The good news - muscle memory

As someone who has trained before, the good news is your muscle ‘memory’ remains for a long time, so the healthier and better shape you were in to begin with means the less time it will take to get back to where you want to be!  This is because your muscle fibres “remember” previous training movements so that when you get back to exercising after a long-lasting layoff, you are able regain lost muscle with ease!

​Naturally, the longer you go without exercise, the longer the process of recovery but if you follow these guidelines, you will help you get back to feeling healthy and vibrant in no time. It will help you immensely if you lower your expectations at the start, as to begin with you may feel a little ‘rusty’ and sluggish. By reducing the pressure on yourself, you may be less inclined to feel frustrated and quit!
Gradually ease back into your workouts to avoid injury. 
Slowly build up to a less-intense version of your regular workout, before ploughing into the ‘intense’ version you were performing before your respite. Keep intensity low (around 50-60% of your perceived ability). Gradually increase intensity and resistance as your body becomes accustomed to your new regime.
Patience and dedication are crucial, remember, you can regain your fitness, it just needs time and investment.  Small setbacks and minor blips are just part and parcel of your quest for healthy active lifestyle.

As you slowly but surely ease back into exercise, it is vital that you consider that your time away from training might have meant not only a reduction in the amount of exercise you performed, but potentially the amount of movement you may have performed on a daily basis. 

What is the difference I hear you say! 
I think we all have a rough idea of what a lack of exercise means, but a lack of movement has just as much, if not greater impact on our body. If our muscles, bones, connective tissue, and joints are not shown the range of movements they would or should perform daily, the implication being for many, particularly the aging generation is huge. This lack of movement may create a restriction in the range movement in the joints, (rustiness!) which affects mobility, balance, creates weakness and possibly pain.

With movement and exercise, its rather like seasoning, too little or too much spoils the dish, apply the right amount and et voila!