First Training After a Long Pause

Usually, there are two main reasons for ceasing workouts, and both of them are very common among bodybuilders. The first situation is when bodybuilders take a planned pause, while in the second case is about forced breaks. Almost all people who train in the gym voluntarily take a pause at least once in half year, and switch to some recreational activities or do not train at all. What kind of activity bodybuilder do within rest time deeply depends on the training goals and specific characteristics of each body.

In the second case, there also can be many reasons for taking a forced break: changes in the daily life, urgent trip or in the worst cases injuries. This is the most unpleasant situation for each bodybuilder. That’s why when working hard in the gym you do not only look to big muscles mass but also pay a big attention to stay free of any injury. As such a misfortune can throw you back with many weeks of work.

In this article, we will talk about how to return to training after a long pause, what happens with your body during it and how to come back to previous results and strength. Also, you will understand why a long break is dangerous for your body, and what is the best duration of a planned break.

The planned break is taken once in six months and is no longer than two weeks. Ir, you can opt for once a year pause for a duration of one month or even more. The more training experience bodybuilder has and the bigger load he worked with during it training, the larger is the depreciation of body systems involved in the process.

These systems primarily include musculoskeletal muscles, cardiovascular system, nervous system, and indeed the entire body gets a big load. That why even in case of very well elaborated exercises program bodybuilder’s body need periodic rest.

Must Read: How to Set up Your Own Bodybuilding Training Program

There are many specialists who recommend taking during the rest some recovery drugs. For example for an reconstruction of ligaments and cartilage should be taken some special drugs. Also, the decision about doing some other kind of sports activities is greatly influenced by the body stage of the bodybuilder when the pause occurs.

So, if before the break bodybuilder received sufficient load and microtraumas than during the pause is recommended do not perform any exercises. But if your body doesn’t receive enough load before the break, then you will have to include in your rest some extra activities. A great option could be swimming or jogging, they are perfect for keeping overall tonus of the body.

Once the rest time gets to the end, you have to begin to initiate your body to bodybuilding workouts. Usually, the accommodation to new rithm takes about three weeks, and you will have to be careful to workout intensity.

The best will be, begin with, a bracing workout, which main goals are to get your body off from pause stage. Even you may think that after a pause your body has new forces even greater than those before the break, it is a big mistake to do high-intensity workout based on this belief. This is absolutely wrong and may cause you serious injuries, that you will sorry all your life.

Regardless of your experience as bodybuilders, during accommodation stage, you have to work for all your muscles group during each workout. Do not be overzealous and do a workout each day. Limit your to three workouts per week during first three-four months.

Try to include in your workout sets for each group muscles, focusing on developing muscular endurance. For this choice to begin with a big number of sets with the smallest weight. During the next workout decrease the number of sets and increase weights. After 20-25 days of such training, your body is ready for workouts before the break.

If you were forced to take a break because of getting sick, then the specifics of first training after this is similar to those described above. Avoid training while you are sick, regardless it is cold, flu or allergies. Your body immunity is already affected, and you risk to get it exhausted at all. Along with this, you risk to get injured or exacerbation of your disease.

The most difficult is body restore after an injury. In this case, training of the zone which was injured has to be done with minimal weights. Never begin a workout without advising your doctor, even this is a restore training. You risk to worsen your situation and do not recover fully after even a long time.

We know that after a break, our bodies are more likely to get injured. What happens in our bodies during this period is a detail every bodybuilder have to know. Why so? Because namely this knowledge will help you understand how to help your body to get back to previous workout rhythm and will keep you safe.

So, here are the most important changes that happen in our bodies during a break:

-Occurs muscles atrophy. It means a decrease of muscle mass of the muscles.
-Vital organs such as lungs, heart or circulatory system dishabituated from being under high pressure. After the break, you will get exhausted more quickly than before and will require more time for recovery.
- Joints and ligaments get less elastic. This means that weights you used to work with may cause serious injuries after the break. So, you need to begin with smaller weights to keep your joints and ligaments safe.
-You have less energy or even no when you come to the gym. Also, can be observed a less willingness for training.

All these effects have to be considered by each bodybuilder, for making the training after a long pause a successful one.

So, let’s summarize here how the first workout in the gym should look:

-Begin with warm up and do your cardio exercises about 15 minutes. If usually, cardio training takes about 5-10 minutes, then, in this case, it should be a bit longer. If you begin to swell, it means that you reach the goal of cardio training.

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-Try to work with all muscles group during one workout. Use for this small weights. Chose exercises designed for increasing muscle endurance.
-Begin with a big number of sets and small weights during the first workout. During the next workout decrease the number of sets and increase weights.
- Drink enough fluids. Before, during and after workouts make sure your water intake is sufficient for ensuring a good body hydration.
- The first workout after a break should not be longer than 20 minutes. Follow this tips for keeping you safe and give your body the chance to recover faster. You have a long time ahead for longer workouts!
-Listen to your body! If you feel weak, then you have to slow down and to complete the training.

This is the specifics of the first workout after a rest. Generally, the main thing you have to keep in mind when it comes to training after a break is to start with recovery workout which length should be about four to six weeks. Along with recovery workout, you have to come back to your protein and carbohydrate-rich diet.

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Do not be afraid that you will not get previous results. Our muscles have muscle memory, and due to this to restore previous results is not as difficult as it may seem.