With our current situation, many people will be reintroduced to real training after a long break. There are several methods to reintroduce training safely. Here are 3 "Do's" and "Don'ts":
Do:
1. Realize there are phases of training for every team and strength sport.
An off season or an extended break, whether forced due to unforeseen circumstances or planned, can be utilized for long-term success. A benefit of this can be recovery of all those lagging injuries, which are usually a combination of minor micro tears and fractures that we accumulate from ongoing training. When these micro tears/fracture continue to accumulate we can develop larger injuries that inhibit our progress. Take this time to appreciate that your body is healing from all the strenuous training we put it through.
2. When returning to actual training, the goal should be to regain all of the work capacity lost from break.
Work capacity is your ability to execute training and recovery. Upon returning to training you may be able to hit a working set or two at normal load, but, trying to finish a past programs prescribed working sets in one session may be out of the question.
One example of this would be hitting a set of 8 anywhere between 65% - 70%. If you are only able to compete the set once at an Rpe 6-8 , the following session attempt to complete two sets in that range. Continue that process until your weekly volume is back to pre break. During accumulation your “block” can be extended past your usual 4 or 5 week training block before a deload week. (Another approach can be taking that 65%-70% for 4x4 and the following session hit 65%-70% for 4x5)
3. Have a plan.
In order to build work capacity, you need to choose something to progress toward. A lot of time can be wasted performing workouts without progression in mind.
Coming back from an off season or long break, a general preparatory phase is usually performed. This can be split anywhere between 20%-40% primary lifts 80% - 60% accessories. With the main lifts causing the largest stimulus (higher loads) limiting them allows for easier transition to full training.
Some lifters who adapt quickly or need less technical redevelopment can hop directly into a hypertrophy block and get their muscle fibers ready for the future strength sessions. Over a month of no training is enough time for your body to lose the adaptions you once obtained from hypertrophy training resulting. Simply, you lost muscle and need to put it back on and make it usable again for training.
Don’t:
1. Comparing your current strength to your old pre-break PR lifts.
This can be psychologically draining and discouraging. There is absolutely no benefit to saying, “I used to bench 405 in high school but I cant even bench 315 now”, Nobody Cares!! This only reduces confidence and confidence can go a very long way not only in lifting but all aspects of life. Many of us will do this subconsciously and it will show during a bad session stay strong mentally and accept your current strengths.
Instead of comparing to old numbers think of each session as if you never lifted before. If you are building work capacity like stated above, consider these new building block as relative prs and be proud of the progress. Wipe the slate clean and start fresh it is a much better perspective.
2. Missing lifts.
You may be tempted to have a bro session and work up to a max with the crew. Missing lifts is contagious and can have detrimental effects down the road. When you miss lifts it is easier to be comfortable missing lifts. Under heavy loads one may be more likely to give in that finish because confidence is reduced.
3. Taking for granted this time to rebuild and learn.
Many of us have knee pain when we squat, some back pain when we deadlift, elbow pain when we bench. Take this time to analyze your technique with lighter loads to fix technical inefficiencies that are causing these aches and pains. If you do not come out of quarantine with a better understanding of technique and how to fix some problems, time was wasted.
I hope you found something useful here to take with you when we begin to train again. Feel free to ask any questions on anything mentioned here.
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