Let’s talk about something that doesn’t get enough air time in the fitness world—the challenge of being an “advanced” beginner.
You know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever taken a significant break from training, only to return and find that your skills are still sharp, but your body is throwing up a big, fat caution flag. It’s a strange space to be in, where your mind remembers exactly how to crush a workout, but your body is stuck in first gear. It’s frustrating, disorienting, and if you’re not careful, downright dangerous.
When someone’s fresh off the couch, just getting into the gym or trying CrossFit for the first time, there’s a built-in safety mechanism: they simply don’t know how to do a lot of things yet. That lack of skill and capacity acts as a natural regulator, keeping them from pushing too hard too soon. Their progression is slow, steady, and, most importantly, appropriate. Their body isn’t ready for the big weights or complex movements, and it lets them know in no uncertain terms.
But what happens when you’ve been around the block a few times? You’ve got the skills, the muscle memory, the experience. Your body knows how to move through a snatch, hit a heavy squat, or knock out a set of pull-ups, but after a long layoff—whether it’s due to injury, a schedule change, or something as life-changing as having a baby—those skills can become a double-edged sword. You know you can do it, but the real question is, should you?
That’s where the trouble starts. You see, an experienced athlete can write checks that their body can’t cash. They can jump back into the advanced stuff because their mind remembers how, but their strength, tissue resilience, and overall conditioning might not be up to the task. It’s a recipe for frustration, or worse, injury.
It’s a net positive to have those skills in your back pocket, but you’ve got to be smart about how you use them. After a long break, you need to take things “artificially” slow. This is where having a plan comes in handy—a plan that’s all about earning your way back to the full versions of movements, even if you technically can complete them right out of the gate.
One strategy I swear by is starting at the most basic scale when I reencounter a movement after a layoff. Let’s say it’s something like a handstand push-up. Sure, I know I can do it, but that doesn’t mean I should on day one. Instead, I’ll start with a scaled version—maybe it’s a pike push-up or using an elevated surface. If that goes well, the next time I see it in a workout, I’ll go one scale harder. The goal is to progress through 3-4 workouts, each time ramping up the difficulty, before I try the hardest version again. This approach gives my body time to rebuild the tissue tolerance, comfort, and control needed to go all-in safely.
When you’re just starting out, you’ve got no ego, no expectations. Everything is new, weird, and you’re just along for the ride. But when you return after a layoff, you’ve got to constantly fight those old expectations and that sneaky ego that wants you to be right back where you left off.
The trick is going in with eyes wide open. Acknowledge the challenge, and then meet it head-on with a plan that’s rooted in reality, not nostalgia. Disconnect from your ego and expectations, and reconnect with the process. The goal isn’t just to get back—it’s to get back better, stronger, and smarter than before.