Q&A: How to Start Exercising Again (and Exercise Motivation)

Today I’m answering a question:

“How to start exercising when I stopped for 2.5 years?”

That’s a great question.

We all start doing some new stuff, creating new habits, just to find out that after a while we give up!

What’s the real key here?

Consistency.

Being consistent is hard and it’s what really matters if you want to create a new habit.

And to start exercising and never stop, you need to have the habit of exercising!

So, starting to exercise after you stopped for a while (or a lot of time), is easy:

1. You need to choose one activity (or more) to do:

• one you like and feel like doing – this is major
• one that has enough variety so you don’t give up because you feel bored
• one that you can do easily – if your gym is one hour away, you’ll never go there…

2. Then decide how many days a week you will do it

Start with 2 to 3 times a week, that’s a good goal. Later you can add more days, or not.

3. Finally schedule the days and hours on your calendar

If it’s not scheduled it isn’t real, and if you don’t treat your exercise routine as an important appointment – because it is – you’ll end up with a lot of excuses to not exercise.

What’s not so easy is being consistent.

To be consistent, here’s what works for me:

1. Have a great motivation

If you want to exercise just because you want to look better, forget about it… if you want to exercise because you will feel more alive, more calm, happy, relaxed, calm,  beautiful, be healthier, more energetic – then you have real motivation.

2. When the day to exercise comes, don’t think!

“Do I feel like exercising? Will I exercise today? Now I need to get all that stuff in my gym bag”, blah blah and so on.

Don’t think nothing at all. Just go exercising like is scheduled on your calendar and that’s it. Don’t allow yourself to think about the inconvenience. The only thought you’re allowed to have about exercising is:

“Exercise is great for me because afterwards I feel energised, happy, relaxed, calm, …” or something like that.

3. Never stop

So you’re going on vacation, you’re getting married, your kids are on vacation so you can’t go to they gym, and so on. Life happens. How can you keep exercising with all this life always happening? ;)

Easy. Just exercise when and how you can. You can do a 10 minute walk, or jog for 5 minutes or do a quick 20 minute yoga workout (from the Internet), etc. And if you really need to stop for some time (you’re ill for example), just stop and afterwards begin as soon as you can.

Just make exercise a daily/weekly practice in your life. You deserve it!!!

Check (and Reward) Your Progress

To help you create this new habit, download the Exercise Progress worksheet.

Make a cross over one day, each time you exercise, on the right week.

When you’re able to keep to your exercise goal for a all week (or month), celebrate! Do something you love!

My Workout

I always exercised, since I was seventeen, and I’m always changing what I do – that’s because I hate routines ;)

This year I did yoga + weight lifting, 2 times a week, and walking once per week, until June. Now I have less time because school is over, so I’m walking on my treadmill 10 minutes per day and going for a bike ride on the weekends. That’s what I’m planning to do right now.

When I go on vacation I’ll swim and walk on the beach. So, as you can see, I always exercise but I adapt my “workouts” to my life. The important thing is that I keep doing it, so it’s a habit. It’s just so a part of my life that I always remember that I need to exercise and I’m always thinking about ways to make it work.

What about you?

Do you usually exercise? Do you struggle with exercising consistently?

How do you motivate yourself? What are your favorite workouts?

I’d love to know!

Lots of love,

Lena*

P.S. Sounds like hard work? Well, that’s because it is! But then again, anything worthwhile in life takes work, and work makes us happy! So what are you waiting for? ;)

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