Everyone's definition of a 'long time' varies. For someone who has been at the peak of their physical fitness but who suffered from an injury and has been out of action for four or five weeks is going to think that a month is long time for them.
For people in their early twenties who are overweight and haven't worked out since school, they're going to think that six or seven years is a long time.
Whatever you interpret as being a long time, getting back into the habit of attending a gym and increasing your fitness levels once again is something that needs to be done extremely carefully. Take it too slow and you'll see no noticeable differences. Take it too fast, however and you risk injuring yourself, putting you out of action for longer still.
So where exactly do you start if you haven't exercised in a long time?
To begin with, you need to start by carrying out some very light exercises. Walking and swimming are both great examples of this and so for the week or two before you head back to the gym, get up earlier in the morning or spend the time after work going for a 30 minute walk or a one hour swim.
What this will do is get the primary muscles in your body moving regularly and used to being worked, meaning that jumping back into the gym won't be as such of a shock to your body.
Next, before you start any major exercises, you need to learn some stretches and carry them out on a daily basis.
If you haven't exercised in a while, your muscles are likely to have contracted somewhat and a good way to see just how shortened your muscles have become is to lay flat on your back, keep one leg on the floor and keeping the other straight, slowly raise it up. You should ideally be looking to get it as close to a 90 degree angle as possible, with somewhere over 60 degrees being good. Anything under this and it's obvious that your muscles need stretching.
What stretches you do depend entirely on the exercises you're going to be carrying out, but you should start by stretching your calves, thighs, torso and upper arms, as these are the four areas which are most likely to succumb to injury easily.
Now once you're in the gym, it's time to go back to basics. No matter if you're used to attending 5 days a week or not, you need to go right back to when you very first started.
Start by stretching and then warming up by walking on the treadmill. If you can, up your pace to a jog or light run, but for the first few sessions, refrain from running - you might feel you can do it in yourself, but your muscles will thank you for it if you don't.
In terms of muscle weights, start by lifting what is particularly easy. No matter if you think it's too easy, it won't be - it's the action that's doing the work primarily; the additional weights just help out. Therefore, start with a light weight and slowly work your way up. Like on the treadmill, you might feel you can lift more, but you're muscles will be better off if you keep to light weights to start with.
Increasing your fitness level after a long time without exercise is an easy process as long as you know what you're doing. Don't rush into anything, take it easy and you'll be back to your normal fitness levels within no time.
Author Resource:-
For more information about fitness, visit the Fitness First website.
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