Reclaim Your Size and Power: How to Get Back Into Training After a Layoff

Getting back into a routine of regular training is a recurring issue for a large majority of those who lift weights for bodybuilding, strength or overall fitness. People take layoffs for many reasons. Nearly every scholastic and collegiate athlete takes some time off from lifting after the season is over. Football players, in particular, need to give their bodies some rest in order for the dings and sore spots to heal. Even those who didn’t get much playing time are physically and mentally tired.

Athletes not engaging in a contact sport also need downtime. While swimming or tennis may not be as traumatic to the joints as rugby or lacrosse, they place huge demands on the muscular and nervous systems. In fact, it’s the nervous system that’s often in the greatest need of a break from serious training and competition.

There are, of course, other reasons people take breaks. Serious illnesses, severe injuries or surgery force the most dedicated individuals to forgo training. Moving to a new location or taking a job that requires extra-long hours often results in a cessation of all physical exercise.

Vacations are not conducive to systematic training for most. While some may venture into the hotel fitness facility and run through a quick circuit on the machines, that’s a far
cry from what they normally do. Then there are those who take layoffs from weight training on a regular basis so that they won’t get tired of the activity.

My brother Donald fit into that category. He was a competitive powerlifter who eventually won a national title in the master’s division. Every summer he left the weights alone and played tennis three times a week. When fall rolled around, he resumed his lifting schedule in earnest. He told me that a layoff worked wonders for his mental
approach to training. Physically, he felt more refreshed and motivated to go after bigger numbers than he handled before. It worked well for him, Every year, on into his late 50s, he continued to make progress on the contested lifts. Since Donald took annual layoffs,
knowing how to get back into his routine wasn’t a problem. It’s definitely a problem for most strength athletes, however, because they attempt to do too much too soon.

When the Johns Hopkins football players started their off-season strength programs, 95 percent of them hadn’t trained since the end of the previous season. They had to prepare for midterm exams; then came Christmas and midterm breaks. They weren’t ready to deal
with big weights or expanded workloads. Yet every athlete was bursting with enthusiasm. Those who’d been through the program before were eager to set personal or perhaps gym records. The freshmen wanted to prove they could lift with the best.

Of course that attitude is what a strength coach wants. On the other hand, it must be held in check or the consequences can be detrimental. It’s no easy matter convincing robust
young men that they have to handle much lighter poundage than they know they can lift.

My primary role as strength coach during the first few weeks of an off-season program for any sport is to hold the athletes back, limiting the amount of work they do at a session as well as the amount of time they spend in the weight room. During this phase, less is better than more.

The most important point to keep in mind when starting back into any weight program is to make haste slowly. That’s because your body is only able to adapt at a certain rate. For most of us that rate is slow rather than rapid. Even fast gainers have to be wary of doing too much too soon. Invariably, one area of their bodies doesn’t respond as quickly as the rest, and when that slower-reacting bodypart or joint can’t keep up, something has to give.

Even though I realize it’s difficult, you have to approach the situation as if you’ve never trained before. In truth, that’s where your physical plant stands. Your mind may be contemplating personal records on a host of exercises, but your body isn’t ready just yet.

The good news is that when you start back into a training schedule, you have several advantages over someone who’s never lifted at all. A huge plus is that you know how to perform the various exercises in your program. Oddly enough, most discover that the layoff has helped improve their technique on many lifts, especially high-skill movements such as power cleans, full cleans, power snatches and full snatches.

You’ve also conquered certain numbers previously, and, make no mistake about it, strength training is all about beating the numbers. So a 300-pound bench press or 400-pound squat is no longer an intimidating barrier. If you’ve lifted them once, you have the confidence to do it again.

You also understand how your body responds to training and specific exercises more effectively than a rank beginner. No manual or coach can teach you that. It’s learned only through experience in the weight room. So through trial and error, you know that you can do a great deal of back work and recover all right, but any extra for your upper body always results in dings to your shoulders and elbows. That’s all good, right?

Not always: The advantages can turn into disadvantages if you don’t pay attention. Because your form is perfect and the numbers are no longer a barrier, there’s a tendency
to overtrain during those first few weeks back. Of course, overtraining is a relative term.

The workload you’ll eventually be able to handle may be 10 times what you can get away
with when you’re starting back into training. You have to organize your program from the standpoint of where you are now, not next week or next month. Today is all that counts. When in doubt, do a bit less. You can always increase the intensity and volume later.

It’s easier to hold back if you train alone. Should you return to your old gym, your buddies will encourage you to do another set or go heavier. Not wanting to look like a wimp, you comply—and suffer the consequences.

Why must you proceed with caution? Lots of reasons. Tendons and ligaments respond to the new stress much more slowly than muscles. Once you overwork them, they don’t
just get sore, they register the abuse in the form of pain. Few think about it, but everything changes once you start back into training—not just your muscles and your attachments, but your circulatory, digestive, respiratory and nervous systems are
altered as well. That doesn’t happen abruptly. Rather, the transformations occur gradually. It may not be the way you like it, yet that’s how it is.

A hard fact that’s difficult to swallow is that once you stop training, you lose strength at a rapid rate. Everyone is different, but the average loss is 40 percent in just two weeks. In addition to the top-end numbers, your overall fitness level drops like a rock, so you’re no longer able to handle as much total work. While we all know someone who comes back to the gym and is right away able to hit the same numbers he did prior to the layoff, those are exceptions.

I’ve been involved in strength training for a long time, and I can count all the anomalies I’ve seen on one hand. The rest of us lose our hard-earned gains extremely fast. I was aware of that while doing some research for an article when I was editing Strength & Health at York. Yet it was no more than a theory to me since I never laid off. The longest periods that I missed lifting were never more than five days, and I did that only a couple of times in my 15 years of competing in Olympic weightlifting. Then my life changed drastically.

I retired from competitive lifting and moved to Oahu. I decided I’d switch from heavy weight training to a form of exercise that was less demanding on my body, especially
the joints I’d been pounding for all those years. I rented a house on the North Shore and planned on swimming, running, along with walking lunges, situps, chins and pushups. I’d figure out the rest as I went along.

I firmly believed that the backlog of hard work I’d built up over the years would serve me well into the future. Boy, was I in for a surprise—and it wasn’t long in coming.

A few days later I was touring the campus of Church College of Hawaii in Laie (now BYU Hawaii) and walked past a chinning bar. Chinning was on my list of exercises to
do, and it was a good time to get started on them. Before I stopped training, I could
do 18 chins. So I was shocked when I barely managed three.

To add to my dismay, I had to lie down on the grass because the effort had made me dizzy. What a revelation. I had no idea I’d gotten that weak. The very next day I was back at the college and got permission from the athletic director to work out in the weight room in exchange for helping the students. Since I’d never taken an extended layoff, I’d never had to deal with starting over. I had seen others do it successfully, however.

The comeback that came to mind happened at the Dallas YMCA when I first got serious about Olympic lifting under the guidance of Sid Henry. One of the members of our lifting team showed up after an absence of six months. Later we learned he’d been in prison, so I’ll not mention his name. He told us he hadn’t trained at all since he left. He was starting back cold. He had been one of the top 198- pounders in the state. I watched him with keen interest, since I’d never seen an accomplished lifter come back from scratch. That was long before steroids came on the scene; he was going through the process without any pharmaceutical help.

At his first session back, he did one set on three exercises: back squat, power clean and overhead press. He did 10 reps on the squats and five on the other two lifts. He used 135 pounds. That was it. I was amazed and wondered how in the world he expected to get back to where he’d been by doing such an easy workout.

Next session he did two sets, same reps, same weight.

Third session, he added another set.

Then he began to increase the poundage and number of sets in his routine while adding more exercises. Within two months he was once again ahead of me. Observing how he slowly but steadily increased his workload and intensity drove home the point that it doesn’t matter where you start—only where you end up.

So that’s how I approached my comeback. I didn’t begin as timidly as my former Dallas teammate, however, since I’d laid off for only six weeks, not six months. I started with three sets of five on the Big Three and proceeded from there. There was no one in the weight room who knew me and pushed me, and I wasn’t in any rush to regain my old strength level, which enabled me to move at a slower pace than I would have had I been at York or Muscle Beach.

I did two other things that helped my cause greatly. First, I kept a close record of every workout, and with that data I was able to calculate exactly how fast I was progressing
in terms of top-end numbers and total workload. I didn’t record my sessions right away. I just remembered them. When I added sets and more exercises, though, I found that I couldn’t recall how much I’d used for some of the intermediate sets. Without that information, I was unable to figure my workload precisely. That prompted me to write
my workout in my training book as soon as 1 got home from the gym. The record was one of the keys that kept me from moving too fast. The numbers never lie.

Second, I paid close attention to how I felt the morning after a workout. If some muscle group or joint was hurting rather than telling me it had been worked just right, I made adjustments, such as doing less on exercises that involved the offended group or joint for the next few sessions. I didn’t mind pulling back a bit. It was the long-term goal I was after, and I didn’t care if it took a year to achieve. It turned out to be six months before I was back to the strength level I’d had before stopping training.

So much for storing up strength for the future. It’s definitely not like putting money in the bank—more like investing in a bad stock. It was an ordeal, yet a couple of good things came out of the experience. I learned firsthand how to come back from an extended layoff. I’ve used that information to help others in the same situation over the years. Further, I vowed never to take such a long break from training ever again, a vow I have kept religiously. Once was more than enough for me, and I’m certain that going through the process now that I’m older would be 10 times as difficult.

Anyone who hasn’t trained for a month or longer I consider to be a restart. Athletes going into an offseason program usually fall into that category. At their first workout back they do three sets of five on the Big Three: power clean, squat, and bench press. I keep the weights light, regardless of how much they handled previously. For example, someone who’s squatted 400 for reps will do 135, 185 and 225. If I see that he’s shaky with 185, he’ll stay with that same weight for his final set. Second session back: same exercises, same reps, but one additional set. They’ll move their numbers up a bit, but not much. Our 225-pound squatter will advance to 245. The final workout of week one, five sets of five on the Big Three, once again improving the last set. Our squatter will end the week by using 265.

All three workouts in the second week will follow the same set-and rep formula, five times five, and the Big Three are used exclusively. The only change is that the last set on
each exercise will be higher than the previous workout. The emphasis during this breaking-in stage should be on perfecting technique. Then, when the poundage starts to be demanding, the good form will be an asset.

All auxiliary work is shunned, with the exception of warmup exercises for the abs and lower back. You want to reserve 100 percent of your energy for those large muscle groups.

By week three, most are ready to kick it up a notch. Those who have gone through the off-season program before are usually ready to begin handling a bigger workload and doing a wider range of exercises. But not always. At that juncture the coach has to look at each athlete and determine whether he’s ready to handle more work or needs to stay with the basics a little longer in order to establish his foundation even more solidly.

Those who train alone or don’t have the benefit of a coach have to be able to honestly appraise their physical states. That’s where keeping a training log helps a great deal. Knowing exactly the measure of your workload is useful in planning. If you’re not sure you’re ready to add more lifts and move the numbers higher just yet, stay with the same poundages for another week or two. In the larger picture, moving cautiously is often the smartest move.

Starting back cannot be rushed. The process entails a lot more changes in your lifestyle than just going to the weight room three times a week. You need to alter your diet, including plenty of foods that give you the energy you need for your workouts and increasing your intake of protein to rebuild your muscles and tissues after they’re
depleted during a tough workout. You’re going to require more rest once you get back into the rhythm of training and start handling demanding poundages. That might require you to miss a favorite late night TV show or pass on attending a party with your friends. If you’re serious about regaining your former strength level, you must walk into the weight room rested and ready for the challenges ahead.

Odds are, you stopped taking your supplements when you quit training. Reinstate them because they help you train harder and recover faster. You especially need the water-soluble vitamins and minerals, which are lost rapidly when you sweat. They must be replaced, or your body won’t function properly.

Perhaps the most important attribute that you must possess in order to stay the course is determination. Just because you were once able to bench 300, squat 400 and deadlift 500 doesn’t mean that you’re going to automatically waltz back up to those numbers. Coming
back after a layoff isn’t a cakewalk. On the contrary, it’s a tough, uphill fight with countless obstacles and setbacks. Only if you’re able to remain firm in your resolve to regain a high level of strength will you be successful in your quest.

Just keep in mind that the rewards are well worth the battle.