Everyone will recognize this. You are on the right track, you’re working out 2 or 3 times a week and you’re in shape. And then you’re going on a holiday….
Of course you intend to work out a little during the vacation. You can do the Fit at Home workouts on your laptop, tablet or smartphone and you even threw your workout clothes in your suitcase. But the reality is that not many people get around to doing a workout during their vacation and the workout clothes are still clean when you return.
What happens to your body when you temporarily stop working out?
This effect is called ‘detraining’. Your body no longer receives training stimuli when you stop exercising. This causes all kinds of changes in your body. Your heart will pump blood a little less efficiently and therefore your muscles will process oxygen a little less well. Your muscle strength decreases a bit. And you are gradually losing the beneficial influence of your active lifestyle on your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Do you enjoy all the tasty snacks and drinks at your holiday address just a little too much? Then you may gain a few pounds as well.
How quickly and to what extent the effect is on your body due to detraining, depends, among other things, on your level of training. If you have been using the workouts from Fit at Home for a year, you will be in good shape and the decay will be a lot less rapid than with beginners who have been training for a few months, for example.
How to start again
Everyone probably recognizes this; You want to start your workouts again after the holidays, but you keep putting it off. Every athlete who had the flu will know this feeling: before you we’re feeling under the weather you were in great shape, but by the time you’re feeling better, you’re not in great shape at all anymore. The first few attempts to work out are disappointing, because you’re strength and stamina are gone. Three weeks of lazing in the sun gives the same result. After a holiday in which you hardly move, you also have the feeling that you have to start from level 0 again.
Our advice is to take it one step at a time. Start with week 1 & 2 of the workout schedule. Don’t worry about ‘starting all over again’. What matters is that you are moving again and you can then slowly pick up the pace.
Personal Trainer Taylor:
” I do a lot of resistance training to stay in shape. But you also have to remember to have fun when you exercise. That’s why I also play soccer next to my weekly workouts.”