Starting a fitness routine can be an exciting moment in your life. You can be filled with so much determination and zeal for getting fit, and start fast and strong, but then the energy floods out of you and you just don’t want to continue.
Don’t worry, we’ve all been there! We want to get fit and maybe lose a bit of weight, and during the lockdown so many people have hit the routine hard, but it’s an unsustainable way to get and stay in shape.
So it’s best to start slow, and make sure you’re easing yourself in gently. And to help you do that, here are some tips for making following a fitness routine easy; you’ll be able to commit much better in the long run if you know how to pace yourself.
Create an End Goal
The first thing to do is think about why you want to undergo a new fitness routine. What’s pushing you? What do you want to get out of it? And what results will you either get or see in the mirror which will tell you you’ve accomplished your milestone? Because without a clear end goal in mind, all of your efforts can be for nothing!
So maybe you want to lose 10 pounds or so without the use of wegovy? Maybe you’re training for a marathon in a couple months time? Maybe you want to be able to lift a certain weight? No matter why you want to get into a fitness routine, make sure you note down the reason clearly. It’ll help you to keep it in mind, and also give you a way to track your progress as you go.
Build Activities into Your Current Routine
How often is there room in your schedule for a good hour or two of hitting the gym? Probably not very often, right? Well the good news here is that you don’t need to clear that kind of space. In fact, with a bit of rearranging here and there, it already exists in your day to day calendar! You just need to think about ways to fit a bit more physical activity into what you already do.
So, if you live nearby, why not walk or cycle to and from work? If you’re someone who works from home, why not get a standing desk to prevent you from having to sit and slouch all the time? Why not wake up 5 or 10 minutes earlier to give you time to do some stretching, or a bit of Yoga? And then head to bed a little sooner too, to make sure your muscles get enough time to heal overnight? A few tweaks here and there and you’ll notice your health improving tenfold.
Work High for Short Periods of Time
High intensity activities are always going to be better for you than the low impact sort. The higher the intense factor of an exercise, the shorter time you need to do it, and the sooner you’ll see the results of it. Even if you only have about 10 minutes to spare on some days, whether you’re just busy or have low energy, a high intensity ‘sport’ will still help you to stay on track with your fitness goals.
HIIT is obviously a main contender here; high intensity interval training enables you to get your heartrate up in record time, and only needs a few seconds between each short cycle of activities to catch your breath again. And a lot of HIIT exercises can be done anywhere, even just at home in the kitchen while you’re cooking dinner, or early in the morning before you get in the shower.
Don’t Skip Rest Days
Your rest days are essential to your workout routine. You need them to help your body cool down, and to help your muscles rest and repair and get stronger. Even if you think you haven’t done much exercise this week, make sure you maintain your regular rest day schedule. You’re going to need the energy to hit it even harder the week after!
And more than that, it’s just a good way to help you maintain the other responsibilities in your life too. Rest days allow us to catch up on things we might have missed with friends, family, and the workplace, and they help us to come back even stronger for our next workout. If you skip rest days, you’re far more likely to give up on the routine, simply because you get bored and/or tired even faster!
Prepare for Muscle Aches
One of the main reasons people tend to give up on their workout routines only a couple weeks into them is due to the pain staying fit can cause. The more you exercise, the more likely it is that your muscles are going to ache and even feel stiff when you wake up the next morning, and the more likely you are to skip working out that day as a result. Soon this spirals into giving up completely, and you’re left beating yourself up.
Which is why you have to start easy and gently with any fitness routine. You have to take baby steps, even if they don’t feel like much progress, and do plenty of stretching to keep your muscles feeling supple and flexible. Make sure you’re always doing a warm up and a cool down before and after you workout, and never underestimate just how effective stretching can be for an aching body!
Beyond the normal aching that comes with exercising without any preparation, the pain you feel can be a sign something isn’t quite right, and it’s always best to talk to a doctor. If you feel pain in your joints, for example, it’s best to see someone to prevent the potential for long term damage.
Getting started with a fitness routine doesn’t have to be hard. In fact the easier it is, the more likely you are to stick at it!