4 Rules When Starting a Workout Routine

I was driving home from a pure barre class this past Saturday morning, and I thought about my weekly workouts. I had just bought a new class pass to Pure Barre and was thinking about all of the different studios/gyms/workout classes I have memberships to that I use on a weekly basis. 

It got me to thinking more about my overall workout routine, how drastically it has changed over the past couple of years, and how many different workouts I currently do, have done and tried. 

Today I thought I would share a bit with you about the different types of workouts I do, and my overall philosophy around working out.  

Starting a workout routine can be tricky and overwhelming when you are first getting started, but that challenge of finding that perfect routine never goes away. Throughout your journey, you will continue to change what you do based on the season of life you are in, and what you are loving or hating at that point in time. Like I said before, I change my work out daily and have changed my routine more times than I can count in my lifetime. 

Though, throughout my workout journey thus far, I have come up with 4 main rules that have remained the same. I try to live by and stick to these 4 rules regardless of the season of life I am in. 

There is no ‘one way’ or ‘right way’ of doing things.

We all have different, unique and individual bodies. Therefore the workouts we do and what works best for our bodies, will and should also be very different, unique and individual to our individual selves. These routines will also change over time as our bodies change.

Earlier this week I was talking to my friend about how she got through a hard time and she said, “There just isn’t one way or one thing that helped me.” Even though we were talking about drastically different subjects, it made me think about the overarching thought of “there isn’t just one way or one thing.”  

I believe this to be true in so many areas of our lives. When it comes to reaching a goal, getting ahead at work, staying in shape, being in a relationship, there isn’t just one right way of getting to that end result. There are multiple different ways of getting there. One way might just work better for you than it does someone else and vise versa. Don’t judge yourself or compare yourself to others on this journey.

Give yourself grace and time to try new things to see what feels best for you. There is no ‘one way’ or ‘right way’ of doing things.

Change up your workouts.

As I had mentioned before with the multiple gyms I am a part of, I am constantly changing my workouts on a daily basis.

I teach barre and take a different type of barre class from my best friend Kaitlyn. I take yoga classes from my sister and then at a different studio with my favorite teacher Lisa. I take an OrangeTheory class every week to get a HITT workout in, and I walk in the morning or at lunch when I can. I don’t just do ONE thing, I do and try multiple things all the time to keep my body and mind guessing what’s coming next.  

One of the main reasons I change my workouts so much is so that I don’t “plateau”.

In the workout world, plateauing in your workout is when you are no longer challenged by what you are doing, so it no longer has the same effect on your body as the way it did in the beginning. Think about when you first start trying to ride a bike it’s hard at first. You sweat and fall, but then it clicks, becomes easy, and you don’t have to think about it anymore. 

That’s the same with working out.  When your body repeatedly does one type of work out your body gets used to it, and good at it, so then it starts burning fewer calories because the workout routine is not as difficult as it once was. 

When you are constantly changing up your work out your body and mind are in this constant guessing game of how to adapt and recover. Every time your body tries something new it is facing a new challenge it needs to overcome, which keeps it working harder. 

Pick workouts that you actually enjoy doing.

When I first started working out on a regular basis I had this idea in my head that workouts had to be hard and that I would never really enjoy them. Which I think is a stigma that many people have towards working out today. If someone talks about “going to the gym,'' they rarely sound excited about it and oftentimes say it grudgingly with a frown on their face. So it makes sense I naturally associated working out with bad vibes. 

At first, I did the classic, go to the gym, lift some weights, do a bit of cardio and then I would leave. I would generally do the same thing every day and it was just so boring and I really didn’t enjoy doing it. I just did it because I knew that working out is important for your body.

Then I decided to try some different classes at a local studio, I tried spin classes, and then I tried yoga, and then I tried barre, and I came to realize I actually really liked taking classes. I liked it WAY more than working out alone started actually looking forward to going.

Once you get bored with your workouts or straight up don’t like doing it anymore, it becomes more of a chore.  One thing I never want is my working out to feel like a chore or forced because then I am pushing myself to do it rather than being pulled to it.  Actually enjoying what you do is so important to keep you on track and showing up for the workouts every day. 

Always keep at it and never give up, the results will come. 

This is probably the most important lesson I have learned in life and in any new routine, I try. Whether your fitness goals are for mental health, physical health, to win a race, get to a certain jean size, or just to feel good.  Keeping at a consistent workout routine is the most important lesson you can take away from this blog because the results WILL come and always come in time. 

Giving up on or saying no to a workout is legitimately the easiest thing anyone can do every single day. You can think of any excuse imaginable to not do it, and it’s the ONLY time in your life when it’s acceptable to say, “I just don’t want to” and people just shrug it off and don't give you a hard time. 

Working out is tough, and it’s even tougher to stick it out and show up every single day. But remember, you are showing up for YOURSELF every day.  You will come to seasons in your life when you have to remind yourself that the results will come and it will always pay off. But more than that, it’s because YOU are worth it. You are worth the extra mile, literally and figuratively ;).

And I promise you, even when it doesn’t feel like it, the results will come. They always do, they just come WAAAYYYYYYYYYY later than we want them too. So keep at it, every day and you will see. 

Moving your body is so incredibly important for your health. When taking the first step on that health journey, or if you are starting over, I find that there can be a lot of confusion and uncertainty around what you should be doing. To calm those fears, I wanted to give you my 4 main rules to working out. Simple, easy rules to follow to help just get yourself out there and get started. 

Remember, what this looks like is going to be drastically different for each person in each stage of their lives. In some seasons we can try more and in other seasons we can barely get by. But as long as you are out there moving your body and trying new things, you will feel great and then the results will follow.