Hi there! I hope you all had a great weekend 🙂 A few weeks ago I wrote about how you can workout while you’re on vacation, which I think is an important thing to remember.  But, even though I stayed pretty active during my vacation, it wasn’t a piece of cake getting back into the full swing of things. Although I was excited to get back into the gym and lifting weights since all I had done was quickie bodyweight workouts for nearly 2 weeks by the time I got home, it was hard because nothing felt easy!

I knew to drop down on my weight and start slow (um, hello, I wanted to be able to walk the next day), but the workouts still felt so much harder than normal, and left me way more sore than usual- a very humbling experience, that’s for sure! But, having to take a step back in my fitness progress ended up being a nice change of pace and a nice reminder for how far I’ve come since I first started seriously working out. There were some things I did to help the transition from quickie, bodyweight workouts to more intense, strength training workouts and I wanted to share those with you since I’m sure I’m not the only one who has faced some struggles getting back into the groove after a bit of a workout hiatus.

3 Tips for Getting Back On Track With Your Workouts After A Vacation/Hiatus

1. Set Appropriate Expectations- Remember, after taking some time off from your normal workout routine, you’re not going to be able to jump right back into it exactly where you left off. Understanding and accepting that right off the bat is half of the battle- there’s nothing worse than having the expectations of picking up where you left off only to find you’re not at the same place you were when you took your hiatus.
2. Start slow- Piggy-backing off of #1, don’t jump right back into the normal intensity during your workouts. Remember that you need to work your body back up to where it was, so maybe do less reps, lighter weights, more simple exercises, etc.
3. Appreciate the progress- If you’re someone who consistently works out and you have a pretty standard weekly workout schedule, you probably don’t see as much progress from day to day or week to week as you did when you first started working out, right? Well, after a hiatus, you’re more likely to see the types of progress you might not see during an average week or two of workouts. When I started back at it, I found myself sore from generally very standard exercises. It was kind of fun to see and feel that type of  progress!

By following these tips, I was able to get back into the swing of things pretty easily and before I knew it, I felt like I hadn’t even taken a hiatus. Truthfully, it was a nice reminder of what it feels like to get started again. The beauty of taking a hiatus is that you can always get back into whatever you left.

Questions for you: How do you get back on track after a workout hiatus?