4 Principles For “Easing Back” Into Training After Time Off
If you have ever suffered an injury or taken a significant amount of time off from training than you have likely been told to “ease back into it”. After a period of time off from training, your body likely has deconditioned relative to where it was. So trying to pick up where you left off right away is not in your best interest. If you would like to avoid injury or overuse issues.
Muscles may not be as strong, ligaments and tendons may be less resilient and cardiovascular and circulatory system performance may have decreased in their ability to transport and use oxygen. But, when you are told to “ease back into it” what does this exactly mean?
On the free coaching calls that I have done, it has been my experience that many potential clients looking to get back to where they once were are unsure.
There is not a right or wrong way to go about easing back into training. You simply do or you do not. In essence, easing back into training is no different than from when you first walked into the gym. Your program should meet you where you are at through an individualized assessment and then a program with an appropriate progression should be in place to challenge you just enough to improve.
These four major principles are the ones I follow when helping to bring a client from our initial assessment to back to their previous baseline and beyond.
Move From Simple Exercises -> Complex Exercises
This may seem obvious, but, what is not so obvious is what actually constitutes a simple exercise from a complex exercise. A simpler exercise will have less of a dynamic component, it will be lower loading, it will have less skill involved to complete it and there will be less overall system fatigue that is generated from completing it.
For example, a goblet squat, where a dumbbell or kettlebell is held in front of the body will be a simpler exercise than a front squat. The reason being, that the goblet squat is lower in loading potential due to limitations in the clients ability to hold the weight compared to the front rack position of the front squat. Similarly, the counter balance of the dumbbell will promote a better squat position for clients that are just learning or re-learning the squat pattern. Whereas the front squat, although less demanding technically than the back squat, will require a higher degree of motor control or skill in the squat pattern to be performed correctly and safely.
Another example of simple to complex would be a push up vs a clapping push up. The push up, is a very controlled movement and is not very dynamic in nature. The clapping push up, is very dynamic requiring the client to quickly develop high enough force into the ground to propel themselves off the ground and then swiftly bring the hands together in a clapping motion, followed by a return of the hands to the ground in enough time to then eccentrically decelerate the body quickly enough to then repeat this process again. You can imagine how much the two exercises differ in complexity although they are training the same movement pattern.
Progress From Isometric -> Concentric -> Eccentric Focused Exercises
There are three types of contractions that a muscle can undergo. These include, isometric where the force of contraction equals the resistance and no movement occurs, concentric where muscle force is greater than the resistance and the muscle shortens and eccentric where the muscle force is less than the resistance and the muscle is extended as it contracts to lower the load.
All three contraction types will occur during a standard movement. The degree to which each contraction type is present in the execution of the movement will depend on the intent of that movement. For example a pause back squat is intentionally elongating the isometric portion where as a hang power snatch is attempting to make the concentric phase as short as possible.
When returning from injury or significant time off, the ideal sequence of contraction types include starting from isometric focused exercises, to concentric focused exercises and then eccentric focused exercises. Isometric focused exercises are the least damaging of the three contraction types followed by concentric and then finally eccentric. Moving through this progression allows the client to train movements in a less fatiguing and sustainable manner until they show proficiency in technique and recoverability and can move onto the next type of contraction focus until they again show proficiency and move on.
An example of this progression would be moving from a front plank, where the abdominal muscles act isometrically, to a butterfly sit up where the focus is on the concentric action of bringing the shoulder off the floor towards the feet and then finally a toes to bar where although there is a concentric portion, the eccentric lowering of the exercise is the focus since an inability to control the descent will inhibit the ability to sustain reps across a typical set.
Progressing Conditioning as Cyclical -> Cyclical + Gymnastics -> Cyclical + Gymnastics + Weightlifting
With regards to conditioning when easing back into training, you will want to add elements in sequentially. Just as with types of contractions mentioned above, there is a progression back to the highest level on the continuum from solely cyclical to fully mixed modal conditioning.
The major difference between the contraction type and conditioning continuum, however, is that there is no need to progress on conditioning modality continuum. If you as the client have no interest in performing mixed modal conditioning than there is no need to move past the cyclical stage since all three will yield great results in aerobic capacity and the adaptations that come with it.
The reason that each of these stages exists as a continuum is that each step will progressively challenge the sustainability of the tasks found within the piece of work. The more implements you add to the piece, such as a cyclical plus burpee in the second stage or a cyclical plus burpee plus power snatch in the third stage, the harder it will be to maintain the effort across the time domain. Thus, if you so choose, you should be able to show sustainability at each level before further challenging your system by adding elements in.
It is worth repeating that enormous benefits can be gained from remaining in the cyclical stage of this continuum. The only reasons to progress past this stage is are if the client prefers a change in modality to keep their conditioning varied and “fun” or if the client competes in a sport such as CrossFit or one that requires the use of different modalities under fatigue.
Start With Long And Slow To Short And Fast Conditioning
The final principle is also concerned with your ability to sustain power relative to the conditioning task that you are prescribed. In general, your cardiovascular training should move from long duration and low intensity to shorter duration and higher intensities. For example, you should be able to walk consistently for 30 minutes without becoming excessively fatigued or progressively getting slower before performing 30 one minute intervals of sprinting where your ability to sustain will be more challenging.
Aside from simply learning to pace with longer intervals and then figuring out “your gears” as paces increase, in order for your system to sustain high power intervals such as one minute sprints, you must first develop your aerobic capacity or the ability of your lungs to draw in oxygen, your heart to pump blood and your muscles to utilize oxygen.
As your system becomes more capable post resuming training from time off, you can slowly titrate up paces to further challenge the system until you are operating at or above your baseline aerobic thresholds.
I hope these four principles have shed some light on what is really meant by easing back into training. As with all training, there is an appropriate progression based on where you currently sit and where you want to go. When returning from time off or after injury your training should begin with an assessment and then the program should provide just enough challenge that challenge you mechanically and physiologically while keeping your ability to sustain efforts in mind. Most injuries will occur when you do too much, too fast, too soon. Progressions like the ones outlined above can help you mitigate doing so!
