How to ease back in to working out

I've been talking a lot about how to know when to stop, not push yourself, how to take care of an injury, etc. Now it is time to talk about how to properly get back to working out after a healed injury. The trick is knowing when the right time is. Just because you are feeling good does not mean it is the right time. You can feel as if you are back to 100% but your body is not actually at 100%. Depending on the injury, rest times will vary. As frustrating as it is, you do not want to attempt something you are not ready for and end up on the injury list for another month! Better to wait it out those last few days and get back sooner overall. Your first time back in the gym, you want to take things extremely slow and really listen to your body. Any hint of sharp pain or reproduction of symptoms you were having should be an immediate reason to stop whatever it is you are doing. Your first workout should be no impact (i.e. no running, no plyometrics, no load-bearing exercises or use of heavy weights that will load the joints, etc). A good way to ease back in to exercising from an injury is something with low resistance, such as resistance bands where you can control the load or body weight exercises which do not put an extra unwanted force on the body and joints. You also want to cut your normal workout time in half the first few times back, so if you usually do an hour workout, aim for no more than 30 minutes. After your first few workouts, increase to 3/4 of your normal time (i.e. 45 minutes if you normally do an hour). Stick with 3/4 of your normal for another few workouts, then increase to full time. You also want to scale back a day or two a week from your norm, so if you normally do 4-5 days a week, start with 2-3 days the first week, then 3-4 the second week then to your norm by the 3rd or 4th week back. It is also important to continue with rehab type exercises throughout the first month back (here is a refresher on the blog post about back specific exercises). You want to focus on core strengthening to prevent future injuries; the stronger your core, the less recruitment of wrong muscles will occur. If the injury was an ankle/knee/foot, wobble board exercises are very important to get proprioception back to those muscles and nerves. For shoulder or upper back injuries, you want to also focus on postural exercises and stretches. If you begin back to your normal routine right off the bat, you are just setting yourself up for re-injury, more time off and more frustration! So to recap, take it slow and really listen to your body. Don't try and push yourself those first few times back, you do not want to experience any pain or discomfort (this is not the time to push through the burn)! Remember how good it feels to work out and be back in a gym so do everything you can to not set yourself up for re-injury and keep yourself away even longer!