Back to Basics!
Starting to exercise again after taking a break can seem a little daunting. Especially if it’s been a long time. However, if you commit to exercising as part of your daily and weekly routines, you’ll quickly see the benefits for your mental health and physical health. And, long term, you’ll be so glad you did!
From dipping your toe in by starting slowly to tracking progress to see how far you’ve come, here’s how to get back into exercise.
Do something every day
There are so many decisions to make every day. Get up on the sound of the alarm vs hitting the snooze button. Hearty breakfast vs coffee and a bit of toast. Deodorant vs antiperspirant. Take exercise vs don’t. All you have to do to get the ball rolling is answer the last challenge with a big YES!
You won’t be running a 5k straight away, or spending an hour lifting weights – but committing to doing something every day will get you on the road to where you want to be. Start slow but don’t skip a day and very soon, exercise will be part of your daily routine.
Make a plan
Fail to plan, plan to fail. It’s one of those sayings that just so happens to be true!
The simple process of writing down a plan is very motivating in itself and it makes your exercise regime easier to tick off.
The last thing you want to do is waste time trying to figure out what you’ve got to do each day, so just check your schedule and off you go. With a clear plan you can simply read what’s on the agenda and do it.
Build up slowly
There are two risks when it comes to throwing yourself into hard exercise after a break. One is demotivation if you set unrealistic targets. And two is risk of injury. If you try to do a long run, heavy weights session or anything else that causes more pain that pleasure from the outset, you’re more likely to quit sooner.
Taking time to incrementally build up the intensity and duration of workouts will not only help you stay motivated, but it’ll also help prevent injury. Step by step you’ll get faster, stronger, fitter!
Monitor your progress
The final tip is to monitor your progress, which ties everything together nicely. There are apps you can use to track your workouts, and they’ll do all the hard work logging your efforts. Some even send you a boosting email when you’ve achieved a goal.
Or you can simply do it yourself. By doing so you’ll see how worthwhile it was answering that original question. Not the decision between deodorant vs antiperspirant – the workout one!
As you can see, when you break it down, returning to exercise doesn’t have to be this daunting thing. Put these tips into action and you’ll be and you’ll be reaping the rewards in no time.
