My social feed is full, and I mean FULL, of people in the UK & Ireland either chomping at the bit to return to the gym, or posting photos of how their first sessions back looked. After 4 months stuck at home with whatever training kit you could get your paws on as we went into lockdown, dreaming of the squat rack, leg press & lat pulldown (what did you miss most?!), it's exciting to see people gradually getting back to what they love. While I'm genuinely unsure on how the rest of this year will play out, one thing I do know is that for lots of us this may well be the longest we've had away from doing any consistent strength training for well, ever. So with that, I wanted to share a few ideas on how to make sure that your start back to training isn't a false one...with a little help from my horse...
Lessons from my 4 legged friend
As lockdown eased a fraction, one of the things I was able to do was to start training my horse again. He's a great chap, and over the years has competed to a pretty high level in horsey sports, so he knows his game. But in honesty, he'd had a long time off - like a 'I was so busy I only rode him a handful of times in the last year' kind of time off. So, while he is a pretty well trained athlete (i.e. not a beginner), he was totally de-conditioned. When you bring a horse back into work after a long time off, regardless of how well trained they were, the first stages have little to do with building CV fitness or muscular strength...its all about prepping them to take additional strain through their legs and back. See, horses are amazing in that they don't actually have any muscles in their legs - what you see taking all that pressure as they run, turn and jump is ligament, tendon & bone. It's kind of crazy impressive when you think about it, and highlights something that we often neglect...the health of not only our muscles, but the ligaments & tendons that support them. More on that later.
So, for the first 2 weeks I rode my horse, I did super low intensity 'prep' work with plenty of recovery, to allow his trunk muscles to begin adapting to being ridden again, to get him neurally conditioned to moving a certain way without too much pressure, and to allow time for those tendons and ligaments to 'wake up' to the workout & start to stiffen without risking straining them. The plus in all of this is that my horse had a good level of previous training, so he retains neural memory around how he's meant to move, and muscle memory that allows him to build strength relatively quickly. Because of this, the prep part of the process takes less time compared to bringing a young or 'beginner' horse into training...but it doesn't negate the need to do it altogether! The great thing is that one that initial prep work is done, I'm happily starting to properly work him to build muscular strength & cardio endurance and so far, he's picking his fitness back up really well. I'm still about 4 weeks off of considering him 'fit', and 8 from considering him 'competition ready', but taking it easy to begin with has paid off.
So, what does that have to do with us? Well, being honest, we're not actually that different & a lot of the principles can be transferred straight to the gym floor. If I'd gone in on day 1 at a gallop (literally) I'd have left him sore and potentially injured. The same applies for us returning to the 'lifting heavy stuff' we love so much. So, here are how those principles translate in human terms....
Things won't be the same, but they also won't have changed as much as you think
There's no denying that things will be different when you get back into the gym and yep, it'll take a bit of adjusting to. But in terms of your strength, things might not be anywhere near as bad as you expect after such a long time away. This is thanks to three big things:
Muscle memory. This effect is behind the known propensity for muscle that was previously conditioned for size or strength to 'bounce back' & build quickly when it has lost volume for whatever reason. Although this is DEFINITELY a thing that will help you make pretty quick process toward where you were pre-lockdown, to date we're actually still not really sure how this works, so let's leave the detail of that chat for another day (1).
Mind-Muscle connections. The neural conditioning that we build up through repetition of motor patterns (called a motor engram) is not something that we lose quickly. In fact, there's plenty of evidence out there to back up us holding onto this for YEARS after stopping an activity, making re-training easier than training up in the first place (think about riding a bike...you just don't forget once you know). So, just like my horse's body remembers how to do some pretty fancy footwork without him having to 'think' too much about it, our bodies won't have forgotten how to squat, deadlift or military press efficiently. This is a real positive in terms of getting back to training quickly as there's no messing about 're-learning' how to execute the moves.
You won't have lost as much muscle as you think. Muscle retention in previously conditioned people is actually pretty decent even after a long ass time off (for men and women...young and old!). There have been some pretty cool studies on this, where researchers have put people through an S&C programme, allowed them to de-train for months, then introduced training again. In all of these, regardless of gender or age, two things were clear: i) participants didn't lose anywhere near as much muscle as you'd expect, and ii) when they started training again, they built up strength again really quickly (2-5).
So, while we might feel a little softer round the edges, or 'off the boil' in terms of performance, it's guaranteed that your body won't have completely forgotten what's going on, or even lost as much strength and condition as you think. So, how do we make sure that we make the best start back toward pre-covid strength and performance?
Drop your ego at the door
While, thanks to the above, our bodies will pick up strength again well within 6-8 weeks of re-starting training, simply storming the weights room & pushing yourself repeatedly into the red zone on opening week isn't going to do anything past guaranteeing you'll be sore AF, and have increased your chances of needing time out of the gym again through injury.
So, when you get back, drop the ego & instead start slower than you'd like, and go MUCH easier than you want to. Even if you've been doing weighted workouts at home, they're just not the same as pulling a heavy barbell or pushing a leg press multiple times your bodyweight. The initial aim is simply to lay the foundations right, and that means:
1. Giving your de-conditioned muscles have a chance to pick up again without you suffering the world's worst DOMS. BTW, DOMS is much more likely, and worse, after a long break than you're used to. You're welcome.
2. Offering your tendons & ligaments some lower stress activities to start the process of tightening up again. Side note, it takes longer for your tendons to stiffen up when you start training again than your muscles...so go easy or you risk picking up a tendon injury & that really will end you up stuck (6).
3. Allowing your brain the chance to re-set a 'mind-muscle' connection ready to go for the bigger stuff to come. You might not have forgotten how to deadlift, but it does no harm to re-connect your mind to the lift before going big so that things are running smoothly & you're less likely to make a slip up that ends in injury.
Practise Patience: Have a plan, and stick to it
So, to be respectful to those initial weeks where we ARE more likely to pick up injuries, or feel much more sore than normal, we need to be patient...and that takes willpower. Just like the horse, the first 2-3 weeks need to simply focus on general physical preparedness rather than ego lifting. In my eyes, that means we're talking about a training plan focussed on 4 main principles:
Low intensity training: Don't go straight back to the programme you were doing before. Your training should be sub-maximal intensity, and focussed on sound technique (form & quality of lifts) across basic lifts. No need for fancy shiz or setting a new 1RM here.
Building core strength: Unless you've been training core like a ninja all through lockdown, its likely that the muscles responsible for stabilising your shoulders, spine & pelvis when you're lifting might be a little underworked. So, make core training something you get into your workouts from day 1 to support your lifts & minimise risk of injury.
Prioritising Recovery: When we go back, it's inevitable to have some DOMS, but going so hard you can't climb the stairs at home properly for days is a sign you're doing more damage than good. Try and find a place where you notice DOMS for a day or two, but that you're recovered enough to have a quality training session after this without needing a week off to lie in a darkened room. This will let you hit a place of being able to train 'little & often', which in the first instance is a great way to build back into any kind of training routine.
Auxiliary training: e.g. Mobility work & addressing muscle tightnesses as they arise. This will support the above, and also, why wouldn't you want to keep your body running as well as possible?...
So, if you haven't already, making a sub-max training plan that builds in the recovery, core or auxiliary sessions between days you're likely to make yourself sore from lifting would be a pretty clever thing to do right now. When you're planning, work around your current commitments (work/home) and how often you're ready/willing/need to go to the gym vs what you could do at home (...how we feel coming out of lockdown is going to be different for all of us) so that you find something you're actually likely to achieve. If you're unsure on this or your previous plan was from your PT now is the time to reach out and ask for support with a new one. Then all you need to do is the tough bit - stick to it!
If you manage this over the coming weeks, it'll be your best friend in getting back to strength training feeling like a winner...and once you have that first bit in the bag, you can start to ramp intensity knowing your body is primed & ready to go. Enjoy - It's been a long while coming!
References (I'll always back my work with research and will share my sources):
1. Snijders T, Aussieker T, Holwerda A, Parise G, van Loon LJC, Verdijk LB (2020), The concept of skeletal muscle memory: Evidence from animal and human studies, Acta Physiol., 229:e13465 10.1111/apha.13465 [PMC free article] [PubMed] [CrossRef]
2. Blocquiaux S et. al. (2020), The effect of resistance training, detraining and retraining on muscle strength and power, myofibre size, satellite cells and myonuclei in older men, Experimental Gerontology, Elsevier, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exger.2020.110860
3. Staron RS, Leonardi MJ, Karapondo DL, et al. Strength and skeletal muscle adaptations in heavy-resistance-trained women after detraining and retraining.J Appl Physiol (1985). 1991;70(2):631-640. doi:10.1152/jappl.1991.70.2.631 [Science Direct]
4. Correa, C.S., Cunha, G., Marques, N., Oliveira‐Reischak, Ã. and Pinto, R. (2016), Effects of strength training, detraining and retraining in muscle strength, hypertrophy and functional tasks in older female adults. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging, 36: 306-310. doi:10.1111/cpf.12230
5. Blazevich A et. al. (2007), Influence of concentric and eccentric resistance training on architectural adaptation in human quadriceps muscles, Journal of Applied Physiology, 103:5,1565-1575 [Wiley Online]
6. Kubo K, Ikebukuro T, Yata H, Tsunoda N, Kanehisa H. (2010), Time course of changes in muscle and tendon properties during strength training and detraining, J Strength Cond Res., 24(2):322-331 doi:10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181c865e2
Bryony Ross is a Consultant Scientist, Group Fitness Specialist and Les Mills International Trainer. If you'd like to stay in touch with what she's up to, please feel free to subscribe & she'll be in touch when there are interesting things to share (not every day, and no spam, promise).
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