How To Get Back In Shape Again Without Injury

If you haven’t been working out in a while there is always a little anxiety around getting back in shape. This is understandable as it can be so easy to make mistakes when getting back into working out. Here we’ll go into 9 steps that will help you make sure that this time you’re getting back in shape, you do so safely without injury, this way you’ll be able to continue to enjoy the many benefits that come from working out regularly.

Scale your workouts to begin with

Starting out with 3 sessions a week is a great place to begin, doing so will help you ease yourself into working out. Additionally this strategy can help you when getting back in shape as 3 sessions a week is significantly more than you have been doing. You will begin to see results however you avoid the risk of going in too heavily and working out 5-7 days a week. This overexertion in the early days leads to resentment, and often exhaustion, ultimately leading to some form of injury as your body simply doesn’t have the endurance capable to recover effectively from each workout.

By starting out with 3 sessions a week, you’ll also be able to spend time focusing on some other areas and practices outside your workouts that will help you get more results, nutrition being one easy example that we’ll touch on later. This also gives you room to scale and over the months ahead, should you so desire, building your workout frequency to 4 or 5 days a week will allow you scope to increase the intensity of your workout phases.

Have a post workout routine that you can follow

What you do after a hard workout is equally important. Yes your main workout should be difficult, focusing on perhaps strength and or fitness. But after your workouts unwinding the muscles and body with a good post workout routine is vital to also stave off the likelihood of tensions and fatigue building up in your body.

If you’re in need of a simple routine that is safe for your body and will help take load off your lower back after a good workout check out the link here for the “Phase 1” routine that we recommend to all our members as a long term, back health routine that can keep your lower body and spine in good condition, preventing tensions from building up. You can skip the first 2 exercises of the video if you’re someone without back pain which will make the routine around 12-15 minutes in duration!

Large compound movements should form the foundation

When it comes to getting back in shape and toning up nothing gives you more bang for your buck than the large compound movements. Exercises such as the squat and hip-hinge (deadlift) should form the basis of your workout recruiting the maximum number of muscles and when done correctly these are great movements that do more than just build strength and burn calories.

These movements, when practiced with good technique help you move more effectively in the real world doing every day tasks, putting your body in a safer position, your back more supported, your knees and ankles more controlled. The practice of these movements will pay dividends in so many ways and are an essential part of getting back in shape.

Avoid unnecessary exercises (impact & isolations)

High impact exercises such as a jumping squat or burpee are completely and utterly unhelpful for those looking to get back in shape. They should be avoided at all costs for the beginner. These exercises are common in the New Year workout classes that so many attend but there is no need. They do little extra in terms of workout intensity, but they really increase the risk and demand on the body. If you’re someone working out for a specific sport and need to incorporate more “athletic” plyometrics that can be fed in later on when you have built foundations. However if you are someone looking to get back in shape and working out again after a long period off, avoid these.

At the other end of the spectrum we have isolation exercises like bicep curls to “tone the arms” these simply do not do the job when compared with more whole body movements such as, a weighted row. Isolation exercises do very little in terms of calorie and fat burn and therefore are not efficient ways of toning anything. Granted if you’re a bodybuilder looking to enhance the size and shape of your bicep that would be worthwhile, but when it comes to the traditional “toning” that many have in mind. Exercises like bicep curls or tricep press downs will feel great but they aren’t as helpful as others, if you’re short on time, leave these out.

Which cardio would be the best for getting back in shape?

If you’re working out at the right intensity you should certainly be getting the necessary cardiovascular stimulation from a good weights based routine focussing on some of those large, whole body compound exercises. Using a heart rate tracker such as the inexpensive FitBit can be a great way to get objective measures of output.

If you are going to do cardio specifically, the best machine for many is the elliptical machine or “cross trainer”. This is a low impact option plus many of these machines in the gym will have their own built in heart-rate monitor so you can use this measure as a method of evaluating your performance over known distances and durations.

The right nutrition to get back in shape

There is no getting around it. Our body is made out of the stuff we put in. If we do not provide adequate good quality foods then we will not build a good quality body. There are so many different dietary approaches nowadays with critique and praise in equal measure for all. This does make nutrition difficult and feel more complicated than it needs to be.

Suffice to know that you need to take on enough energy to fuel your living and workouts, and enough protein to support your muscles on a daily basis. Both of these things are easy to measure and get a concrete answer on. Focus on food that is called what it is, for example. An avocado is an avocado, a piece of steak is from a cow. Cadburys Mini Rolls for example have an ingredient list of lots of “things” even other foods that you might consider healthy are still processed. Stick to single ingredient real foods and you wont go too far wrong.

We recently recorded a whole podcast on this topic so if you’re interested check it out here

Rest is just as important when you start working out again

Working out is about working hard for a period and then letting your body react and respond to this by making changes within your body. Rest is often underrated when we start working out. It is this time when our body is recovering between sessions that we reap the benefits of our workout, not just the endorphin release at the time of our workout.

Rest days will also help you along the way perhaps after periods of more intensive workouts these rest days should not be ignored!

Expect your muscles to be store when you start

When you have not worked out in a while, it is completely normal to find that after the first session back your body will be sore. This can be sometimes quite severe in the muscles especially on that first session back. This is also why the last section is so important as well as the first point we covered, starting out with three sessions a week.

Provided that you give your body the right amount of rest between sessions and do not over work yourself in the early phases of your workouts, as well as providing your body good nutrition and keep up with your post workout routine, you’ll minimise the degree to which this soreness is experienced.

Follow a program that will get you back in shape

Ultimately, you are going to have the best results if you follow a structured program of exercise. There is no need to re-invent the wheel and if you’re unsure what you’re doing a program takes the stress out of deciding specifically what program to do.

If you don’t already have a program of exercise to get you started safely, check out the Membership program below our membership offers a variety of workouts as well as community and expert support.