By Jeff Bayer

While you may have incredible internal motivation when it comes to sticking with your workout program, there are going to be some times when you have no choice but to take time away from your workout regime.

Whether it's because work demands are increasing, you're injured or you're just too focused on other aspects of your life, time away from the gym can actually work to your advantage if you're smart about it and know how to get back into your fitness routine once you're ready. Benefits of time off First, it's important to address the ways in which time away from the gym can actually help you. So many people are quick to jump to the conclusion that taking time off will leave them lazy, fat and extremely unfit. You will not lose all of your fitness gains over a span of a week; in fact, even if you took a whole month off, chances are the effects wouldn't be too extreme when you decide to get back into your fitness routine. One of the biggest benefits that this time away from the gym will provide you with is a complete chance to recover. While you should definitely take steps to ensure that your program is regularly interspersed with easy days and complete rest days, you still may not be fully recovering from week to week. A couple of weeks away from your fitness routine will allow your body that extra time to fully regenerate, and you might just find you that once you get back into your fitness routine, you'll feel stronger. Another benefit of taking time away from the gym is an increase in motivational levels. Going to the gym day in and day out can wear on you over time -- especially if you're continually doing the same thing over and over and not making weekly or monthly adjustments to your workouts. Two or three weeks off might be just what you need to get motivated. Finally, the last advantage to taking time away from the gym is that you'll reduce the risk of training addiction. This is somewhat tied into the first benefit, but takes it to an even greater extreme. Overtraining is a very serious issue and if you are not taking steps to prevent it, it can definitely creep up on you. Everyone should, theoretically speaking, take at least one full week of rest after every six or so months of training. So, if it's been a while since you did have time away from your fitness routine, this time off could come at the perfect time. getting back into things Now that we've discussed the benefits of time away from the gym, it's time to look at what you should be doing when you can get back into your fitness routine. Reduce your intensity The first week of getting back into your fitness routine, try cutting your intensity by about half to three-quarters. If you used to bench press with 200 pounds, now use 150 to 175. Keep in mind that this is just for the first week, so don't feel like you're backtracking. The reason you should downplay your regular routine is to reduce the chances of you becoming incredibly sore after just a day or two, preventing you from completing your week's worth of fitness training.

Whenever we take a break and then do a movement the body isn't used to, there will be some neuromuscular adaptations going on, which are more likely to increase muscle soreness the next day. You've likely experienced this before if you've picked up a movement you haven't done in a while (say changing lunges for split squats instead). The day after doing that new exercise, you may be struggling to get out of bed.

Once the week is up, then you can bump the weight back up to your normal level.

Take cardio slow

If you've taken time off from your regular cardio program and are trying to get back into it, expect a bit more of a setback than you would with weight training.

Generally, we lose our cardiovascular fitness faster than we lose our muscular strength. But not to worry, this cardiovascular fitness will come back relatively fast once you get back into your fitness routine.

When you first get back into your cardio routine, you should alternate periods at your old pace with periods at a slower pace. So, for example, if you used to run at a seven-mile-per-hour pace, now do five minutes at your original pace followed by five minutes at six miles per hour or reduce it even further and just walk for two to five minutes between sets of your regular pace. Alternate back and forth between these until the total session is completed, reducing the total time at the slower pace over a week or two until you are back to your normal cardio level.

If it's been a month or more since you've done any cardio activity at all, you might find that you have to go at the slower pace for a much longer portion of the workout than before or you may just need to do the entire session at a slower pace. Try not to become discouraged by this. Within a couple of weeks, you should be feeling better, and then you should fall back into your cardio groove.

Don't forget to stretch

To further reduce the chance that you experience a great deal of muscle soreness when you get back into your fitness routine, be sure to spend a little extra time after each session stretching.

The ideal time to stretch is while you are still warm, as your muscles are most limber at this point. You can do some general stretching immediately after your warm-up, before moving on to your weight lifting routine. However, afterward is when you really want to push your muscles a little more, and be sure to hold each stretch for 20 seconds or longer.

Remember your nutrition

Finally, when you get back to your fitness routine you must pay attention to your nutritional intake. If you've been cutting back on your total calorie intake while not exercising to account for the decrease in calories burned and prevent a weight gain, you need to be sure to add them back in your diet again.

Furthermore, if you've also been really watching your carb intake, and have been eating relatively low-carb meals while not exercising, you may want to bump up the carb volume a little over and above what you'd normally eat for two or three days after you get back into your fitness routine.

Chances are that your muscle glycogen stores are going to be running a bit low after a period of low-carb eating, so providing a little extra on top of what's needed to work out will help replenish them. This will help you to avoid suffering from fatigue during your workouts.

Get Back Into the Swing

So, if you've been away from your workout program for quite some time now, consider these points. If you've only been away a week or two, you might find that you come back without any problems at all and actually feel better than you did before the break. However, if you are coming off of a longer break, you will need to be slightly more patient with your body as it adjusts to the demands of exercise once again.