Hola from chilly-willy Minna-snow-da
Where it’s currently 10°F, the air hurts your face, and the forecast is basically Mother Nature whispering “hold my beer.”

Your favorite nerd just went full Mad Max: Road Warrior Edition — hammer down from Weatherford, TX back to the frozen north.
1,222 miles. Two days.
Black Sunshine ate asphalt like it owed her money.

Lots of windshield time.
Lots of caffeine.
Zero regrets.

Then… wham.

As my Aussie friends would say, I went “flat stick.”
Translation: absolutely wrecked.

For three nights straight I was sleeping 12 hours a pop.
Plus bonus power naps, courtesy of Synthetic Sleep / Disco Naps in the Shiftwave chair during the day.​

I basically hibernated like a stressed-out bear with a PhD.

Which brings us to today’s ranty sermon:

What the hell do you do when you finally drag your carcass back into the gym after time off?

Because I’ll be honest — I screwed this up hard in the past.
And yeah… it probably cranked my injury risk way higher than it needed to be.

The Problem: Load Spikes (aka How to Break Yourself Like an Amateur)

Enter the work of Dr. Tim Gabbett, who’s done phenomenal research on training load spikes.

The cliff notes, meathead edition:

If you jack up training load or volume too fast,
your injury risk skyrockets

Most sane programs avoid this:

• Volume ramps slowly
• Load waves up and down
• Mesocycles run ~6–9 weeks

All good.

But here’s the trap nobody talks about:

If you take extended time off…
your training load becomes a big fat ZERO.

And going from 0 → “just a moderate workout”?

Percentage-wise, that’s a massive spike.

Zero to three sets is an infinite percent increase, bro.

That’s why after ~5+ days off (my personal line in the sand), you don’t just jump back in like nothing happened — no matter how itchy you are to lift heavy things.

My Top 3 “Don’t Be an Idiot” Comeback Rules

1) Gradual (Yes, I Know Your Ego Hates This)

Do not sprint back to peak loading in a week.

Ease in.
Lighter loads.
​Give yourself at least a week — longer if the break was longer.

Your muscles might feel ready.
Your tendons and connective tissue absolutely are not.

They remember everything.
And they hold grudges.

2) More Sets, Less Weight (Volume Without Stupidity)

If a set feels meh at a weight?

Cool.
Do it again as a warm-up.

Same load.
Clean reps.
Better groove.

You get:

• Extra low-intensity volume
• More motor learning (because yes, you forget technique faster than you think)
• Way less injury risk

Also:
Take smaller jumps as you work up.

Big jumps are how you go from “feels okay” to “why is my shoulder screaming in Latin?”

3) Reach & Touch (But Don’t Camp There)

If everything feels good?

You can touch about 90% of your old load —
with lower reps.

Example from today:

Last heavier DB bench session was Nov 18 in South Padre —
90 lb dumbbells, 5 reps, a couple sets.

Down there I don’t push intensity hard — kiteboarding is the real event.

Today’s goal back home?

Only touch the 90s if everything felt dialed.

It did… mostly.
Last rep slowed down.

So I stopped at 4 reps.

No grinding.
No heroics.
No “just one more” stupidity.
No poop-face

First week back is about re-entry, not proving you’re still tough.

The Big Picture

Violent consistency doesn’t mean reckless consistency.

Train smart on the way back in and you:

• Lift longer
• Get injured less
• Keep stacking gainZ instead of rehab bills

That’s the move.

Try this approach next time life knocks you out of the gym for a bit — travel, sickness, work chaos, existential dread… whatever.

Let me know how it goes.

Much love,
– Dr. Mike

PS: If you’re feeling smoked after travel, bad sleep, or stress overload, recovery matters even more during re-entry weeks. Don’t out-lift your recovery and then act surprised when things go sideways.

PPS -When you are ready there are 3 ways you can work with me
1) Listen to one of my podcasts totally free HERE.
2) Read one of the tons of free articles I have on my site HERE.
3) Book a private 1 hour virtual call to ask me any questions. Cost is $250 and you can email Jodie HERE​

Selected References ​
​
Blanch, P., & Gabbett, T. J. (2016). Has the athlete trained enough to return to play safely? The acute:chronic workload ratio permits clinicians to quantify a player's risk of subsequent injury. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 50(8), 471-475.

Gabbett, T. J. (2000). Incidence, site, and nature of injuries in amateur rugby league over three consecutive seasons. Sports Medicine, 30(5), 393-399.

Gabbett, T. J. (2016). The training-injury prevention paradox: Should athletes be training smarter and harder? British Journal of Sports Medicine, 50(5), 273-280.

Gabbett, T. J. (2020a). How much? How fast? How soon? Three simple concepts for progressing training loads to minimize injury risk and enhance performance. Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, 50(10), 570-573.

Gabbett, T. J. (2020b). The training-performance puzzle: How can the past inform future training directions? Journal of Athletic Training, 55(9), 874-884.

Hulin, B. T., Gabbett, T. J., Blanch, P., Chapman, P., Bailey, D., & Orchard, J. W. (2014). Spikes in acute workload are associated with increased injury risk in elite cricket fast bowlers. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 48(8), 708-712.

Soligard, T., Schwellnus, M., Alonso, J. M., Bahr, R., Clarsen, B., Dijkstra, H. P., Gabbett, T., Gleeson, M., Hägglund, M., Hutchinson, M. R., Janse van Rensburg, C., Khan, K. M., Meeusen, R., Orchard, J. W., Pluim, B. M., Raftery, M., Budgett, R., & Engebretsen, L. (2016). How much is too much? (Part 1) International Olympic Committee consensus statement on load in sport and risk of injury. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 50(17), 1030-1041

Vanrenterghem, J., Nedergaard, N. J., Robinson, M. A., & Drust, B. (2017). Training load monitoring in team sports: A novel framework separating physiological and biomechanical load-adaptation pathways. Sports Medicine, 47(11), 2135-2142.

_____________________

Mike T Nelson CISSN, CSCS, MSME, PhD
Associate Professor, Carrick Institute
Owner, Extreme Human Performance, LLC
Editorial Board Member, STRONG Fitness Mag

Mike T Nelson is a PhD and not a physician or registered dietitian. The contents of this email should not be taken as medical advice. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any health problem - nor is it intended to replace the advice of a physician. Always consult your physician or qualified health professional on any matters regarding your health.

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