How to start working out again when it has been years
By Anubhav··6 min read
When you start working out again after years off, start with less than you used to do. Two full body sessions a week, 30 to 40 minutes each, at least a day apart. Four or five movements a session, two or three sets of 10 to 12 reps, at a weight you can control comfortably, which in our experience is often around half of what someone used to lift. Hold those numbers for two weeks, then move to three sessions once two feel manageable, and add a little weight once you can do one or two reps more than planned. Expect to be sore for the first week or two, and, in our experience, to feel like yourself in training again somewhere around four to six weeks.
Why the first month is about letting your body catch up
Most of the people we coach through a restart used to train properly. They know their way around a gym, and somewhere in their head is a set of numbers from the last time they were fit. Those numbers are useful history, and a good target for later.
The American College of Sports Medicine puts it plainly in its position stand on progression in resistance training: for programming purposes, anyone who has not trained for several years is treated as a novice again. Novice there describes what your body is ready for now. Everything you already know about training still counts.
In our experience the muscles come back quickest. Joints, tendons and the smaller stabilising muscles take longer to catch up, and they are usually what sets the pace in the first month.
If you have not exercised for some time, or you have medical conditions or concerns, the NHS suggests speaking to your GP first, and we would say the same.
How often should you train when you start exercising again?
Two full body sessions a week is enough to begin with, and it is enough to make measurable progress. Harvard Health’s guide to starting strength training says exactly that, and suggests leaving at least 48 hours between sessions, with three to four days before you work the same muscles hard again. Two sessions a week gives you that naturally.
Once two sessions have felt manageable for a couple of weeks, move to three. That is where public health guidance points too: the CDC and the NHS both recommend strengthening work on at least two days a week, alongside at least 150 minutes of moderate activity. A brisk walk on the days in between counts towards that.
If your week is unpredictable, set a floor and a target. Two sessions is the floor, three is the target, and a week that only manages the floor is still a good week. The US Physical Activity Guidelines make the same point in plain words: some physical activity is better than none.
How hard should the first sessions be?
Lighter than your memory would like. Treat the first session as a test. Pick four or five movements that cover the basics, a squat, a hinge, a push, a pull and a carry, and for each one find a weight you can control for 10 to 12 reps with a couple left in reserve. In our experience that lands somewhere around half of what someone used to lift. Two or three sets of each, and you are done.
The ACSM position stand puts novice loads at an 8 to 12 repetition maximum, so 10 to 12 reps with a couple in reserve sits deliberately on the light side of that. It also gives the rule for when to add weight: increase the load by 2 to 10 percent once you can do one or two reps more than planned. Hold each week’s numbers for the whole week, and change one thing at a time, whether that is a set, a session or a little more weight.
How sore should you expect to be?
Sore, and it is normal. Delayed onset muscle soreness is the deep ache that arrives one to three days after exercise your body is not used to, which after years away is most exercise. Cleveland Clinic’s explainer says it should feel a little better each day and rarely lasts more than five. It is spread across the muscle, and it fades a little more each week as your body adapts.
Pain is different. Cleveland Clinic’s list of reasons to see a healthcare provider is short: pain that lasts more than a week, pain that feels sharp and constant, severe swelling around a muscle, or urine that is unusually dark. Any of those is worth having looked at rather than trained through. In the US the American Physical Therapy Association’s ChoosePT site can find you a physical therapist, in the UK the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy lists chartered physios near you, and in the UAE the Ministry of Health and Prevention’s directory of licensed professionals lets you check that a practitioner holds a current licence.
Some symptoms mean stopping there and then. Victoria’s Better Health Channel lists chest pain, pain in the neck, jaw or arm, extreme breathlessness, and a very rapid or irregular heartbeat during exercise as reasons to stop and seek medical help.
How long does it take to get back in shape after years off?
Faster than the first time, very probably, and the research on training breaks is encouraging. In a 2024 randomised trial at the University of Jyväskylä, adults new to lifting who took a ten week break after ten weeks of training were back at their pre-break strength and muscle size within about five weeks of restarting. A 2020 study of older men found strength back at its previous peak in under eight weeks after a twelve week break. Researchers often call this muscle memory, and part of it is simply that you still know how to do the movements: in one study, around 60 percent of the strength people had gained was still there after twenty weeks of no training at all.
Two caveats. Those people had trained for ten or twelve weeks before a break of weeks to months, so the strength they got back was a few months’ worth, and yours may be years on both counts. Treat faster than the first time as a reasonable expectation rather than a promise.
In our experience most people we coach feel like themselves in the gym again somewhere around four to six weeks, and visible change tends to follow around the three month mark.
What should the first two months look like?
Here is the shape of the first two months we would write for someone getting back into working out with a full calendar. It assumes you used to train, and that you have a gym or a few dumbbells. Sessions are 30 to 40 minutes including a proper warm up.
| Weeks | Sessions | Load | The point |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | Two full body sessions, a day or more apart. Walk on two or three of the other days. | Around half your old numbers, 10 to 12 controlled reps, two sets. | Relearn the movements and let the soreness come and go. |
| 3 to 4 | Three sessions if the first two weeks felt manageable. Otherwise stay on two. | Same weights, three sets. Add 2 to 10 percent to anything you got one or two extra reps on. | Get to the end of the month with every session done. |
| 5 to 8 | Three sessions. | Add one thing at a time: a little weight, a set, or a longer session. | This is where the fitness starts to build. |
What if you miss a week?
If a week collapses, and with a demanding job some will, repeat the week you were on and carry on from there. Two or three sessions a week, kept up for months, is what does the work, and the week you get back on is the one that matters.
Where a coach fits, if you want one
Everything above is doable on your own. Where a coach earns their place in a restart is in the decisions that are hard to make about yourself: which weight to start on when your memory says more, when to add the third session, when to train lightly through soreness and when to get something looked at, and how to rewrite a week that work has just rearranged.
If you are weighing up whether that means a coach online or a trainer at your gym, we have written about how to choose between an online fitness coach and a personal trainer, and you can see what a month of coaching with us looks like on our coaching page.