If you are anything like me, Monday is the day you promise yourself you are starting your regular gym routine and visits. You are going to eat healthy and go to bed early… starting Monday. Whether you‘ve said this once and stuck with it, or you’ve said it ten weeks in a row. You have to start somewhere. Turns out, that is actually the hardest part. Once you have the motivation you are in the clear. What comes next may seem scary but with a few helpful tips anyone can start a routine that works for your own individual needs. I don’t know about you, but I have taken a hiatus from the gym a time or two, and gone back in thinking I never left. I wake up the next day barely able to walk down the stairs because I worked out as if I was training for a national lifting competition my first day back. Boy, was I wrong. When that happens, you tend to skip the next day, and maybe even the next day after that. Thinking you don’t want to end up feeling the soreness all over again. Taking baby steps can be a helpful approach for some individuals trying to ease back into a regular workout regime. I hope to provide some helpful tips in doing just that.
Find the time of day that works best for you. Whether you are a morning person and you get up at 6am and head right to the gym, or you’re more of a night owl and do your best work after 6pm. You want to find that time and try to stick with it. Sometimes your day to day schedule may change or you have an unexpected meeting you need to work around. But sticking to a routine gives you a better chance of forming that habit.
Next step I suggest is finding a personal trainer or someone that is an expert in the field to consult you on a new routine. There are some people that have been working out for years, and others that are new to this whole gym thing. But getting advice on where to start, how much weight or resistance you should be using, and making sure your form is correct can be quite beneficial to keeping you on the right track with your workouts. A lot of people work out at home gyms as well. You can find gyms that don’t require memberships to use their trainers or use videos online to see the exercises being performed.
Change up your routine and keep it fun! You can find yourself in a slump at the gym if all you are working on are your bicep curls and walking on the treadmill. Get creative. Try focusing on arms one day, legs and abs the next, and throw in a Zumba class while you’re at it. Keeping it fresh will make you want to keep coming back for more.
Find a workout buddy. You can keep each other motivated and accountable. We have all had those days where you want to sleep in an extra 30 minutes or skip your cardio for the day. But you don’t want to disappoint this other person you have committed to. Whether you are each other’s rep counters, motivator’s, or each silently does their routine, you are more likely to get out of bed knowing someone is counting on you to be there. Finally, one of the most important things I can think of when getting back into a regular gym routine is listen to your body. You are the only one that knows when enough is enough. There is a difference between pain while doing an exercise and doing the hard work itself. You can feel the burn because you are working muscles you didn’t know you had anymore. But you can also over do an exercise resulting in a strain of some sort. So start small and work your way up by adding another set or a few extra pounds the next time.
You do not have to be former college athlete or have a fancy gym to belong to in order to get back into a routine. Find something that works for you and stick with it. Being smart about the physical activity you decide to do for yourself can help keep you active longer. Exercise should be a fun and healthy part of your life.
