Right, let's talk about something that happens to pretty much everyone. You've had a lovely break. Maybe you travelled, maybe you just properly switched off for a bit. Either way, you're now staring down the barrel of getting back into your training routine and wondering why everything feels so much harder than it did a few weeks ago.
I'm Matt, and as a personal trainer and sports massage therapist, I see this pattern play out every single year. People come back from holidays fired up and ready to go, and then make the same mistakes that leave them sore, frustrated, or worse, injured.
The good news? These mistakes are completely avoidable. So before you lace up those trainers and attempt to pick up exactly where you left off, let me walk you through what NOT to do.
Mistake #1: Going All-In on Day One
This is the big one. And I get it, you're motivated, you've probably made some mental promises to yourself, and you want to prove that the break didn't set you back.
So what do you do? You walk into the gym and try to smash your full pre-holiday workout at the same intensity you were doing before.
Here's the reality: your body has been on holiday too. It's been adjusting to different sleep patterns, different foods, maybe sitting on planes or in cars for hours. Pushing hard on day one is a fast track to poor recovery, DOMS that lasts a week, or an injury that sidelines you completely.
The fix: Start at about 60-70% of your normal weight load. Focus on controlled reps and solid form rather than chasing numbers. Trust me, your body will thank you, and you'll actually be able to train again in a couple of days.
Mistake #2: Pretending Your Fitness Hasn't Changed
Look, I'm not here to make you feel bad. But we need to be honest with each other.
If you've had a week or two off (or longer), your fitness WILL have declined a bit. That's just how bodies work. Expecting to run the same distance, lift the same weight, or maintain the same intensity is setting yourself up for disappointment.
The fix: Reassess where you're at right now. Maybe you can only manage 10 minutes on the treadmill instead of 20. Maybe you need to drop 5-10kg off your lifts. That's absolutely fine. Meet your body where it is today, not where it was three weeks ago.
Mistake #3: Skipping Rest Days Because You "Need to Catch Up"
I hear this one a lot. "I've had enough rest, Matt, I need to make up for lost time!"
But here's the thing: jumping straight back into your full training frequency without adequate recovery is a recipe for overtraining. Your muscles need time to adapt again. Your nervous system needs to recalibrate. And if your sleep was disrupted over the holidays (which, let's be honest, it probably was), you're already starting at a deficit.
The fix: Take your first week easy. Maybe train three times instead of five. Prioritise sleep. Give your body the space it needs to actually recover between sessions. You'll build back faster this way, I promise.
Mistake #4: Forgetting About Mobility Work
After travel, long car journeys, or just generally being less active than usual, your body gets stiff. Your hips tighten up. Your shoulders round forward. Your lower back starts complaining.
And yet, most people skip straight to the "real" workout without addressing any of this first.
The fix: Add mobility drills and dynamic stretches into your warm-up, every single time. This is especially important after flights or long periods of sitting. If you've been following along with my posts, you'll know I bang on about mobility routines quite a bit. That's because they genuinely make a difference to how your body moves and feels.
Even 10 minutes of focused mobility work can help you avoid those niggly injuries that crop up when you least expect them.
Mistake #5: Comparing Yourself to Your Pre-Holiday Self
This one's more mental than physical, but it trips people up constantly.
You look in the mirror and think, "I've lost progress." You step on the scale and feel anxious. You compare your current performance to what you were doing before the break and feel like you've failed somehow.
Here's what I want you to remember: your body changes constantly. Always has, always will. A couple of weeks of different eating and less training is not a disaster. It's just life.
The fix: Focus on what you're doing NOW, not what you were doing before. Fitness is about long-term consistency, not short-term perfection. One holiday doesn't undo months of hard work, but beating yourself up about it might affect your motivation going forward.
Mistake #6: Punishing Yourself With Extreme Workouts or Diets
"Right, I ate loads over the break, so now I need to do double sessions and cut my calories in half to make up for it."
Please don't do this.
Crash diets and extreme workouts as "punishment" for enjoying yourself on holiday? That's not healthy physically or mentally. It delays your actual progress, tanks your energy, and builds a really unhealthy relationship with exercise.
The fix: Workouts and healthy meals are acts of self-respect: not consequences for having a good time. Take a balanced approach: focus on hydration and sleep first, then add light movement, then gradually return to your normal routine over about five days. No punishment required.
Mistake #7: Waiting Until You "Feel Motivated"
This is sneaky because it sounds so reasonable. "I'll get back to training when I feel ready. When I'm motivated."
But here's the truth that most people don't want to hear: motivation follows action, not the other way around.
If you wait until you feel like training, you might be waiting a very long time. The longer you stay away from the gym, the harder it becomes to go back. And that initial resistance? It's almost always worse than the actual workout.
The fix: Just start. Even if it's small. Even if it's just 20 minutes. Action creates momentum, and momentum creates motivation. You don't need to feel ready: you just need to begin.
The Bottom Line
Getting back into training after a break doesn't need to be dramatic. You don't need to prove anything to anyone (including yourself). You just need to be patient, be realistic, and listen to your body.
Start lighter than you think you need to. Build back gradually. Prioritise recovery. And for goodness sake, be kind to yourself in the process.
If you're looking for a bit more structure or accountability as you get back into things, working with a strength and conditioning coach can make a massive difference. Having someone in your corner who understands where you're at: and where you want to be: takes so much of the guesswork out of it.
And if you've been searching for "personal training near me" and wondering whether it's worth it, I'd say this is actually one of the best times to start. Coming back from a break with proper guidance means you're less likely to make these mistakes and more likely to build sustainable habits that stick.
Want to chat about what that might look like for you? Head over to my personal training page and let's figure out a plan that actually works for your life.
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