Return to Exercise after a Break
There are plenty of benefits on physical and mental health associated with consistent exercise - you feel more energised, confident, manage stress more effectively, and it improves mood and sleep. However, responsibilities and other aspects of life sometimes just get in the way.
You may have managed to keep up a good exercise routine for a few months - weight training twice a week and running every other day for instance. You may have not been able to juggle your responsibilities, routines, leisure time and health due to several reasons. This could be because you started a new job, had a baby, decreased motivation over lockdown etc. Whatever it is, we have all been there. And we at Exercise Thought want to help you get back into exercise, the safe way.
To effectively get back into it, here are some things you should be mindful of when returning to exercise after a break:
Set Expectations
While it can be discouraging to notice that you may have fallen back on your performance, it is really important that you take things slow as you get back into exercise. To prevent injury and promote long-term consistency, you need to ease back into it and allow your body to get used to it.
Some good news ..
All that hard work you put in, in the past, will help you get fit again faster! Exercise makes near permanent changes to your muscles that allow you to regain lost fitness and muscle mass much quicker than when you first put it on (Conceição et al., 2018). This is due to changes at the cellular level in the muscles and the brain.
Your brain has what we call procedural memory which allows us to remember how to perform coordinated tasks with our body such as riding a bike (Mochizuki-Kawai, 2008). Your muscle biology allows you to quickly improve cardiovascular and make hypertrophy gains if you have had them in the past (Conceicao et al., 2018). This applies to all tasks so if you're worried you will have forgotten your deadlift technique, dance moves or where your arms go when you're swimming, your brain remembers more than you would have thought.
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)
DOMS is the soreness we feel in our muscles after intense exercise. This is a response of the muscles to a load that is new or unaccustomed to (such as a break from the gym). DOMS happen 24-48 hours after the activity, and subsides in 96 hours (Connoly et al., 2003).
Predominantly due to eccentric exercise, it is believed to be due to temporary muscle damage and inflammation. During this time, you may experience decreased flexibility and strength of your affected muscles.
DOMS is a positive sign! It means that you worked those muscles hard, and after this period of discomfort, they are going to heal and become stronger than ever!
The last thing you may feel like doing whilst experiencing DOMS is to move. However, light exercise has actually been shown to alleviate DOMS. Massage within 2 hours of the activity may also reduce DOMS-related stiffness and pain (Zainuddin et al., 2005; Guo et al., 2017).
Don’t let the ache discourage you. The more you exercise, the stronger you will become. Just remember: your muscles need to be challenged to grow stronger. The soreness is also likely to decrease following subsequent exercise sessions, as the exercises become more familiar to you.
Note: Make sure that the pain you are experiencing is indeed DOMS, and not a different type of pain. DOMS should feel ache-y in your muscles. What it shouldn’t feel like is sharp pain, tingling and/or numbness. Consult a physiotherapist or an accredited health professional if in doubt.
Listen to your body
You should listen to what your body can tolerate. This is because we want to be mindful that there is a slightly increased chance of injury at the initial phase of getting back into training.
Tendons (the tissue which connects your muscles to your bones), like muscle, get stronger with load. However, the strengthening process is longer compared to muscles (Galloway et al., 2013). This in combination with that muscle memory we talked about earlier means it can be pretty easy to overdo it by accident.
Other parts of our body can feel the strain if we increase our exercise too quickly, and cause problems such as muscle strain or back pain.
Summary: How can I return to exercise safely?
Have a good warm up before exercising
Start with a short low intensity session that is less than you used to do
For example if you used to run 3km, Do an alternating 500m run 500m walk for 2km
Listens to how your body feels after the session
Give yourself lots of time to recover;
Relax, eat well, sleep well and spend time with friends and family
Slowly increase your exercise load/duration over the next few weeks
To close off – after a period of extended break, there is no rush to get straight back into your old routine. That will allow your physical and mental body to grow accustomed to the exercise again, thus reducing potential for injury.
So take it easy. Pace yourself. Enjoy the process. The last thing you want is an injury to hold you back just as you are getting back into keeping fit and healthy!
If you feel you would benefit from a bit more guidance in returning to sport and exercise, you are always welcome to see the team at Exercise Thought!
By Bernice, Michael and Omer, physiotherapy students at Exercise Thought
References
Conceição, M. S., Vechin, F. C., Lixandrão, M., Damas, F., Libardi, C. A., Tricoli, V., Roschel, H., Camera, D., & Ugrinowitsch, C. (2018). Muscle Fiber Hypertrophy and Myonuclei Addition: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 50(7), 1385–1393. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000001593
Connolly, D. A., Sayers, S. P., & McHugh, M. P. (2003). Treatment and prevention of delayed onset muscle soreness. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 17(1), 197–208. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Malachy-Mchugh/publication/284796031_Treatment_and_Prevention_of_Delayed_Onset_Muscle_Soreness/links/5a316e810f7e9b2a2855c229/Treatment-and-Prevention-of-Delayed-Onset-Muscle-Soreness.pdf
Galloway MT, Lalley AL, Shearn JT. The role of mechanical loading in tendon development, maintenance, injury, and repair. The Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume. 2013 Sep 4;95(17):1620-1628.
Guo, J., Li, L., Gong, Y., Zhu, R., Xu, J., Zou, J., & Chen, X. (2017). Massage Alleviates Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness after Strenuous Exercise: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in physiology, 8, 747. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2017.00747
Mochizuki-Kawai, H. (2008). Neural basis of procedural memory. Brain and nerve= Shinkei kenkyu no shinpo, 60(7), 825-832.
Zainuddin, Z., Newton, M., Sacco, P., & Nosaka, K. (2005). Effects of massage on delayed-onset muscle soreness, swelling, and recovery of muscle function. Journal of athletic training, 40(3), 174–180.