How to get back to exercise after a long break
Life has a habit of derailing us sometimes and we find we need to take a break from our regular fitness routine. It could be a busy patch at work, an injury, having a baby or maybe a winter cosying up at home. Whatever the reason, getting back to exercise can become daunting and we worry about how we’ll ever manage to get to where we were before.
So let's look at how we can get you back to exercising and feeling happier and healthier, without overwhelming your mind or body.
Be kind to yourself
First things first; when you’re trying to get motivated to exercise again, be kind to yourself. Check that you’re not giving yourself a hard time for taking time off and where your body is currently at, as this can often exacerbate the situation by getting you down.
It’s natural to take breaks and is something we all do and should do. If you’re journeying from A to B, you can not expect to go in a straight line without any twists and turns. Our bodies and lives are far more complex than that and we need to allow for detours, picnic breaks or maybe even a completely new destination if needed.
But you might be thinking: but being hard on myself motivates me to get off the sofa and make changes?
Yeah, I get that. But I’d never encourage that as a starting place for looking after yourself. For a long-lasting, deep and healthy relationship with your body, your foundation wants to be built on kindness and understanding. Beating yourself up either simply doesn’t work or it leads to further destruction, upset and hurt that ripples throughout your life…so let's avoid that.
Instead, when starting to get going back to exercise, imagine you were talking to someone you love dearly and think about what you would say to them instead.
Maybe: Hey, don’t worry, it’s completely understandable why you needed a break. You’re doing great. Let’s just give it a try today and see what happens. Whatever you manage is an achievement.
So reflect on your self talk. If you are hearing harsh words then intersect them. Take a breath. Recognise that those harsh words are just a mechanism you’ve developed to try and help yourself (so don’t beat yourself up for doing that, either), but now your going to put that down and try something new. Picture someone you love and then use what you would say to them instead. This may feel a laboured process to begin with but with practice it will become second nature.
Note: If saying something loving is too much of a reach for you to begin with, maybe try taking a smaller step towards it instead by saying things like “I’m doing OK” or “I’m working on becoming more loving”. You can then build up with increasing your capacity for self-love over time - it’s not always easy so take your time if you need.
You are never starting from scratch
This is probably the number one thought that stops us starting up again; the feeling like we’ve slipped and fallen at the top of a hill and rolled all the way back to the bottom again.
It’s simply not true.
Think of learning a skill as a kid, like riding a bike. If you don’t ride one for 10 years you can still get back on and are able to do it, right? That’s muscle memory for you.
Our experiences are constantly forming memories, collecting data and storing information. Our mind-body is incredibly clever like that. This means you can jump back on your bike (or old exercise routine) and not feel like you’ve never done it before. Yes, granted you might not suddenly do your personal best, but it’s never as bad as we’d like to tell yourself.
You haven’t fallen to the bottom of the hill. You’ve just stopped climbing, enjoyed the view and maybe ventured round the other side for a bit. It’s all good. You can start from where you are whenever you wish too.
Mix things up
Before rushing back to your usual workout, just check in with why you took your break in the first place and whether it would help to actually change your routine instead.
What we don’t want to be doing is trying to crowbar an old routine into a life that has simply changed and has different needs. The calling you felt to have a break might have actually been from the type of exercise you were doing, not from exercise entirely.
Remember, exercise is just moving your body and it can look and feel as varied as we are.
Maybe the dark and cold of winter is what caused your break and you actually need to start mixing up your workouts to go with the change of the Seasons? Maybe indoor, softer sessions in the Winter and dynamic group outdoor classes in the Spring?
Or it might be a busy time at work that causes you to stop. When this happens you could focus on 15 min online workouts instead, avoiding overloading yourself with your usual hour in the gym.
If an injury is the issue, get creative about what else you could do. Maybe specific focused mobility work, deep core strengthening or more time playing with the kids?
In fact, variety is great for us, mentally and physically. Mixing up your routine gives you more knowledge, different skill sets and allows you to always have an exercise practice at hand, no matter what life throws at you.
So take a moment to be honest with where you’re at. Is there a need or lifestyle change that effects doing your usual routine? If so, what could you change about your routine right now that would mean you’d feel happier moving your body. Would it be the style of exercise? Shortening the workout time? Doing it without others or with others? Doing it less regularly?
Be honest and resourceful and empower yourself with the knowledge that you can make changes for yourself whenever you need.
Focus on the positives
When you want to feel motivated for exercising again, be honest with whether you are focusing on all the difficulties you might face, rather than the benefits. Focusing on the negatives will only add up to create a big ol’ mountain in your mind that you need to climb which will need a lot more willpower to get going.
Instead, let’s purposefully turn away from the mountain and create an enjoyable, easy downhill slope to where you want to go.
This means actively taking time to focus on all the positives you feel exercising, ready to intersect the negative ones.
So grab a pen and write down all of the benefits you have felt exercising (and you can add in any new ones you’d like to feel, too). Then to super charge motivation, close your eyes and picture yourself experiencing those benefits and all the ways they impact your life. Most importantly, focus on how you feel rather than the words. You’ll know you're doing it right as you should feel super happy!
Then rinse and repeat as many times as you like.
You may choose to schedule this mini visualisation session into your day like first thing in the morning when you wake up or before you go to bed (or even better, both). Maybe it would help to pin your list up somewhere you see it regularly or get creative and draw pictures or make a mode board.
Then without actively trying to change a thing, voila! You’ll start finding yourself naturally drawn to grabbing your trainers without any effort, getting you moving again in no time.
Take small steps at time
When we have a project to tackle, it is helpful to stop focusing on how to get to the end result but break it down into small, manageable steps.
So go gentle on yourself when you are getting back to exercise and start small. Choose to do something that feels like an easy win that can help you build up your confidence again.
How about something like:
15 minute dancing to your favourite tunes
20 min walk round the park with a friend
25 min online workout before breakfast
30 min walk to work instead of drive
45 min weekly class just once a week
Then once you are feeling good and well adapted to that first step, you can start building back up slowly until you're in full swing again (if that is what you want to do).
Don’t underestimate the power of small steps taken regularly to get to where you want to be. Going steady and being consistent isn't sexy, but it is the key to forming a healthy relationship with exercise that allows long lasting results.
Get support
We’re not meant to do everything alone. A problem shared is a problem halved so if you are really struggling to get yourself out of a rut, call upon your resources.
This might look like calling a friend that’s in a similar boat to you and seeing if they fancied meeting up to exercise together on a regular basis.
It might just be telling the people you live with what your aims are and allowing them to encourage you or hold you accountable.
It could be reaching out to a fitness professional to support you 1-1 or join a group class so you can have the support of your peers.
Whatever feels right to you, know that you are not alone with finding this hard and you don’t need to manage it all by yourself. Even just a quick chat with someone you know cares about you and is up for listening, can can work wonders for relieving overwhelm and helping you feel ready to go.
Loosen your grip on your goals
Goals are wonderful and can be super motivating and encouraging but if inflexible, can cause us to feel frustrated and put-off, especially if we’ve had a break from working on them. You have to allow for some beautiful, messy life-stuff and be open to change if it happens.
It could be helpful to just take a breath, put down what you thought you were on the road to achieving and be curious at what could be in your path instead.
Who knows, maybe this break allows you to learn something new about yourself or your capabilities? Maybe you learn a new skill or meet a new group of friends? Maybe you simply allow yourself to shift the goal posts to a later date to relieve the pressure?
Basically, instead of being frustrated and fighting the break - go with it and look for the door that has opened if one has now closed.
Remember to enjoy yourself. If your exercise plans are becoming a burden then it's time to change. Find something that fills you with joy and this will be all the motivation you’ll ever need.
Stay Brave!
Alice x