Between work commitments, family obligations and social events, it may seem daunting—and downright impossible—to add anything else to your plate. As a result, people tend to sacrifice the one thing they might enjoy doing the least—exercise.
Perhaps it started with a busy week, and then one week turned into two and then before you knew it, you hadn’t visited the gym in a series of months. Whatever the culprit, there are ways to pull yourself out of a workout routine and create a lasting routine.
Find your motivation, then talk to a doctor
The thing about fitness is, you have to want it for yourself. Finding the motivation to get back to the gym and get healthy must come from within, says Jonathan Leary, founder of Remedy Place, a social wellness club. And it’s not just about finding the motivation, but about having the right kind of motivation to get in shape. Forget external motivators like looking nice in an outfit and say a little deeper, Leary says.
Take your time getting back into a routine
Just a short amount of time off from the gym can undo some of the health gains you’ve made, according to Bryant.
“A week of full inactivity is going to cause some detriment in your physical performance,” he says. A 2015 study published in the Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, for example, found that taking a break from physical activity for just two weeks can result in a rather substantial reduction of muscle strength and mass—and it can take even longer to gain it back.
Don’t change everything at once
When getting back into a fitness routine, you may be tempted to overwhelm your eating habits, too. Often times, people tend to fixate on making too many changes at once, says Bryant. Instead, “focus on one thing at a time,” he says. “Focus on just trying to re-establish an activity habit. The reason why I tell people to focus on how they feel is that too often people are focused on the wrong metric.”
Take a holistic approach to your workouts
Rather than logging a certain number of thousands and then calling it a day, it’s crucial to start thinking about your workouts holistically — that includes your cool down, stretching and recovery, too, experts say.
Redefine what exercise means
Perhaps the best news of all: you don’t necessarily have to join a gym or spend hours a day running outside to get a good workout. Rather, you can do it all in the comfort of your own home.
