Back from a break? 4 tips to help you get back on it

There’s no doubt that the hardest part of getting fit is the beginning. Whether that’s at the very start of your fitness journey, or coming back from a long-term injury, it’s not fun. 

You feel tired quicker. Your body aches more. You may not be in the right frame of mind. There’s always a reason – an excuse – to not push forward. 

But. And there is a but. This journey doesn’t have to be painful, both physically and mentally. It doesn’t take long away from your training routine to lose fitness, as well as the will to exercise. 

It may seem like a daunting task, to get to a level of fitness that you were previously, or that you want to be at, but it doesn’t have to be. When starting again, take away any expectations you may have. 

For the first couple of weeks, leave your FitBit, Garmin or Apple Watch safely stored in your bedside table. You don’t want to drive yourself mad, wondering why you can’t run a mile as fast as you could two years ago…after two years of no exercise. 

Ease yourself back in slowly, and don’t beat yourself up by thinking about what you could’ve done differently over the past few months, or year. It’s easy to get angry with yourself, but anger won’t help propel your fitness forward. Get rid of the pressure, and just enjoy the freedom your body has when it’s moving. 

You may have stopped playing tennis because there was too much impact on your hips and wrists, or because football was hurting your knees. This time round, try various workouts and see what works for you. 

A low impact workout may be a great way to start – that could be swimming, cycling, or even yoga. That way you’ll get a full body workout, without the risk of reopening old wounds, so to speak, or bringing on a new injury. 

The one-offs don’t matter. If you have three kit-kats one day, that’s not the end of the world. But if you ate three kit-kats every day, for the next couple of months, you may see some side effects, and weight gain, that you hadn’t bargained for. It’s about what you do on a regular basis – this is where you’ll see change. 

Once you’ve got your mindset sorted, work out how many times a week you want to exercise, and what you want to do – whether it’s a swim, run, cycle, or badminton game. Set yourself a routine, and stick to it. 

It takes 30 days to set a routine in, so after a month of running three times a week, or attending Boxercise classes every few days, it may well begin to feel like second nature.