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Part 1: The Expert Way To Bounce Back After A Break

Taken a break from exercise? Getting back into it can feel a little overwhelming, but Francheska has simple steps to get you working out safely and effectively again.

There are times in life when we need to take a step back from exercise: perhaps an injury has meant putting training on a backburner; or maybe a hectic lifestyle has left you with little time to work out. Whatever the reason for the break, getting back into exercise is important, not only for your physical health but mental health too. Francheska Martinez is a functional strength coach who is passionate about all things kettlebell, mobility and movement-based. She explains that strength training in particular is something you can use for the rest of your life. However, a great foundation and technique is important.

“When I started weight training, I wasn’t sure exactly what to do,” Francheska says. “That's why I focused a lot on making sure that I had proper education and knowledge, so that every other time I would weight-lift, I’d know a little bit more and feel a lot more confident in the session.”

Ready to bounce back into exercise? Here’s how can you make the most of your workouts – in particular, strength-based workouts – so you can feel fit and strong again.

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Always factor in rest

Jumping back in where you left off could result in injury and fatigue, which might end up setting you back further. “The biggest mistake when I started weight training was doing too much, too soon,” says Francheska. “I didn't plan properly and I didn't rest enough, so I always encourage you to make sure that you focus on rest and recovery as well.” Allowing your body to rest between sessions allows your muscles to heal and grow.

Start slowly

Starting off with fewer but regular sessions, then building up from there is a good way to ease yourself back into strength training and exercise. “It takes a minimum of two times a week for 30 minutes to see a change in our body, whether that’s physique or a strength-based change,” says Francheska.

Once you’ve got back into a consistent training routine, you can step up frequency. Try to stay focused and committed and your motivation will increase, with the results quickly following suit. When training gets hard, follow Francheska’s advice: “I focus on getting 1% better every day. Small steps turn out to be big ones.”

You don’t have to lift the heaviest weights

“The best tip I ever got from a mentor was to make lightweight feel heavy,” Francheska says. “So instead of always focusing on training heavily, really focusing on technique has given me amazing results.”

Technique and using the full range of movement during strength-based exercises will ensure you get the most from each move and each rep. Lifting heavy might boost your ego, but if you’re not executing the moves properly, you won’t get the results you want.

To see progress, you need to overload

“In the first eight weeks of strength training, you’ll get fantastic results. We call this beginner gains,” says Francheska. However, to keep moving forward in your training, you need to think about progressive overload. “This is where we challenge our body by adding more difficulty – and that’s how we continue to see results.”

You can practise progressive overload by adding more reps, decreasing the rest time between sets, or adding more weight and tensions to exercises. If you’re not adding some variation, you won’t see change, so be sure to keep progressively overloading muscles to boost their strength.

How to engage your core

Engaging your core means tightening your trunk muscles, which include the abs, to support your spine and pelvis. A strong core means better balance and stability while you're exercising.

“In functional strength training, we always want to work our full body, so even if we’re doing leg training or upper body training, we still want to get some level of core engagement as everything in the body is connected,” says Francheska.

To really make your core work, and improve your stability during exercises, focus on your breathing. “A simple tip that’s easy to remember is to exhale through the effort part of the move,” Francheska says. “So, as I press up on an overhead press, I exhale and then inhale on the way down.”

She adds, “When I exhale deeply, I’m contracting my abs a little more, so I get a better sensation of stability in my midsection.” It’s also important to avoid sucking in your abs. To engage, brace the core, create as much tension as possible and then pull your belly button into your centre.

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If you’re doing a core-based exercise and aren’t feeling the move in your mid-section, Francheska says that the exercise might be too difficult. “Regress the exercise, be humble and really focus on feeling the squeeze. Let's say you're doing a plank, but don't feel it in your core: maybe drop down to the knees to make it easier and focus on engaging the core muscles.”

Make light weights work harder

Only have a set of light dumbbells at home? You can still work your muscles and see results; it just takes a few tweaks. “Go as slow as you can, focus on utilising the full range of motion, not momentum, and really focus on controlling your stability,” says Francheska.

Give these other tips a try too…

  • Add isometric holds – “Say you only have two 5kg weights when you’re doing squats; you can add in a hold, and that is going to make your muscles scream,” says Francheska. “Hold the bottom of your squat for one second, three seconds; whatever feels like a good duration to you. So, if you did 10 reps you would do 10 holds.”
  • Try a pulse – If you’re squatting, for example, squat down, bounce up and down with control, and then come back up. Here, you’re keeping muscles under tension a little bit longer, making them work harder. “You could add two pulses and come up, or four or five,” says Francheska.

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  • Use one and a half reps – “Every time you go through the full range of motion of an exercise, add in half a repetition. For one and a half reps, we’re stopping at the bottom of an exercise, coming back up halfway, going back down, and then coming all the way up,” explains Francheska. If you’re doing lunges, for example, drop down into a lunge, come back up halfway, and then go back down into the lunge, before returning to your start position.

When getting back into exercise, be mindful of where you are in your fitness cycle. Your goals will likely look different to those of your friend, partner or colleague, so don’t compare. Instead, give yourself a pat on the back that you’re getting back into exercise and focus on your journey. “It takes commitment and discipline,” says Francheska. “Let’s get after it!”

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