You may not have been motivated to work out during the pandemic, or never worked out much before. Or you may have been recovering from injury like me. Whatever your reason here are my 12 tips to get back into exercise for a healthier body and mind.
Make a plan (that you’ll stick to so don’t make it too hard)
Underestimate rather than overestimate. Don’t plan to suddenly work out twice a day six times a week. Start with maybe only three workouts a week and then slowly add to it. If you manage to fit in another workout which isn’t on your plan great! If not you won’t be disappointed with yourself as you’ll still have stuck to your plan. When you make a plan which will be hard to stick to, you won’t stick to it and your new workout routine will be very short lived.
Stick to the plan (even when you don’t feel like it)
Once you’ve made a plan which is easy to stick to make sure you stick to it. Make sure you complete those three workouts! Plan exactly when you’ll do them and make sure you don’t put it off by coming up with excuses. Excuses won’t get you anywhere! If you can’t stick to the plan as something happens (a legitimate reason not a poor excuse) then fine, life happens. If you can fit it in another day then great but if you can’t just move on and get back on track when you can.
Make a varied plan of cardio, weights and flexibility
To prevent injury it’s important to vary the type of exercise you do. Different types of exercise all support each other and do different things. For example if you’re a keen runner you need to make sure that you support your running with strength and conditioning. This will not only help prevent injury but it will also make you a stronger, faster and more efficient runner. It is especially important to stretch so that your muscles don’t tighten up and limit your range of motion and to keep them strong.
Do what you enjoy
You won’t want to exercise if you don’t enjoy it. If you already have an exercise you like do that but also balance it out with other forms of exercises. So if you enjoy running do mostly running but also some body weight exercises. If you don’t know what you like just give different forms of exercise a go until you find the exercise for you. There are so many forms of exercises out there and plenty of free videos on YouTube to get you started. Maybe you’ll find something you love which you’d never have thought of before.
Set goals
When I say set goals I do not mean going from not doing exercise to running a marathon in three months time. It needs to be something which you’ll be able to achieve because if you make it too advanced you won’t achieve it and then you’ll be demotivated again. Make small goals such as working out three times this week or stretch once a week. Your goals will change as you go but start off small.
Put on some new workout clothes
If you feel great you’ll do great. Christmas has just passed so you may have some lovely new workout clothes or you were gifted some vouchers to spend on some nice clothes. Start the year off in an outfit you’re excited about and you’ll be much more likely to want to work out. And if you don’t have new clothes it doesn’t matter just wear your favourite workout clothes and get out there!
Warm up and cool down
If you don’t bother to warm up and cool down correctly then you’ll just injure yourself, it’s that simple. The importance of warm ups and cool downs is underestimated but soon enough you’ll learn when you don’t bother and just injure yourself (I’ve been there myself). It doesn’t have to be long and there are plenty of great short YouTube videos which you can follow and will do the trick.
Take it easy and focus on what you’re doing
One of the hardest things people find is to take things easy, me included. I have spent countless times being injured and then coming back expecting nothing to have changed and still be able to be able to run the same time as I did before the injury. If only it worked like that. I have learnt the importance of taking it easy so that I don’t injure myself again and also that I don’t get disheartened. Progress takes time so take it easy. Perfecting your technique is the foundation of great exercise.
Listen to your body
If something hurts STOP! This is your body telling you it’s not happy and you need to change to something that doesn’t hurt. For example for me it recently meant getting new trainers. If you stop hopefully it will just be a short term thing but if you carry on it’s not going to get better. If it’s a recurring thing then make sure to go and see someone such as a sports therapist. It’s surprising how the body is connected in ways you didn’t know and they can help educate you on what you need to do.
Rest days!
Your body needs to rest if you’re a beginner or you’ve been exercising for years. Make sure that you plan in at least one day of rest. Although completely resting is great it doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything. An active rest day is okay as long as it’s extremely light such as a short walk or some light stretching so that your body has time to recover.
Sleep!
The importance of sleep is really underestimated. If you don’t get enough sleep your body will not thank you for it. You’ll have less energy to do your workout so will get less out of it. If you’re tired you will also be more likely to cause yourself an injury as you won’t have the energy to focus on doing your exercise correctly.
Post about it
Motivating yourself is much harder than others motivating you. If you post about it it’s not just you keeping yourself accountable but also others. Knowing that other people are watching you is a great motivator. So give it a go!
I hope that using these 12 tips to get back into exercise it helps you to start the year off right for a healthier and happier you. The most important thing is that you enjoy whatever exercise you do and feel the benefits from it, without injury.
Good luck!
Rebecca xx