Getting back into working out usually starts with a feeling: you knew what it felt like to be consistent, and you have not had that in a long time. That consistency came from someone holding you accountable and from having the decisions removed from you. Getting it back means going slow at the beginning, with a coach removing the decisions again.
Key Insights
- You were consistent when someone held you accountable and the decisions were removed.
- The habit drifts a week here, a week there.
- A workout saved in your phone can’t help in the moment.
- Too much too soon gets you hurt or burnt out, so go slow at the beginning.
- A coach who knows your program notices when you’re off.
What makes you notice you’ve let things slip?
The moment you notice is usually one of a few things. Sometimes it is something a doctor tells you. Sometimes it is a number on the scale you did not think you would hit. Sometimes it is noticing what your body is not able to do now that it could do easily before. Other times there is no single big thing, and a culmination of smaller things creates the feeling that you have let things slip.
I knew what it felt like to be consistent, and I haven’t had that in a long time.
When were you last consistent with working out?
When you describe the time you were consistent, you normally describe a time when you had accountability and the decisions were removed from you. You were working out with a friend, a sibling or a partner. Or you went to a class with other people, or you had a coach you loved. That coach did a really good job explaining things to you. There was a consistent time you were going. It felt like fitness was easy to stay consistent with.
Maybe yours was a friend or a partner.
Maybe it was a class, or a coach you loved.
You had a time you went, and somebody had taken the decisions off you.
How does the slow drift away from the gym happen?
Usually something changes. Your workout partner is not able to make it anymore. Your coach leaves for a different job. Your gym shuts down. Without that structure, you are not able to stay consistent. For a while it looks like intermittent consistency, a week here and a week there. Then there is a slow drift away from what was making you consistent. Before you realize it, two months have gone by and the habit is broken.
And you don’t know where to go from there.
Why is getting back into working out on your own so hard?
The next thing you try is doing it on your own. Usually you join a gym. You have a note on your phone with a workout a friend wrote for you once. You try your best to go in. When you do, you end up doing the same workout over and over again. What helps is someone who can hold you accountable and help you understand what to do in the moment.
You finish a set and you’re not sure what to do after it.
Your shoulder hurts and you don’t know what to do about it.
The equipment you know how to use is taken.
That’s where a coach comes in.
Why does jumping back in where you left off backfire?
It is easy to believe you can jump back in where you were before. What ends up happening is you do too much too soon. Then you get hurt, burnt out or fatigued. A lot of programs and apps take a very generic approach. They assume a baseline that might not be reasonable for someone getting started after a long break. Approaching this slowly gets you back to your baseline quicker.
Muscle you’ve built before may come back faster than it took to build the first time.
To go fast, you need to go slow at the beginning.
That’s hard to do on your own.
What should your first month back look like?
Two things happen in the first month. The first is that the decisions are removed from you from the start: what exercises to do, where to go, and what to do about your joints, aches and pains. The second is building this as a habit. That means knowing what time you need to leave, what clothes you need to wear, and remembering to bring your water bottle. When we can set a consistent schedule, it becomes easier to build this into a routine. By the end of the first month, coming to the gym is becoming more and more of a habit.
At RE:GEN you start one-on-one with a coach.
That’s OnRamp, and it’s eight sessions.
After that you join a small group of four or fewer, and each person in it has their own program.
The coach running it knows your program and notices when you’re off.
Your first workout is small.
We tell you ahead of time that you’re going to be sore after it anyway.
A joke I like to make with most of our new members is that we could just look at these dumbbells for the next 50 minutes and be sore, just because of how novel this is.
Questions people actually ask
Can I pick up where I left off?
That’s where you end up doing too much too soon.
Then you get hurt, burnt out or fatigued.
Start slower, and you get back to where you were quicker.
How sore will I be after my first workout back?
Expect to be sore, even from doing very little.
It’s new to your body again, and that alone will do it.
Why not just hire a personal trainer?
You do get one to start, because OnRamp is one-on-one with a coach.
After that you keep a coach and a program that’s yours, in a group of four or fewer.
The person next to you is working through their own program while you work through yours.
Getting back into working out in Fort Collins
If it has been a while and you do not know where to go from here, the next step is a conversation. We run a free No-Sweat Intro at our gym in North Fort Collins. You sit down with us, tell us what you have tried, and take a look around. You do not work out. At the end we tell you what we would recommend and what it costs, and you decide from there. Everyone who joins starts with OnRamp, eight one-on-one sessions with a coach, before joining a small group.
If you’ve started and stopped more than once, read why you keep starting over at the gym.
If the decisions are what get in your way, read why you feel too busy to work out.
If walking back into a gym makes you uncomfortable, read why gym intimidation happens.
You can book your free No-Sweat Intro at RE:GEN in Fort Collins whenever you’re ready.
Sources
- Human Skeletal Muscle Possesses an Epigenetic Memory of Hypertrophy, Scientific Reports, 2018
- Muscle memory in humans: evidence for myonuclear permanence and long-term transcriptional regulation after strength training, The Journal of Physiology, 2024
Josh Maranian is the Founder and Owner of RE:GEN Fitness Club, a semi-private personal training gym in North Fort Collins, Colorado. The gym specializes in helping adults who want to get strong, move well, and stay consistent without fitness taking over their lives.
