Maybe it’s the long winter we’re having or maybe I’ve just been in a “Get out of that slump, and by the way where the hell is spring?” kind of mood but I think it’s time to talk about the future by way of the past. To that end, I want to discuss what to expect and what to do after you’ve taken a long (over one month) break from training.
What to expect
No matter what it is you train at, be it a sport, martial art, dance, or any physical activity really, time off is good only in moderate doses. When you’re away for over a month you are going to see some serious changes and a very frustrating discrepancy in “what you remember” versus “what you can actually do.” Your muscles will be weaker, your endurance will be lesser, you will not be as flexible and you motions may feel less fluid and natural.
Don’t be blue
The first and most important thing to remember is that it is far too late to get upset. If you took this training break because you were (1) sick, injured or busy with life than you shouldn’t beat yourself up. Remember sometimes it’s difficult to make time for training and if you took it because you’re (2) lazy then this point still applies: it’s too late. Once the time is lost it isn’t coming back. The important thing is to not let additional time slip away from you so long as you have control over it.
How to proceed
Carefully. Not slowly, but definitely carefully. Your expectations of what you can do have possibly been inflated over time and even if you have a perfect memory of what was it may not be anymore. A problem with downtime is that it’s difficult to take stock of exactly how much things have changed. If you ate a special diet during training and just spent a month as a professional wedding cake eater than your problems are likely to be different than someone who spent 6 months not training, but still eating healthy and taking walks every day.
That is why as you get back into your training you must listen carefully to your body. Begin your training as normal, but pay close attention to how everything feels. If you’re feeling a little tight it’s probably not a good idea to start out with a full split. If you’re feeling a little winded you might not want to plot out a 10k run.
What is most important is to not get discouraged and to keep at it. You will be amazed how quickly you get back into the swing of things with regular effort. Before you know it you’ll feel like you never left!
Remember: All the time you spend feeling bad that you aren’t training is time better spent training.
Now get out there and train!
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