[Closed] Longest period from 'Proper exercise' and getting back in to things?

Six and a half years ago I was a fat slob but hadn't noticed (or was in denial). I went on an exercise drive building up my cycling distance from nothing to 2-3 rides a week over the initial six months whilst also increasing my swimming (the times I went and distance I swum). I went from almost 90kg to 79.5kg in about 8months. Since then I have had a few periods of time not exercising which have ranged from between 2 and 8months. The most recent being mid December last year to the end of July this year. I didn't do nothing in that time but but not much. August this year I was getting heavy again, decided to cycle every day(including commuting) and see how many days I could get to. I got to 58  before I missed a day but by that time I was well established back in a routine of exercising and was back swimming regularly as well. I'm not counting the days anymore as I was getting a bit obsessive about it but I'm back to 80kg so much happier.

The breaks are a pattern that I've noticed over the years so I've become more relaxed about it and thus far I've always been able to break them relatively easily and get on top of my weight gain.

Genetics and age will play a part but your average training plan will give you an indication of how much for how long is necessary.  They are usually 8 to 12 weeks, 3 to 4 times a week.

I've found in training 3 times a week for an hour that week 6 feels like you are over the hump.

I didn’t exercise for about 2 yrs in late 30’s, mixture of kids, silly commute and not being bothered.

i then got Pneumonia which didn’t help.

Getting back in to exercise hurt more than I thought it would and took probably 2 yrs. It’s probably now mid 40’s that I feel back to a level of fitness.

Age makes it slower, more painful, you need to sleep more, more injury prone, but it’s worth it when you get back there

I took several months off proper exercise when my kids were babies (I did walking only), and also had time off after spinal surgery. I started off doing small amounts of exercise regularly and it was only a few weeks until I noticed my fitness returning. The main thing is not to go at it like a bull at a gate and get injured.

I had 6 years between marathons. Went from regular club runner, sub 1h30 half and on the cusp of a 3h20 marathon to just riding bikes. Decided to do the stirling marathon, after all a marathon that went almost by my house was too inviting. Trained for 6 months, followed a good plan but age coupled with so long out of it led to a couple injuries and being slow!  I scraped round in 3h45  (so a full minute per mile slower!) and was a complete mess at the end.

Biggest problem was in my head i was still fit.

Age, stress levels and commitment to training for me are the biggest deciders in how long it takes.

I’m about to find out after a bout of Sepsis and infected discitis. Nearly 3 months off the bike and no clear end in sight after first two days back at work and 6hrs ish of driving. Felt great before the commute! I spent probably 11 years becoming a slob and got to over 15 stone. Spent two years riding around which didn’t really do much as I just replaced the calories I burned. However I controlled my calories had a Fitbit purchased by my nearest (hint?) and walked 10000 plus steps everyday for 5 months and got to just under 12 stone. This made a world of difference to my riding and general fitness, whereby 40-50 k rides were relatively easy to complete, with a best to date of over 80k. If you want to get fitter you will. You might not be as fit as in your 20’s & 30’s (faster!) but may gain the ability to grind for hours on end at your own pace.

20 years amd counting.  Got hit with inflammatory arthritis at 30yrs and wheel-chaired/inactive 3-4 years.  Then barely active while attempting to work through all of the joint damage, atrophy, adhesions, etc.

To give an idea of prior fitness I cycled to work every day, hiked 30-40 miles most weekends and customarily cycled centuries for fun.  A solod 12 stone at 5' 10"

Following remission it took 5 years to get to a point where could walk 1/4 mile unaided.  10 years to be able to walk 7 miles with support.  Cycling was/is painful because of joint/nerve damage.  So no cycling as such for 10 years or so.  Was feeling confident in 2016 to begin increasing exercise as swimming was loosening me up. 20 years depressed activity and poor eating had added 40lbs to me.  Serious weight problem.  Hit the gym, bad induction and tore stuff up in groin (re-tore old injury) by misusing rowing machine.  Informed by 2 specialists that damage is inoperable.  Told to rest.  Two further years without cycling.  Driving me imsane. 1 x year minimal cycling (max 16 miles)  which brings me up to now.  This year I walked up a 3kft mountain with 25l pack, walked down the next morning and could still stand the day after.  Major progress!

Advice?  Work at stretches.  Always warm up.  Go slow at first.  Build core.  Vary sports/exercises.  See a well-referred sports physio for full body assessment if can afford it.  Highly recommended you do that.

In the last three months, the most exercise I’ve done is walking from one side of a cinema car park to the cinema. Then back 2.5 hrs later.

Stupid toes/foot.

Work related things where it was impossible to do any proper riding for months or years. Generally takes about 3 months to get moderately in shape, a year to get fully back up to speed.

Just had 18 months with only one ride per month average. Periods of up to four months without a ride at all.

Started regular again about five weeks ago. Was hard to go over an hour then, but already doing 3 - 4 hour rides now. Its surprising how quick it`ll come back.

Probably from being 16 and not having to do PE at school until being about 32 when I stopped being a big fat ****

Thanks a lot everyone for your inputs, much appreciated. Definitely helps to understand where everyone has been and as I say, I appreciate you sharing that with me. Incase you've had a little look on my previous thread posts I do suffer a bit with anxiety, i'm not as bad as the start of the year but still struggle a little with some things. Part of my worry is not knowing how to reapproach exercise after a long break due to the injury. When I first did it last December (I tore my ACL) I was sat around for about 4/5 weeks which didn't help but after that I was doing bits of physio so not been completely inactive but a long way from where I used to be. I'm building up to it more now as I deal with the anxiety more, just wondering what kind of time scale I may be looking at. I am 22 and about 5' 10" / 63kg too, part of my worry is anything happening due to being inactive for so long (Result of the anxiety) but as some of you mention its a long but steady process. Thanks again.

I don't think you need to be that worried at that age.Certainly not to the extent of overdoing it trying to recover more quickly.

Fitness will return quickly, and winter is the perfect time to be knocking out lots of very low intensity base training.

<p>Bloody hell, come back when you're 35, done the same thing and realised you can;t just throw yourself at things with no training anymore! Age makes a big difference, I reckon you'll be good in no time as compared to myself who is going to need more work.</p>

By around June 2016, I had been steadily gaining weight to ~95Kg and my only "proper exercise" outside delivering mail was seasonal commuting ~30 miles a week (done without Strava, hardly going for it either way), after my Xmas 2013 RTA. I then started a ruthless diet change to reach ~85Kg in January 2017, before starting a fitness cycling regime using Strava, typically doing ~45-60mins most days to begin with.

By May 2017 I had definitely got the bug, even though I had been using fatbike until this point mostly climbing local inclines, so I then bought my first road bike since the accident before discovering the South Downs categorised hills were less than an hour away (it had only taken me ~25 years to discover this !!!!!)..

Between commuting on the fatbike, riding the South Downs on the road bike, plus regular turbo trainer sessions Jan-Mar and the last few weeks,  I've done ~5600 miles and ~390,000 feet this year so far with an FTP of ~275W. There will be plenty on here with better stats, but considering where this journey all started and I'm almost 45, I shouldn't complain.

No exercise other than walking around from early 2012 to spring 2017. Had some problems I'd rather not discuss.

Defiantly feeling my age (40) doing running and cycling again and it's very humbling to get on a bike with absolutely no fitness. I have some reasonable base fitness now even after 6 weeks away working where I didn't have access to a bike. Hope to do some moderate group road rides next year and maybe some MTB. There was a point where I had resigned myself to never be able to ride again and I feel very lucky.

I returned to an exercise routine in June this year after doing nothing other than occasional rides for the last four years. I’m 41 and it’s been difficult but very rewarding. Doing an intense circuits class, boxing and a functional fitness small group PT with weight sessions thrown in when I can (not often).

Not weighed myself as personally i think it’s a crap way of judging things. I’ve gone back to a 30” waist, gone up a size in T-shirt’s etc and definitely feel fitter. The main difference has been recovery time which has drastically improved. As others have said, just take it easy to start with and have fun.

Just back from 2 years off. First year because my shoulder would pop out at the slightest provocation and the surgery had a long a waiting list, second year because the op to fix it had a 12 month recovery time. People get worse deals for sure, some of 'em in this very thread.

I started physio as soon as I could, privately as well as the NHS. The surgeon didn't like me doing that extra, but I had confidence in my guy and we didn't do anything I wasn't happy with. I think it helped a lot. After about 9 months I joined a quiet gym and switched from physio to a personal trainer who specialises in rehab - this was at the advice of my physio in fact.

I got officially free 'n cleared in mid-October but I'd gone on a couple of gentle off-road rides already by then and a fair bit of 5 mile commuting on the road bike. Now I'm working on making myself stronger than ever (I don't look like quite so much of a weedy nerd!) and trying to remember how to ride fast again. It's coming along reasonably but confidence through the rough steep stuff, speed in corners, jumps and drops - it's all taken a dip that I'll have to be a bit patient with. Had my first post-op crash at the weekend and punched a tree fairly hard with the affected arm, so surviving that intact was a bit of a confidence-builder.

I think the key is to not set too much pressure on yourself and be patient with progress, but at the same time try to keep at it, no lazy weeks. If you're not sure, and can afford it, asking a professional can help a lot - and getting my money's worth adds motivation. I've learned to be much more aware of my various bits 'n bobs, so if my shoulder's showing signs of tiredness I know to take it easy and maybe bail out of the ride soon. It gets noticeably better each time I'm out there.

Well that was a lot of writing, sorry about that!

Yep, I agree with everyone else.

Take it easy. Stay well withing the comfort zone, go for a nice relaxing pleasant ride.

Other things have to strengthen as well as the muscles. Tendons (and other things I am not sure about) need strengthening first, you don't want to strain stuff that would just set you back.

I was 10-12 years out (just life, you know?) then have been enjoying getting back to being me again.

I lost 20kg (was just kind of curious to know numbers but I agree, the number means nothing. Although I do find it amazing I was carrying the equivalent of 20 litres of water around with me) and am back to my normal ish weight again.

When I first got back on the bike, my legs were like wet lettuce. A mile was a struggle. So I just did lots of 1/2 mile trips until I got some strength back.