you lifted anything.

5. Don’t worry about failure.
At Last, don’t worry about failure. You can eventually resume performing sets till failure (which may not even
be all that important anyway). You shouldn’t overdo it by training to failure because the muscles will already be quite tired from the additional workload. The moment is not right to be concerned with issues like large supersets or drop sets. Keep that for when you’ve hit plateaus and require more attention. Get your form back on track within the first week or two. Work on extending your range of motion. Regain familiarity with the mind-muscle link while paying attention to the muscle you are working.

Conclusion
No matter how long your gym break was, it’s never too late to go back to the gym and start working out again. Don’t dwell on how well you used to do before, just trust the process, keep the above points in mind and start again and you’ll be back in form again. Always Remember It’s Never Too Late to Start Again.

Vidhi Chourasiya