How do you get fit again?

I don’t think there’s anything worse than feeling unfit.

Like when walking upstairs and it feels tough and you're out of breath, and all the things you used to manage now feeling a little bit slower.

It’s a horrid feeling. Frustrating even.

I had to give up running back in January because of my herniated disc L5/S1 diagnosis. Which has been a right pain in the a** (no pun intended, well maybe a little).

I let my fitness slip. Not because I wanted to, but because all I could manage were the bits I was doing, and I guess a small part of me was grieving not running, without even realising it.

I was told I could cycle again and I need my hill fix, so I decided to combine the two and build out my fitness again whilst I can’t run.

I have been strength training 3-4 times a week at the moment, which is a little different to how I used to train, but I’ve still shown up during my injury to make sure I stay strong and recover (without causing any more damage).

Because a journey is about adapting, not giving up. Making small changes to still make improvements.

I used to maintain my fitness with running and Hyrox style workouts each week alongside my strength.

But as running is off the table, I had to look at improving my cardio fitness a little differently.

Start where you are, not where you used to be

It would be easy for me to say ‘I used to be able to do that’ and try and go back to how I used to train.

The temptation is to jump straight back in and try to get back to where you were. I see it time and time again when people have had a few months (or more) off the gym or running and go straight back to what they used to do from zero.

If I just went back to what I used to do (obviously minus the running) thats just going to end up in burnout and potentially injuring myself more.

So For the first 12 weeks I have said:

🚵‍♂️ 1-2 Wattbike sessions a week (absolute minimum is 1), which is predominantly what I have done. There has been the odd week where I managed to hit 2 sessions.

⛰️ Walking my local hill, twice up and down (which is 1200ft elevation) at least once a week… I need my outdoors fix!

🏊 And the odd swimming session of a mile when I’ve been in Cheltenham (which I would never have managed if I didn’t have some fitness back).

So far, I have just ticked off week 8.

Why 12 weeks?

That doesn’t mean I plan get to week 12 and give up!

Because to see real progress, you need to give it time to adapt. To build any sort of fitness it needs structure, not just winging it and doing what I fancy. Having a structured programme lets you manage progress properly.

The blocks have an end. Each block has its own training purpose (thats where I as a coach do the work that you don’t need to worry about).

It’s to give me 12 weeks of structure. 12 weeks to build my fitness back up again. And then at the end of 12 weeks I will look at that goal and see how I can improve on that. That, for me at the moment will be adding in another session, whilst seeing my fitness improve.

This is probably the hardest part of returning to fitness. Your brain remembers what you used to be capable of, but your body needs time to rebuild its tolerance to training.

If you used to run 10k comfortably, that doesn’t necessarily mean 10k is the right place to start. If you used to spend an hour doing cardio, you might currently be better off doing 20–30 minutes.

And that’s OK.

The goal of the first few weeks isn’t to prove how fit you still are. It’s to create a base that you can build on.

Weeks 1-4: Building routine

This was about getting into some routine with it. My sessions haven’t been hours long, and most have been 30 minutes and building up gradually with some stamina sessions. Nothing too exhaustive, just building that tolerance back into the legs.

Weeks 5-8

This has been building on those session, with some tougher heart rate work, but shorter intensity. These were a mix of 30-40 minute sessions so increasing time a little bit but keeping that intensity in there.

Week 9-12

This is a peak phase where we will use those foundations from the 8 weeks to build some strong levels of endurance. Longer rides, more sustained efforts, make training more relevant to the goal (and this will be different for everybody depending what their goal is).

This is where I love being a Personal Trainer / coach and having that knowledge to write my own (and clients) plans, to get creative with that, my likes and using fitness principles.

The important thing is that the first 8 weeks build the platform; the final 4 weeks start pointing that fitness towards the goal.

Where I’m at now

I’ve already got PB’s for my improvements in fitness. My HR has already dropped lower (a sign I’ve improved my fitness) and I’m feeling so much better (and fitter again). Walking up a hill isn’t feeling such a struggle.

It’s not the fact I hit a PB, it’s the fact I can see and feel that I got fitter that I’m celebrating (and proud of). I don’t care about numbers and stats I care that my fitness improved, but we also need a bit of that data to enable us to see that.

We can sit and track every bit of data, but it’s about getting that fine line between the two. I’ll never forget Steven Bartlett a few months and his glass of wine and the data / stats bashing after it.

There’s a fine balance between the two places, and if you are constantly pressured by data, thats not a healthy lifestyle. You don’t need to track everything to improve your fitness and health.

What's next…

At the end of those 12 weeks, I'm not going to stop. I'll reassess where I am and decide what the next block needs to look like. If my goal has changed, the training changes with it. The 12 weeks have simply given me a foundation to build from.

And this is exactly what I would do with my clients too.

Why not just give up after 12 weeks once I hit my goal?

This is where a lot of people go wrong. They say they’re doing something for X weeks, then check out, they’re just counting down the weeks until they can finish (because thats what they’re focusing on mentally instead of the sustained progress), this is exactly what people do with dieting, they just check out each week slowly counting down to the end instead of looking at the habit they’ve actually built. They don’t give themselves the moment to enjoy it, because they’re just ticking off days until the 12 weeks are up.

Your journey shouldn’t have an expiration date. It should be something you enjoy day to day. Something that you look forward to doing, that you see progress with, but have flexibility with.

My week doesn’t look the same week in and out. I make sure I have my programme written so I know exactly what I’m doing when I walk into the gym (or on the bike), but that isn’t always on the same day. Some days that means swapping the gym for a swim instead because thats what I’d prefer to do.

The one thing I do do, is have a none negotiable to myself that I have to strength train a minimum of 3 days a week, no matter what days thats on. And those two cardio sessions, which are easy to slot in.

This is what works for me, and for you, it will probably look completely different, and thats ok.

If you’re rebuilding fitness after an injury or a break

There are a few things I’ve found useful when approaching a return to cardio. They’re not necessarily rules, but they’re principles that help keep the process manageable and, importantly, sustainable.

1. Start smaller than you think you need to

When you’ve had time away from training, it’s tempting to think you need to do enough to make up for the time you’ve missed. You don’t.

Twenty or thirty minutes of manageable cardio can be plenty when you’re rebuilding your base. You aren’t trying to prove how fit you are on day one. You’re giving your body a starting point that you can build from.

Starting too hard can give you a great first session and a terrible second week. I’d much rather finish a session knowing I could have done a little more than constantly push beyond what I’m currently ready for.

2. Work in blocks, rather than one long stretch

Rather than focusing on how quickly I can get back to my previous level, I’m working in four week blocks, with each block having a slightly different training purpose.

The overall plan is 12 weeks, but breaking it down into smaller blocks, known as periodisation, makes the process more manageable and gives me regular points to reassess.

Because you can’t just sit on a bike doing the same ride, lift the same weight for the same reps, or run at the same pace week after week and expect to get faster, fitter or stronger.

Your body needs a reason to adapt.

That doesn’t mean every session needs to be harder. It means gradually changing the demands of your training through duration, volume, resistance, intensity or specificity, so you’re continuing to progress.

At the end of each four week block, I can ask:

What has improved? What feels easier? How am I recovering? What can I increase? What’s the focus of the next block?

I’m not trying to get to the end of 12 weeks and think, ‘That’s done’. I’m using these 12 weeks to build a routine and a level of fitness to allow me to adapt to get even fitter.

The blocks have an end. The process doesn’t.

3. Find something that gives you a similar feeling to what you’ve lost

If you’re coming back from an injury, you might not be able to immediately do the activity you actually enjoy. That doesn’t mean you have to stop training altogether.

For me, that’s meant finding alternatives that give me some of the same feeling I used to get from running. At the moment, that might mean using a hill instead of running or my Wattbike instead of pounding the pavement.

It’s not about pretending they’re exactly the same. It’s about finding ways to keep developing my cardiovascular fitness while working within what I can currently tolerate.

If running is your goal but running isn’t currently an option, ask yourself: what can I do now that moves me towards that goal?

4. Chase consistency before intensity

Early on, simply showing up is a win. You don’t need every session to be hard. In fact, trying to make every session difficult can make it much harder to maintain the routine.

I’d rather build a pattern of training that I can repeat week after week than have a handful of brilliant sessions followed by a period where I need to recover from them.

Intensity has its place. But when you’re rebuilding, consistency gives you something to build on.

Thats why having a good coaching plan helps, not just winging your sessions.

5. Don’t put an expiration date on it

This is probably the biggest one. It’s easy to turn getting fit into another short term challenge. Four weeks. Six weeks. Twelve weeks. You set the target, work towards it and then, once you’ve reached it, you don’t really know what happens next.

That’s not what I want from this (or for my clients to have).

The four-week blocks I’m using aren’t four-week challenges. They’re simply a way of breaking a much bigger process into manageable pieces. The same applies to the 12 weeks. I’m using 12 weeks as a period to build, assess and see how far I can progress but I’m not planning to get to the end of week 12 and think, ‘Right, that’s fitness sorted. Time to stop’.

The point is to build a routine that continues beyond the initial goal. Because ultimately, getting fit again isn’t really about completing a programme. It’s about creating a level of fitness and a training routine that you can maintain as part of your life.

So give yourself a short-term target. Use four week blocks. Have something to work towards. But don’t give yourself an expiry date.

That’s why you need a plan, but with flexibility.