GET BACK ON TRACK

9 strategies to help you bounce back after slipping up
  • 18 Jul - 24 Jul, 2020
  • Mag The Weekly
  • FITNESS

Falling off the fitness bandwagon happens to the best of us. Because, well, life happens. You move, change jobs, go through a breakup, have a kid, have a second kid, get a dog, need to care for a family member, anything and everything can make the most dedicated exerciser stop working out.

If this is you, don’t beat yourself up. Instead, get back into it as soon as you can. The longer you take a break, the harder it is to come back. It’s like working out for first time again.

Here are nine expert ways to make your exercise comeback.

Force yourself

Time for some real talk. At first, you may just have to make yourself exercise. Consider writing down why you are exercising as well as the alternatives if you don’t. If you don’t work out, you’re not just maybe going to gain weight and not fit into your clothes, you are going to start setting yourself up for disease and aging poorly and all sort of other things; it’s not just aesthetics and vanity. But if you exercise, you’ll live longer, be there for your loved ones, feel better and more. Seeing that in black and white can help you stick to it, and after a week, you’ll start to feel better and want to keep working out.

Start small

Remember that something is better than nothing. You don’t need to do an hour right off the bat. Fifteen minutes is great. Then add five minutes each day you work out, and before you know it, you’re doing 30-60 minutes.

Find the time

“I have no time” may be the most-used excuse for not exercising. In some instances, you may just have to shift your schedule. Say you used to exercise after work but now have to get home to your baby and partner. See if you can fit in a workout in the morning or even during your lunch break.

Ease in

Don’t start where you left off weeks or months ago. That is a recipe for injury. Instead, use less weight for strength training and go at a slower pace for cardio. Exercise is stress on the body. And if you had a major life change, that’s also a major stressor. Your body needs time to adapt to this new physical stress.

Have a backup plan

No matter how hard you try, sometimes your schedule gets thrown off and your plans to hit yoga or do a few laps at the gym fall apart. Time for a Plan B – and streaming sites, DVDs and YouTube are great ones. You can find reputable trainers with quick, efficient workouts, many of which don’t even require equipment. Have your go-tos bookmarked or downloaded, and you are ready to go when Plan A is messed up.

Sidestep soreness

It’s inevitable that you will feel sore as you start to work out again. Don’t let feeling too sore keep you from exercising. Again, ease back in. Also remember to warm up and cool down. If you feel sore the next day, try foam rolling, gentle yoga or taking a walk. Some movement will help you feel better.

Make yourself accountable

The benefits of having a workout partner are well known. If you’re not sure how to find someone to keep you accountable so you stick to your new fitness plan, consider joining a challenge. Often these challenges have a Facebook page, a hashtag to use to find others on social media or forums where you can support others in your shoes and seek support from them. Plus, once you accomplish one challenge, you may want to keep doing more, which will help you make fitness a part of your lifestyle.

Be realistic

Face it: Going from zero to 100 overnight isn’t going to happen. If you set a lofty goal and don’t hit it, you may get down on yourself and ask ‘Why even bother?’ Rather than telling yourself that you will work out every day the first week back, set a smaller, more realistic goal. Maybe that’s exercising twice during the week and once on the weekend. Then when you hit that goal, you’ll feel better and it’ll be easier to commit to exercise on the long term.

Take it day by day

Often we see people get three or four days into a new exercise plan, then something happens and they miss a day or two – and they think, ‘Screw it’ and give up. Don’t beat yourself up if things don’t go as planned. If you forgot to brush your teeth one day, you wouldn’t decide to skip brushing them the next day. Get back into it as soon as you can.

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