How to Gain Back Fitness After a Long Break

In this article:

• Reasons for taking a long break from activity can include surgery, severe illness, injury, weather, and lack of motivation.
• It’s normal to lose fitness with a long break, but when you’re ready to come back, it’s possible to regain fitness.
• Check with your healthcare provider to get the go-ahead for your planned exercise. 
• Start short and slow, and only increase duration and intensity gradually. Listen to your body, and modify your workout or take days off when needed.
• Lark can help you track your progress and stay motivated. Lark is available 24/7 for personalized coaching to help you reach your weight loss and health management goals.

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Physical activity has all kinds of benefits for weight management and both physical and mental health, but sometimes long breaks can happen. Thankfully, being more active and gaining fitness back is possible. Here are some tips on where to start, how to progress, and ways to support your comeback so it's as easy and effective as possible. Remember to check with your healthcare provider before starting or resuming an exercise routine to make sure you're cleared for the activities you're planning. 

When It's Time to Come Back

If you've been inactive for a while, it's almost certainly time to get moving again! Surgery, a long-lasting illness, and injuries are common reasons for taking time off or modifying activities. Ask your healthcare provider when you can resume exercise and whether you have any restrictions on the intensity or type of activity. 

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Seasonal weather can also interfere with physical activity, but it can be time to get back to your regular schedule when cooler fall weather arrives. It's tougher to exercise in extreme heat, such as is common in summertime. You may also find that you change your activities during the summer and are not in shape to dive back into your regular activities. For example, if you swam a lot but didn't hike during the summer, it's important to get back into hiking slowly. 

Set a Realistic Starting Point

It’s critical to remember that you're not in the same shape you were when you were exercising regularly. It’s normal to lose fitness when you stop or reduce your activity level. Your cardiovascular endurance may have decreased. The muscles you used to use regularly for the exercises you used to do may not be as strong. It can be frustrating to feel as though it’s impossible to complete a workout that you used to do easily, say, a 2-mile jog or a 45-minute hike.

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Adopt a more helpful thinking pattern to be able to move forward. Here’s what you can do.

• Acknowledge that you had a lapse in physical activity. “I lost some fitness because I stopped exercising.” 
• Accept where you are. “I’m not in the shape I was before. The workouts I used to do routinely seem impossible.”
• Identify what motivates you. “I felt better when I was exercising regularly. It was hard being injured, and now I’m out of the habit. I will feel proud and less anxious once I start up again. I’ll sleep better, too.”
• State what you’re ready to do. “I’m ready to get back to being physically active. I can at least walk for a few minutes.”

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Accepting your current situation lets you prepare to move forward. 

Best Activities for a Return to Exercise

For many people, walking is a good choice when starting to become physically active again. If you’re ambulatory, you do at least some walking each day, even if it’s just around the home or at work. Build on the small amount of walking you already do by adding a minute or two at a time. 

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Low-impact activities are easier on your joints than high-impact activities. Here are some choices.

• Aquatic activities like water aerobics and lap swimming
• Cycling, with low resistance putting less stress on your joints
• An elliptical machine, stepper, or rower 

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Ask your healthcare provider and an exercise professional, like a trainer or physical therapist, about muscle-strengthening exercises you can also do. They can add to the benefits you get from exercising and lower injury risk.

Small Steps Add Up - Keep Progress Slow

Gradual progression may feel slow, but it’s the safest approach. It lowers injury risk and can make it easier to turn exercise back into a habit. By starting small and adding just a bit each week, you can quickly get to the goal of at least 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity.

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Always start with less than you think you can do. Ask your healthcare provider what a reasonable starting point might be, based on your current fitness level and any physical limitations you may have. Get clearance for the type of activities you plan to do, how long you plan to do them for, how often you plan to do them, and how intensely you plan to exercise. 

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Here’s an example of a 6-week progression. It starts with 15 minutes of walking, 3 times a week. Week 6 shows 150 minutes of walking in total, including 5 30-minute walks. 

Modify the plan to meet your needs. Here are some examples. 

• Choose the rest days and workout days that work best for your schedule. 
• If the plan asks you to progress faster than is comfortable for you, repeat weeks as needed.
• If desired, choose a different activity than walking. Or, mix up your activities so that days have different types of activities.
• Ask your healthcare provider about incorporating muscle-strengthening exercises into your weekly routine.

Be sure to listen to your body. Muscle soreness is normal, but any sharp pain or discomfort that lasts for more than 2 days means you may need to back off a bit. Talk to your healthcare provider if you have concerns. 

Getting Fitness Back

A level of 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous intensity can help you manage weight and lower risk for chronic conditions. Gaining back cardiovascular and muscular fitness may be another goal. Improving endurance and strength can have additional physical and mental health benefits. 

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Here are some tips for improving fitness beyond 150 minutes a week.

• Add higher-intensity activities, like increasing the resistance on a stationary bike or elliptical trainer, or jogging instead of walking. These may be for just a few seconds at first as you get into better shape
• Try high-intensity interval training (HIIT) by adding 15-60-second bursts of higher-intensity activities into your regular workout, such as increasing the incline or speed of a treadmill, or pedaling faster or with higher resistance
• Try different activities to build different muscles and skills

Nutrition and Hydration for Your Activity

Good nutrition and adequate hydration can make your comeback easier. Emphasize nutritious foods throughout the day, and plenty of water before, during, and after exercise.

Here are some healthy post-workout snack ideas. Learn more about hydration here. 

Getting back into a routine after a break is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one. Be kind to yourself. You are on a journey, and every step, no matter how small, moves you closer to your goal. 

How Lark Can Help

As soon as you’re ready, you can start getting back into shape. Lark can help you make more small changes to improve heart health, lose weight, and manage or prevent chronic conditions. Your Lark coach is available 24/7 for encouragement, nutrition and physical activity coaching, and habit tracking. Lark can help you make healthy choices and establish habits that fit into your lifestyle so you can lose weight and keep it off with or without GLP-1 medications. 

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Click here to see if you may be eligible to join Lark today!

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