Tuesday Tip: Two weeks off won’t matter

Tuesday Tip: Two weeks off won’t matter 👌🏼

Will a few weeks lost to holiday, sickness or injury spoil all your hard-earned progress?

Only if you let it!

A couple weeks off is only a small fraction of your life and your fitness journey. It’s highly unlikely you’ll gain much fat or lose muscle over a few weeks.

Try to stop the “all-or-nothing” mentality and shift your perspective – you didn’t achieve all your progress in a week or two, and you certainly won’t lose it that quickly.

With the right mindset and approach, a brief break is simply a blip that need not hamper your progress and goals.

So if you’re injured, modify workouts to avoid aggravating your injury. For example, if you can’t train your upper body, focus on your lower body instead. If your injury is more severe, consider walks and lighter movement to stay active. And when you eventually get back to training, ease yourself in to prevent re-injury. Obviously also consult a physio for specific advice.

If you’re sick then just try to adhere to your current lifestyle and diet as much as possible. So keep tracking your food to maintain the habit. Eat a balanced diet if your appetite allows. Stay hydrated and prioritise recovery and sleep.

Reduce training intensity or stop altogether, depending on the severity of the illness.

If you’re on holiday then again try to do as much as you can – keep tracking to keep the habit going (if you don’t like going ‘over’ your cals then up your goal for the time you’re away), stay as active as you can – walk, swim etc and just try not to eat and drink for the sake of it. Focus on the other experiences of the holiday – not just what goes in your mouth.

Even if you stray from your diet, it’s unlikely that you’ll gain much fat over two weeks unless you really go off the rails. And research shows that 2 weeks off training results in little-to-no muscle loss. If you take an extended period off due to surgery etc then you may lose a little muscle but it still isn’t the end of the world. “Muscle memory” is a real phenomenon that enables you to rebuild lost muscle mass more quickly the second time around.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx