With the news of gyms opening late this month drawing closer, we thought it would be appropriate to spread some information for the people looking to get back to training but need a bit of guidance of where to start.
Before we carry on, the following information is largely dependent on what, you, as an individual, have exposed yourself to during these last couple of weeks. For example, if you have been active and carried on training multiple times a week, you’re in a different position to those who have been very sedentary. On average, the more active individual will be able to handle more training work than the latter case, therefore making this information LESS applicable, but useful none the less.
There’s only small amount of research on this subject, but literature surrounding the subject is well developed. It is also thoroughly and broadly discussed in the strength sport world. This type of training is usually labelled in a few different ways, these being; Primer/pivot/build up/reverse taper week(s) etc. Making training too hard when jumping back into the weights room has the potential to cause a few implications, the main and obvious one being injury, followed by slow, to no progression, fatigue, ‘mental state’ etc. These factors cannot be eradicated but can certainly be minimised via a manipulation of training variables, as we go on to discuss.
Some of you may be familiar with the notion of volume, intensity and frequency being the leading forces for ‘strength sport’ progression. We’ll have a look into these factors and how you can manipulate them for a more conservative training approach on your first few weeks back to the weights room.
Volume: This is a versatile meaning, but for this piece of literature, we’re going to use it to describe reps x sets. Decreasing volume after coming back from a break is one of the most impactful factors an individual can use. People will be surprised of what adaptations they’re able to create, when only doing a couple of sets with a lower rep range in their session. This may be unchallenging and short in duration, but the best for you and future training.
Intensity:
(RPE: Rate of perceived exertion)
(RIR: Reps in reserve)
This is usually described as the amount of load apparent in a movement, along with the amount of effort an individual is applying. It is usually measured in RPE/RIR/load on the bar/% of 1RM etc. RPE and/or RIR are most likely going to be your go to when returning to training, as they are an autoregulatory metric, thus, are specific to your current state. We suggest that if you have been sedentary, you probably shouldn’t be looking at exceeding about a 8RPE/2RIR for the first couple of weeks, it is simply not needed when trying to create the relative adaptations. Spending more of your time at a 5-7.5RPE/6-3RIR is probably a more reasonable approach. If you previously used a % of 1RM as a metric for your training, you may want to shift over to RPE/RIR for the time being. The reason for this is that your previous 1RM is probably no longer an accurate measurement of how strong you are. In addition, please do not do any form of testing when coming back, for at least the first few weeks.
Frequency: This principle can be described as how many times you perform your desired movements in more strength-based sports, over the course of a week, or how many times you train each muscle/muscle group in a week for more hypertrophy based goals. Unless what you were doing in previous training was excessive, not much should change here. Keeping a similar frequency to your old routine for more strength-based sports could be a good idea, as a large aspect of strength is movement proficiency, therefore practicing movements can be at a higher focus. For people with more hypertrophy-based goals, a frequency of 1 or 2 for the first couple of weeks could be a more viable option.
Although there is a LOT more to cover on this, this should make you more conscious about your training upon return, as well as giving you a good idea of how to make changes and conduct measurements based off of your previous training. If you are confused, want more guidance or interested in being coached during this time, please reach one of the team at: @c.sharp_coaching @perks2training @beth.pt or E-Mail us at connor@arc-gym.co.uk
Connor Sharp, BSc.
References available on request.