Life After Lockdown - Top Tips For Making A Return To Training

With a little bit of luck this will be our final lockdown and we can get right back into proper gym based training once and for all.

You will be shocked at how quickly you can get back to full strength and fitness once you are back into things. Here's some top tips for how to do it!

Have a plan and execute it

This is key as it will give you a clear focus to your efforts and in turn help provide you with confidence and motivation.

Any good plan will have sensible progression built in and ultimately allow you to get back to full fitness as fast as possible with minimal risk of injury.

To get help finding the right approach for you, have a read of our Personal Training Glasgow and Bootcamp Glasgow pages.

Prioritise recovery

If you haven't trained much over lockdown or have been training in a very different way from what you would in the gym, there's a good chance you are going to be experiencing a lot of muscle soreness when you make your return.

To help minimise the impact of this and maximise the benefit you get from your training, we recommend that you pay close attention to the following factors:

🔹Try to get sufficient sleep - general recommendations for good quality sleep fall in the 7-8 hours per night range. This is sometimes easier said than done depending on your schedule and life circumstances, regular naps can help if you struggle to get enough sleep.

🔹Get a good structure in place for your nutrition - aligned to your goals whatever they may be and perhaps most importantly, a structure that you can regularly adhere to.

🔹Make some time for mobility work - this doesn't need to be a big time commitment, 10 to 15 minutes per day or every other day can make a good difference. Fit it in where you can.

🔹Consider getting massages to aid recovery - or similar modalities that may help you recover faster.

Start light and progress sensibly

This is perhaps the most important element of all. There's a strong chance your training has been very different during lockdown or perhaps you haven't trained for quite some time. Essentially, this will mean that your body will be desensitised to your normal training and thus you won't be able to lift as heavy as before, your body won't be able to tolerate the same amount of volume and a lot of muscle soreness awaits.

In light of this we recommend you:

🔹Start back light - 50-60% of max is a good guidelines for big lifts.

🔹Use less volume - think 2 sets instead of 3, less total exercises per training sessions or training 3 days instead of 4 at first.

🔹Progress in small increments - examples include adding a little weight each week, adding in additional sets or reps or adding in an additional training day as you build back up.

Be patient, small jumps will add up to big progress in time. Have fun and enjoy being back in the gym training!

Become a part of our Glasgow Bootcamp

If you want to hit the ground running and get the most out of your return to training, take a look at our Bootcamp Glasgow page and Drop Us A Message to get involved!