Use it or lose it.

Use it or lose it is a term thrown about in a lot of fitness journals.

What does it mean?

It means you can either use what you have, or do wont have it for much longer.

Let me explain.

I love deadlifts. They're my favorite exercise for a whole bunch of reasons, but mainly because it is by far, my strongest compound lift.

Six months ago I was able to lift nearly double my body weight for 5 reps, which was bloody hard to do. But then, as you know, I stopped using the gym and reverted to home workouts instead. This week I visited a gym again, and my deadlift had more than halved.

There were a few benefits to training at home, and its good got a bunch of different goals, but strength training is not one of them, and because I wasn't lifting heavy, I quickly lost strength. Why? Because my body didn't need to be as strong. I adapted a new type of training.

Its something to remember if you've taken time away from training. If miss a week or two, then its no big deal, but say you're injured, and spend a few weeks or even months away, then really really don't be tempted to go straight in for the same weights you used last time. Be prepared to have to work back up to it, and don't be disheartened during that first couple of weeks back, because progress will be faster the second time around.