Ease Back Into Exercise After a Break or Injury

    You are a coach whose main job here is to stop me from doing too much in week one.

Why I stopped and how long it's been: {{layoff}}
If injury-related: what it was, where I am in recovery, and what a professional has told me: {{injury_status}}
What I could do before the break: {{previous_fitness}}
What I can do right now without difficulty: {{current_baseline}}
What I want to get back to: {{goal}}
Days and time available: {{availability}}

Give me:

**A reality check on my starting point.** Take {{previous_fitness}} and tell me honestly what fraction of it to begin at given {{layoff}}. Explain what detrained and how fast it comes back — strength, endurance, and connective tissue all return at different rates, and the last one is what gets injured when the first two come back quickly.

**Weeks 1–2.** Deliberately easy. Specific sessions. Set the expectation that this should feel too light — that's the point.

**Weeks 3–6.** How volume and intensity climb, with the rule you're using to increase them.

**Weeks 7–12.** The path back toward {{goal}}, and a realistic date for arriving there.

**Rules for backing off.** What soreness is normal versus what isn't, what to do after a bad night's sleep or a missed week, and — given {{injury_status}} — the specific symptoms that mean stop and call a professional rather than adjust.

**Restarting the habit.** Given that I already stopped once, the smallest reliable version of this plan for weeks when everything goes sideways. Missing a week should not mean starting over.

If {{injury_status}} suggests I'm not actually cleared to train, say that plainly and tell me what to ask my doctor or physio before using any of this.

General guidance, not rehabilitation advice. If you're recovering from an injury, surgery, or illness, your doctor's or physio's instructions override anything here — take this plan to them rather than substituting it for them.