Falling Off The Fitness Bandwagon

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There's no denying that this month, exercise has well and truly taken a backseat in my daily routine. The thought of squeezing into Lycra and heading to the gym hasn't sounded appealing in the slightest, I've found myself making excuses and avoiding exercise at all costs. In result of my recent laziness, I've felt more tired, lethargic and the muscles that I worked so hard for are pretty much non existent. After seeing such a negative impact on both my body and overall mood reintroducing exercise into my routine seemed like a no brainer. So, let's be honest, we have all been in this situation before and getting back on the fitness bandwagon isn't always easy, so for today's post I thought I'd share my top tips for reintroducing exercise to your routine after a long case of couch potato syndrome -

• Start today, not tomorrow, next week….or next month!

Oh dear, who else is guilty of this one? If the week starts out bad I tell myself I will start afresh next week, but the truth is next week never happens. I kept putting exercise to the back of my mind and before I knew it 2-3 weeks had gone by and the weight crept on. Instead of saying I'll start tomorrow, start today! Set some goals, do some gentle Yoga or stick on a YouTube video. No matter what you decide to do, do it sooner rather than later. It's taken a long time to shift the 'I'll do it later' thought process from my head, but, you don't need a new day, a new week, month or even a year to set goals or make a change. Start today. 

• Do a 30 day challenge 

At the beginning of the year I committed to several 30 day challenges, all of which I completed. I see such a difference in my body when I add challenges to my workouts. Most daily challenges only take around 15 minutes to complete, so it's a great way to add exercise back into your routine. It's also a great way to choose a key area of your body to work on, after my rest weeks I've chosen a 30 day ab challenge as my waist line has definitely piled on the most pounds.

• Get your friends or family on board

Exercise is something that I generally do solo, whenever I tell people that I do classes or run on my own the response is sad eyes or an offer to join me on my next session. Believe it or not though I enjoy exercising on my own, whenever I have tried to work out with friends in the past, they have always been unreliable (sorry if you're reading this) and without sounding awful exercise is the only 'me' time I get, it's a time where I can switch off, think about life and don't feel any pressure to be social.  Every once in a while though when lacking in motivation, it's great to have someone there to cheer you on, after a long period away from exercise it's great to have friends or family there to motivate you. 

• Try something new 

I like routine, secretly I'm a creature of habit. But the one thing where routine is a no go is exercise. Doing the same classes on set days and the same routes when running not only made exercise felt like  a chore, but, I also stopped seeing results. I've recently introduced some old favourites back into my exercise plan, Yoga and Pilates. I've also freshened up my running by choosing new routes, running with a group and more hill/speed sessions. I've loved getting back outside, exercising outdoors is where I'm most happy.

• Don't go hard, just go home 

Hehe see what I did there. If you've been out of action for a few weeks the worst thing that you can do is go hard with your exercise. Most likely you'll have lost a bit of stamina (like I did) and pushing your body too far, too soon can result in damage to your joints and muscles. When I first tried to get back into exercise I booked myself on Spinning, Bootcamp and planned a 10K run. As you can imagine I ended up cancelling both Spinning and Bootcamp and instead resorted to nights in on the couch. Don't be too tough on yourself, reintroducing exercise steadily is the best way to improve your fitness.  

How do you stay motivated with exercise? How do you reintroduce fitness into your routine?