Restarting your routine can be hard after a long break. Do it the right way with our simple tips to getting back on form.
With the dark days and cold, wet weather, staying motivated to train during the winter months can be challenging at the best of times – and the long lockdown period has hardly made it any easier. Fortunately, we’re now moving out of lockdown and into the warm summer months, and a lot of us are looking for ways to refresh, replenish and get back into a regular health & fitness routine – we know, because we’ve been right there with you.
Getting back into the rhythm can be daunting, especially when you feel like you’re starting from square one. So to help you get back in form and fully operational, we’ve put together a few simple steps you can take to restart your routine, get back in the game, and move into summer with your mind, body and soul in balance.
Return of the Macros
If you’re anything like us, you’ve probably let the calorie counting slide a little over the past few months – and that’s fine. Winter is a time for indulgence anyway. Now that you’re back in the game, you need to establish what your goals are, and adjust your diet accordingly. If you’ve put on some excess weight and want to burn it off, you’ll probably want to limit your calorie intake and do some cardio exercise. Our Diet Protein Shake is great if you want to burn some fat while preserving muscle mass, or you could even cut the carbs completely with a Keto Shake Powder, and even use zero-calorie Stevia Powder as a sugar substitute for your teas and coffees.
If you’re more of a strength & resistance trainer, you’re probably dealing with some amount of muscle atrophy and focused on building your mass back up. For that, you could use one of our Mass Gainer Powders to load up on the calories you need to rebuild, or thicken your regular shakes with one of our Nut Butters. Don’t worry about shedding fat – that can come later. For now, focus on giving your body the calories it needs to get back to peak condition.
Pace Yourself
We get it; you spent months, maybe years, building the perfect fitness routine for you, and after 6 months of isolation, you want to get right back to it. But don’t expect to start hitting the same old weights and rep counts from day one: Your body will be considerably out of practice, and the first session back will come as a shock. Adjust your usual weights, counts and cardio times down to a comfortable level, and then gradually ease your way back up to your peak. Expect a fair amount of DOMS, and if your body starts really aching, take a day off, rest, and recover. And if you’re a lifter, now might be a good time to grab some training gloves or lifting straps to make those “first lifts back” a little easier on your hands and wrists.
Ditch the Dairy
There’s nothing wrong with dairy nutritionally. In fact, it’s pretty great. But we often find that those extra calories you can never account for come from foods like milk and yoghurt. Our newly launched Oat Drink is a great milk alternative that you can use for shakes, cereal, teas and coffees to slice a few calories off each day. It’s even fortified with vitamins and minerals so you won’t miss out on any of the nutrition of regular milk.
Stay Hydrated
The importance of water to health and fitness can never be overstated. Staying hydrated isn’t just about quenching thirst; it plays a crucial role in a range of body processes, including flushing out toxins, aiding metabolic processes and even mental alertness – try drinking a glass of water first thing when you wake up in the morning and see the difference it makes for yourself. On top of all that, extra-large water bottles are quickly emerging as the celebrity ‘it’ accessory of 2021 – and ours is the best, obviously.
Celebrate the Little Victories
You’re getting back into the fitness routine, not punishing yourself. Don’t expect to get back in form in one, two or three sessions. Set reasonable objectives for yourself each week, and take pride when you meet them. And calorie limits or not, there’s no reason you can’t treat yourself with a nutritional snack like our Protein Rocky Road and Protein Millionaire’s Slice bars.
For more fitness and nutrition tips, recipes and ambassador workouts, check out @bulk and get involved in the conversation by tagging #TeamBulk and be part of our community.
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