Have you ever taken a week or two off from training, or more weeks off because of vacation, being sick or other erroneous circumstances preventing you from strength training?
Here are some guidelines that can help.
My best advice be patient; be open to taking longer than you want to get back into regular training. I’ve hurt myself aggressively jumping back into training. This forced me to take an even longer time to get back to regular training.
Adjust your psyche
The lifts will feel off. You’re not going to magically feel like a million bucks and set some PRs. Get that thought out of your head from the start. Taking time completely off is not a deload. A deload is a reduction in training volume or intensity to help with recovery. When you stop training or get sick you remove all the accumulated fatigue produced by training needed to drive adaption. So much that when you come back to training sessions lifts may feel hard even with weights that previously felt easy.
As you get older, you’re not going to be able to pick up where you left off. And feeling like this is normal. Accept it and turn your energy on the process. That is making time for training, not judging yourself during the process and being as present as possible.
Why does the program need to be adjusted?
Motor pathways get “rusty” and the protein metabolic functions are no long in high demand. The goal of adjusting the program is to build work capacity back up and reestablish movement patterns by “clearing the rust”.
Here are examples of programming adjustments.
Example 1 – Novice Lifter - Last squat session 225x5x3
Scenario 1 - 1 week off
~10% reduction in intensity - take 1 week to build back up to previous weight they lifted
Week 1
Day 1 – 210x5x3
Day 2 – 215x5x3
Day 3 – 225x5x3 * last squat session before the break
Week 2
Back to regular programming
Scenario 2 - 2 weeks off
~20% reduction in intensity – take 2 weeks to build back up Week 1
Day 1 – 175x5x3
Day 2 – 185x5x3
Day 3 – 195x5x3
Week 2
Day 1 – 205x5x3
Day 2 – 215x5x3
Day 3 – 225x5x3 * last squat session before the break
Week 3
Back to regular programming
Example 2 – Intermediate Lifter - Squat 1 RM = 405lbs
Scenario 1 - 1 week off
Start at 75% Build work capacity back up to 5x5
Week 1
Day 1 – 5x3 @ 75% (305lbs)
Day 2 - rest
Day 3 – 8x3 @ 75% (305lbs)
Week 2
Day 1 – 6x4 @ 75% (305lbs)
Day 2 - rest
Day 3 – 5x5 @ 75% (305lbs)
Week 3
Continue regular programming
Scenario 2 - 2 weeks off
Start at 65% Build work capacity back up to 5x5 @ 75%
Week 1
Day 1 – 5x3 @ 65%
Day 2 - rest
Day 3 – 5x3 @ 70%
Week 2
Day 1 – 5x3 @ 75%
Day 2 - rest
Day 3 – 8x3 @ 75%
Week 3
Day 1 – 6x4 @ 75%
Day 2 - rest
Day 3 – 5x5 @ 75%
Week 4
Continue regular programming
Make adjustments as necessary
These are just a few recommended procedures for lapse in training. You may find that you progress quicker or slower than this. I always err on the side of caution. You may want to start as low as 55-65% of your max and take longer to build back up to previous training programming.
If the lapse in training is 2 or more weeks the reaccumulating process may extend out 2-3 weeks. With longer lapse in training expect to take 4-8 weeks to ease into your old numbers. It’s important you go slow. Do not go too fast unless you’ve developed a keen intuitiveness with your body and lifting otherwise you increase the risk of injury.
Be smart, conservative and wise