If you’ve taken a bit of a break from the gym, there’s a good chance that you’re feeling overwhelmed at the thought of getting back to working out. After all, it’s not easy to get back into the groove of regular workouts and depending on the length of your break, you might not be able to pick up right where you left off.
Instead, you really want to ease yourself back into it. This way, you’ll be less likely to injure or exhaust yourself. You want to feel empowered and excited to tackle the gym each day you go in for a workout! With that said, here are some tips to help you get back into working out…
1. Don’t Beat Yourself Up for Taking a Break
The first piece of advice to keep in mind is that you shouldn’t beat yourself up for taking a break from your workouts. It doesn’t matter if you took a break because you got busy, you had health issues, or something else. What does matter is that you pick yourself up and you get back to it.
When it comes to health and fitness, you’re inevitably going to make mistakes along the way. And that’s okay! You just can’t let those mishaps derail you, otherwise you’ll never make the progress you want. So, don’t feel upset if you miss the gym or eat something you probably shouldn’t have. Just make it your mission to do better next time!
2. Take Selfies to Track Your Progress
This tip may seem a little silly, but doesn’t it empower you to see the progress you’re making in the gym? If you’re prone to giving up because you aren’t seeing results as quickly as you’d like, take some fresh selfies at the beginning of this new journey. This will allow you to track more than just that number you see on the scale.
When you see that you’re slimming down and gaining muscles in all the right places, that’s motivation to keep you going back to the gym. And it could be the secret to encouraging you to step-up your workouts.
3. Block Off Time for Workouts to Prioritize Them in Your Life
When it comes to working out, the secret to sticking to is actually prioritizing it as part of your life. How do you do that? Find time in your schedule where you can block off 30 minutes to an hour for your workouts. Then, put it into your calendar. Taking this simple step reserves that time for you so you can’t schedule in something else instead. And don’t cancel on yourself either!
If you can, choose the same days and times each week to work out. This way, it starts to become a habit. For instance, you’ll wake up on Wednesday morning and immediately know that’s time for one of your workouts. Once you get into the habit, it’s easier to stay on track.
4. Ease Yourself Back Into the Workouts
Now that you’ve blocked off those workout times in your schedule, it’s time to actually get moving! But if you haven’t worked out in a while, that can feel a little intimidating, and you might be wondering how to get started. Your best bet is to ease back into it.
Since you’ve taken a break, you don’t really know what your body is feeling up to. Instead of tackling an intense cardio session your first day back, start small. It would be wise to do some flexibility workouts first before jumping right back into things. This will help increase your blood flow while also improving joint mobility. Try doing stretches for a few minutes or even doing some yoga to get your body ready to exercise.
After getting back into the swing of things with flexibility and cardio for about a week, begin incorporating strength training. This will help you improve your posture, strengthen your core, and activate all of those muscles you hadn’t been using much during your break!
5. Find Workouts That You Actually Enjoy
If you’re someone who hates working out, you might think this task is impossible. However, there really is a workout for everyone! You just have to be open to experimenting and seeing what you enjoy. After all, when you like the workouts you do, you’re more likely to stick with it!
For someone who loves a good cardio session but finds running boring, dance classes or spinning could be the perfect way to burn those calories. But if you prefer something a bit more mellow, try incorporating more yoga sessions into your week. Workouts don’t have to be hard or boring. You just need to find an activity that you can look forward to.
