Have you recently taken a long break from your exercise regime? Well, me too! Here’s my plans for how to exercise again after taking a long break…
If you’ve been following me on Instagram, then you’ll know that in September 2021, after 4 years of battling a hormonal imbalance, I decided to take a big break from exercise in the hopes that it would help reset my hormones and ultimately, encourage my body to chill out, recover and finally get back on track. 7 months later, and without a workout in sight, I’m finally starting to think about returning to exercise in a way that’ll work not only for my body, but for my ability too.
How to exercise again after a long break
If you’re anything like me, then the thought of returning to exercise after a long break (particularly more than half a year), might seem a little gloomy, dull and let’s face, a hell of a lot of energy. Not just because you need to get used to those early morning’s once again (or less time indulging in Netflix during the evening’s), but also because you might feel like a complete newbie all over again with less strength, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness and motivation. If anything, perhaps the motivation to actually get up and move your body feels you with more dread then it does actually returning to exercise? It certainly does me.
So what do we do? How do we exercise again, after a long break of doing absolutely zilch, in a way that will keep us motivated, on-track and feeling anything like a newbie whose biting more than they can chew? Well, you go back to square 1. Yes, really.
As much as I hate to go back to the very beginning of where I started with my fitness journey almost 6 years ago, it’s quite frankly the most sensible and realistic thing to do. And in a few months time, I’ll be thanking myself rather than hating myself (and you will too).
Most people, after they’ve taken a break from exercise, will return after a couple of months with the same expectations they did before. They’ll believe they can still achieve the same level of yoga, weights or running distance that they could easily manage at the time they decided to take a break.
And although we’ve decided to take that break, it’s almost like our identity of being an athletic person, or someone who is very active person at least, hasn’t taken that break at all. It’s why so many of us struggle to dive back into fitness with lower expectations – we’re still heavily trying to maintain that identity, which in the long run, can damage the way you return to exercise.
So the easiest way to avoid the above is to be realistic with yourself, start small and treat exercise as a long lost friend.
How I’m planning to exercise again after a long break
Trying to reset and rebalance my hormones due to years of overtraining and under-fuelling has been tricky to say the least. But since my break from exercise and eating more food whilst working on a plan with my Sports Nutritionist, Vicky Edwards, I’ve had 3 good months with my menstrual cycle (aka no irregular periods) and I’ve finally got the green light to start exercising lightly again in April!
So here’s how I’m planning to exercise again after a long break…
Set realistic goals
As I mentioned above, setting realistic goals is one of the most important things you can do to stay motivated and on track. Seeing as I’ve had 7 restful months off, going back in with a goal of smashing 5 workouts in a week probably isn’t going to be the most realistic goal I’ve ever set. So with that in mind, I plan to set myself realistic goals such as the following…
Workout a maximum of 3 days a week
I’m pretty aware that whatever I plan to do, my body is going to be in for quite a shock once it starts moving properly again. Which is why I plan to workout a maximum of 3 days a week for 20/30 minutes a day (note I’ve said maximum and not minimum… realistic goals people!) Personally, I know that’s quite doable for me. But if you’ve always struggled to complete a 30 minute workout even from when you worked out before, then a 30 minute goal to start off with probably isn’t your best idea!
Start with low impact exercises
Now that I’ve managed to get my hormones back on track, I have to be really careful with the way I reintroduce exercise back into my life. To keep my body happy, I plan to start exercising again with low impact exercises like pilates. While its an exercise I’ve not done in more than 3 years, its one that I know will help support my body and hormones while I ease back into fitness. Want to sync your exercise to your menstrual cycle for hormone health? Read my blog post here about it all!
Returning to exercise with low impact exercises is ideal for anyone as it’ll not only ease your body (and most importantly your muscles) back into exercise, but it’ll help you stay motivated too as you’ll find the workout achievable and realistic enough to tackle… hopefully!
Do something you enjoy
One of the most important things you can ever do when it comes to fitness is doing something you enjoy. Not only will it make it easier for you to stick to, but it’ll make it more enjoyable to continue in the long run too. Nowadays it’s so easy to get sucked up into the trends on social media and follow what everyone else is doing, but if you can find something that brings you joy when it comes to exercise then do it!
My advice is to first plan how often you want to workout a week and then pick your exercise style of choice! I.e, running, yoga, pilates, weight training, etc. Next, set yourself a time limit of how long you want to workout for each day. Again, remember to be realistic so its achievable in both the short and long run!
Commit to a one month challenge
I love nothing more than a challenge to keep me on track and motivated. 1 month challenges, which you can either find online, in your gym or even on YouTube, are designed to remove the feeling of “I don’t know what to do”. Especially, if you’re starting again in the comfort of your living room like me! I’ll be starting April with a free 30 day challenge I’ve found on YouTube so each day I know what I’m doing, when I’m doing it and how I’m doing it. Easy peasy!
Do it for yourself
At the end of the day, your goal to return to exercise after a long break is only going to succeed if you do it for all the right reasons. Workout because you want to. Workout because it makes you feel good. Workout because it improves your mental health. Workout because you want to work on yourself. Workout for you.
PS, you can shop my outfits at Adidas. [ad/pr products]
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