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When you fall off the wagon, what is your go to protocol to come back?

thegoldengod

thegoldengod

Level 5 Valued Member
For me goals are GPP and to avoid dad bod

1 full cycle of The Wolf + MKBM diet guidance to start seeing quick gains

Once completed I’m usually back in the groove and disciplined

Restart S&S with heavy bells

Thats it. Simple to say but hard to do in practice with a busy life.

What does it for you?
 
Well, first of all I try not to fall off the wagon. Why do you fall off?
Injury? Sicknes? Stress? Fatigue?

In most cases, changing plans and getting 10 minutes of maintenance work in, is usually enough to stay in the game for a few weeks until time/energy/health allow for more training again.

For example, when the weather was particularly bad in Winter and I was having one cold after another, I switched to easy jogging in my living room, listening to a podcast. Of course, this is not "the real thing", but it keeps my feet and calves adapted to running, and is much better than nothing.

Or I will switch from a OTM protocol and just get some timeless sets of LCCJs or Swings in, often while cooking, cutting volume in half or so.
 
Honestly whatever I feel like is going to help keep me motivated and fit with my life schedule best.

I really like PTTP for this reason.

-quick workouts so if I’m busy I have no excuses.
-frequent practice 5 days a week so a great way to build back into a habit of training.
-many intelligent progression options to work my way back into shape quickly without much risk of injury.

A couple other options I like depending on my situation. Is just working to a comfortable
5 training rep max, 3TRM or 1TRM 3-5 days a week. And if I have time some back off sets.

I will also on occasion use density type programs. Example: put 15 minutes on the clock select a rep range and do as many sets as I can in the allotted time. Next session trying to beat it.
 
thegoldengod said:
to start seeing quick gains
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thegoldengod said:
Restart S&S with heavy bells
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I could be off base so please forgive me if so, but the two phrases quoted above suggest to me that you tend to go "all in" after a layoff. Much like someone who finally decides to do something about their diet or weight loss will go "all in" on a severely restrictive diet.

For most people, easing in and devloping a sustainable practice will yeild better results in the long term.

Consider that each time you re-start hard core, your brain remembers that.... It develops some natural resistance to it. It becomes harder to meet your own expectations, and harder to "get back on the wagon."

Just food for thought that may apply to some people, if not everyone.
 
I find when motivation is waning, a round of Tactical Barbell base building gets me back on track. It’s probably because it’s 8 weeks of conditioning with only 6 strength building sessions in the last 3 weeks. The rest of the time is LSS and strength endurance (20 to 50 reps). It probably resets my central nervous system.
 
I recently aggravated an old injury and couldn’t work out for several weeks. When it was finally healed enough to begin training again, I am on Day 14/21 of the Stew Smith Foundational Reset from his Tactical Fitness for 40+ series. It is incredibly useful for me personally as it’s 21 days straight of short workouts, reinstating the HABIT of exercise which is the most beneficial part of it in my opinion.
 
I had elbow surgery last month. The first thing I did, the day after my surgery, was to get a good walk in. Gets the endorphins flowing. Two weeks after surgery I was consistently working on mobility and doing farmers carries. One month after surgery I have started back with A&A training as of this morning. I was going to do Q&D, but A&A is really what I need so I will run A&A for the rest of the calendar year.

When I run A&A, on the minute for rounds of 5, I get my strength level up rather quickly and my conditioning comes back around quickly as well. Non-A&A days are some form of "cardio", either C2/Ski Erg sprints or long walks/rucks.
 
thegoldengod said:
For me goals are GPP and to avoid dad bod
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When the pandemic hit, I basically stopped exercising for over a year, other than walking my dog. I looked in the mirror one day and saw a full on dad bod. It crept up on me. To quote Ernest Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises, it happened (like so many things in life) "Two ways. Gradually and then suddenly."

In my mid-50s, the time off took a much bigger toll than it would when I was younger, both in pure deconditioning and in how quickly I was able to readjust to regular training and ramp back up.

My route back was Geoff Neupert's Dry Fighting Weight, plus taking up Nordic walking. I underbelled for my first run through DFW, so I was basically just going straight from presses to squats with very little rest over 30 minute sessions. I did some other stuff too, but that was the main focus of my training.

But like Boris said above, the real key was just starting to do something instead of nothing, reestablishing the habit and slowly building up work capacity (meaning not just conditioning to do more work but also the ability to recover, and being conservative enough with load and volume not to injure myself).
 
Usually, a little circuit:
Swings, Trap Bar Deadlift, Incline Press

Just start at 1 plate and work up adding weight till I get nearish a five rep max, so I will end up with about 3-5 rounds of the circuit. Keeping rest between circuits to a minimum. Once I get that going every other day or 3x per week I start feeling like getting back at other lifts and things.
 
Gratitude. I’m fortunate enough to have not yet had any major injuries or illnesses. I had a surgery in June after which my doc told me that my physical condition had made a significant difference in my recovery.

Gratitude that I am able to do what a lot of people cannot due to circumstances outside of their control: injuries, illnesses, or situations they were born with.

So after my surgery it was that gratitude plus a deep, burning love for training that put me back on the horse.
 
I just do double KB press and double KB front squat together similar to dry fighting weight but less demanding (less pressing) and finish with KB ballistics for ten min swings, high pulls, and or snatch progressions . I just put 30 min on the clock and do whatever I can in that time for the press and squat and then rest and then ten min for the swings. I don't time rest periods but autoregulate. The fixed time period of less than an hour helps. That combination of 5RM low rep sets at higher volume helps control weight. The simplicity of the program helps mentally as I don't have to plan anything. Actually, I am doing this right now along with deadlifts once a week.
 
My jumping back on the wagon is generally determined by my status when jumping off and on again:) My health focus is now on endurance-strong, so my holistic approach is:

- Endurance: a few weeks of some easy short running program. I have previoulsy jumped straight to a 10km or other tough program. I may not feel the need to complete the program, just do enough till I'm comfortable again. This podrunner is the easiest 9 week program which ticks all the important good-running-habbits boxes.

First Day to 5K

- Strength (new to me for 19months): Personally, I like variation, and if I'm trying to work through the mental challenges of jumping back on board, then I would start with light variable sessions for a couple of weeks. Hand in hand with the running: a tougher KB day followed by an easy running day, or an easy KB on the day before the hard-run (heavy squats/lunges = heavy KB in this context). Toughest KB day on Saturdays followed by slow-long run on Sunday. Someone else may prefer to kick-off S&S or other protocal with a lighter KB then move to heavier weights as and when ready.

- Flexibility: I find the pain points when working through the above, and tackle it as best as I can.

- Diet: everything depends on diet! some good days, some bad days. More good days as the above progress through the weeks, but allowing for the bad days/weekends.

- Sleep and recovery. depends on the status when I tried to jump back on the wagon. I may train 3days/week or 5or7, depending on what took me off the wagon. and sleep appropriately. The minimalist approach, A+A, easy 5km plan, etc helped me to quickly get back to 6or7 days/week in my last re-onboarding in April this year.

Edit:
+100 to this:
WxHerk said:
Gratitude. I’m fortunate enough to
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have gone to hell and back over the past 2 years and still be privileged enough to jump back on board to achieve my fitness goals.
 
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I haven't stopped training in some fashion in years. That said, there are times when my focus changes and certain skills, strengths, or abilities get neglected for one reason or another. That said, I normally approach it like this, which isn't really different from what I do with a new client.

Step 1. What do I want to do now? List the training goal(s).
Step 2. Where am I at now? Establish a baseline.
Step 3. What are my constraints (e.g. time per session, sessions per week, equipment available, skills capable)? Find (or develop) a training plan.

Even for folks returning to training, starting light and doing a short linear progression is usually worth it.
 
thegoldengod said:
For me goals are GPP and to avoid dad bod
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Pick a more specific goal. The choices are endless: bodyweight target, body composition target, a new PR in a lift, a new RM in a lift, get up on a Saturday morning and walk to the next town, have a cup of coffee, and walk home (or walk to the next town and have your significant other or some friends meet you for that cup of coffee and drive you home). Enter a competition, even if it's an informal one with friends or co-workers. Have something to aim for and then go about hitting your target.

IMHO, it doesn't matter if your target is a year or two away - if you've selected it, it'll be in your mind and have an effect on what you do.

-S-
 
On the subject of goals, I have found it very useful and important to define a measurable goal using whatever metric that is important to you. A BF%, a goal body weight, a rep max on the lift of your choice, etc. Then you can know what you are shooting for and make a more defined plan of how to get there.

On the topic of falling off the wagon of exercise, I am well experienced. I find that it's very important to set the bar low for getting back on top of it. Just work out for 10 minutes a day. Anyone can do that. Go for a 30-minute walk. Do a S&S session with an easy weight. This makes it as easy as possible to start and removes your ability to create excuses which would otherwise stop you from beginning the process again. Once the ball is rolling it's easy to add more intensity.
 
Ben Strong said:
On the subject of goals, I have found it very useful and important to define a measurable goal using whatever metric that is important to you. A BF%, a goal body weight, a rep max on the lift of your choice, etc. Then you can know what you are shooting for and make a more defined plan of how to get there.

On the topic of falling off the wagon of exercise, I am well experienced. I find that it's very important to set the bar low for getting back on top of it. Just work out for 10 minutes a day. Anyone can do that. Go for a 30-minute walk. Do a S&S session with an easy weight. This makes it as easy as possible to start and removes your ability to create excuses which would otherwise stop you from beginning the process again. Once the ball is rolling it's easy to add more intensity.
Click to expand...
Even easier, I do a break in week of nothing but light TGUs to iron out the rust before going back into S&S.
 
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