10 TIPS ON HOW TO GET BACK TO EXERCISE AFTER A BREAK

Getting back into exercise after an illness or an injury or even just a break is tough. I know. Other than a couple of odd sessions, I haven’t exercised properly in 8 months. 8 months! How nuts is that given that I’ve hardly taken a day off since I was about 19 and I owned a gym for over 2 years. I hate that I let it happen but I got a wee bit unwell. I’ll tell you all about that another day but for now, I wasn’t well enough to consistently work out.

Confession time. I reckon I could have started back 2 months before I did but I didn’t want to. My body knew it wanted to get fit again but my head had other thoughts; my head was just not in the game. Even though I wake up early every morning and before my alarm, I still switched my alarm off and said to myself “tomorrow”. “Tomorrow” became about 2 months from the day I said I was definitely going to start back. Yes, I battled for about 2 months before I just said to myself “no more. I’m doing this”.

Here’s how to get back into exercise.

1.    PUT YOURSELF ON AUTOPILOT

Put yourself on autopilot. No questions. No head debates. Just do it.

DO NOT CHECK ANYTHING ON YOUR PHONE! DO NOT CHECK EMAILS, FACEBOOK etc.

Just get up and exercise before you do anything.

2.    HAVE FIXED BED AND WAKE-UP TIMES

Aim to be in bed by 10pm and to rise at 5am. If you follow this guidance, you can be done and showered by 5.30am. If you need to be on the move earlier, adjust your times accordingly. You get it done before you start coming up with excuses. If you leave it until later in the day, you might spend the day looking for excuses and believe me, they’re easy to find.

3.    EXERCISE FIRST THING IN THE MORNING

Make the conscious decision to get up early in the morning and get your exercise done. I hate working out in the morning. I know how tough it is but once you’ve been going for a couple of weeks and you are feeling the benefit, it will become a habit. You actually feel quite relaxed and accomplished because you have ticked that thing off the “to do” list. This sets up a positive frame of mind for the rest of the day. To me, that’s a major win because you get to tackle the rest of the day on a high. No whinging in the kitchen as you get your coffee.

4.    FIND A MANTRA

Find a positive mantra to repeat every morning when you wake up. When I wake-up, I say the words “I am going to feel so good when I get this done. Let’s do it”. Say your mantra out loud if you need to and repeat it. It’s kind of like telling yourself a story. Put it like this, you can’t say something and be simultaneously thinking something different. Go on, try it. Think about pears and repeat the word, “orange” over and over.

5.    SCHEDULE YOUR WORKOUTS IN ADVANCE

Schedule 20 minutes each day for your workout. Yes, 20 minutes. That’s it. That’s all you need. Too many of us go back hard and we get sore and discouraged because it’s tough. 20 minutes is enough to feel it but without feeling overwhelmed.

Stop at 20 minutes even on the days you feel that you can go longer. After 6 to 8 weeks, you can start to challenge yourself more. You don’t want to injure or sicken yourself. We’re motivating you on your journey to consistency.

Schedule your 20 minute workouts into your diary for the whole month so that it becomes part of your day.

Schedule 5 days of workouts per week and put 2 days down as “rest” days.

Remember too that 20 minutes can be intense if you want it to be. I tried to be a hero in my first week back and felt sick 15 minutes in.

6.    PREPARE YOUR WORKOUTS IN ADVANCE

Program in exactly what workout you will do each day. As I said, no thinking. Be on autopilot.

7.    MOVE YOUR ALARM AWAY FROM YOUR BEDSIDE

Move your alarm clock away from your bedside so that you have no option but to get out of bed and switch it off.

8.    SET OUT YOUR WORKOUT CLOTHES THE NIGHT BEFORE

Set out you clothes the night before so they’re there, waiting for you.

9.    TAKE PICTURES

Take a picture of yourself at day 1 to track progress. For me, this is not about weight loss, it’s about getting my muscle definition back. It’s amazing how quickly it disappears.

10. CONGRATULATE YOURSELF

When you’re done, tell yourself how good you feel; how accomplished you feel. Smile, drink at least 8oz of warm water with a squeeze of fresh lemon and have a cool shower (cold if you can) and go about your day.

Honestly, if you want to be the best at what you do and have the confidence to take yourself to the next level, feeling good within yourself is a must. Feeling fit and healthy is a major part of that process.

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