I received a great question from a client asking for some thoughts on how to approach getting back to the gym after some time off. The time off was specified as being related to things like work, travel, health, or just general laziness. Here is what I came up with.

First, it’s not the end of the world. Short term changes lead to short term results. If you miss a month in the gym it won’t hurt that much. There will be changes to your body like decreases in muscle and aerobic fitness, increase in body fat percentage, and decrease in strength, but luckily those can be recovered. Fitness qualities are almost always recoverable, and you won’t lose them forever if you mess up every once in a while.

 

Second, my gut instinct says that if fitness is removed from the equation completely it never became a part of your lifestyle to begin with. It was a never a non-negotiable activity. Life is going to throw things at you constantly, so how do we get ahead of this issue in the future and make fitness activities something that you can maintain through tough times and periods where you are unmotivated?

Always remember the reason why you chose to include fitness in your life in the first place. For me, I have a lot of them, and some are more important than others. Here is a short list (trimmed down to save you all from a scary trip inside my brain):

  1. I want to look muscular
  2. I want to maintain some semblance of my past athleticism (there wasn’t much)
  3. I want to stay healthy
  4. I want to be a great golfer
  5. I want to be able to roll around on the floor with my kids and grandkids
  6. I want to avoid joint injuries as I age and make sure that the state of my body is helping me live longer
  7. I want to be an example for others
  8. Stress management
  9. I sleep great and I want it to stay that way
  10. I enjoy the process of working towards a goal and seeing progress
  11. I get antsy easily and I don’t think my wife would like me if I didn’t get rid of that excess energy

Come up with your own list pick the ones that are most meaningful. Break them down into smaller parts. You will find some gems going through that process and I think some motivation as well.

One more important point is that throttling down intensity and going into maintenance mode is more than acceptable, and sometimes preferable. If you usually work out 3-4x per week but life is getting complicated, throttle down to 2x per week. Are you going to progress towards your goals at the same rate you were before? No. Will you maintain the results you have gotten thus far? You have a pretty good shot. Knowing when to flip the switch is important. I am at the point in my life where having children is in the foreseeable future. This will change my life drastically. Fitness will most likely go into maintenance mode for a while, but it is not coming out. Your routine is unique to you and it’s important to plan and have the right expectations for different times in your life.

My main point is that if I have something that serves many important purposes in my life, I can find a way to make sure that it does not go away. Figure out what those purposes are, and it will give you a lot of clarity. If you are unmotivated and feeling down on yourself for not getting to the gym or doing what you told yourself you would do, make a list of the reasons why you want to re-start your fitness routine like the one above. Nothing that goes on that list is stupid. You are the only one that needs to see it. Something on that list should motivate you if you dig deep enough. Then, take it one day at a time instead of going after a lofty goal. If you can do something productive a few days in the first week, revisit the list and see if you contributed towards any of the things you wrote down. I bet you did. Use that going forward so you can have a reason why fitness should be a non-negotiable part of your life. Keep that list handy though, you will need it again.

Quick tip that works for me but certainly is not going to work for everyone. When I am feeling down, unmotivated, or feeling badly about myself I say the following in my head, “nobody gives a shit” (I figure I can curse since it’s my blog). Hear me out…I know people would care if I were upset. I know my wife, mom, dad, brother, cousin, uncle, grandma, and friends would all be willing to talking about why I am feeling a certain way. There is a time and place for that. I do not think that time and place is when you are creating excuses as to why you can’t get to the gym on a given week. If I have to wake up earlier to get it done and am feeling badly about that, this is where this strategy works for me. If I can convince myself that nobody feels bad for me that I need to wake up early to workout, why should I feel bad for myself? It may sound crazy, but it works every single time for me. Oddly enough when I use this strategy it cheers me up because I make myself laugh. Give it a shot and if it works great, if not, scrap it.