Sticking to your Fitness Plan

As restrictions start to ease across the country, many of us are planning to get back in the gym and get our bodies moving again, but how do we stick to it and make a permanent change? Here’s a few tips to help stick to your fitness regime:

TAKE IT STEP BY STEP – start small, don’t overdo it on your first week as you’ll end up burning yourself out and be too sore to exercise the following week or may even injure yourself. Listen to your body the way it is now and know your limits, don’t try to jump back into lifting the same weights you may have once used, start small and gradually increase weights and duration over time as you get stronger and fitter – it won’t happen over night, be patient!

SCHEDULE IT IN – plan your workouts just like you would a doctors appointment or a work meeting, write it in your schedule or diary as a fixed slot and try to avoid planning a heavy duty workout after a long, tiring day as when it comes to it you will be more likely to cancel.

VARIATION– doing the same workouts over and over again will not only lead to a plateau in progress but will also lead to you getting bored or fed up with exercising and potentially giving up. Keep your fitness regime enriched with variety, try different workout classes such as circuits, boot camp and core and cardio. Outside of the gym try add in walks, bike rides, 10min home workout or even a giant cleaning session!!

SET ACHIEVABLE TARGETS – write down small, achievable targets that can be tracked short term and long term. What would you like to achieve in your first month and where would you like to be in a years time? Celebrate each target you hit, but also celebrate small WINS you have each week, it may be that you hit your 10K steps or even that you remembered to stretch each evening.

FOCUS ON HEALTH – weight loss is a key driving force in starting a new fitness regime and although it may be a reason to exercise for many, try not to centre it in your mind. Exercising is about so much more than changing the number on the scales, once you focus on exercising your your general health and well-being (physical and mental) it becomes much easier to stick to. Exercising is all about taking care of our bodies and moving our bodies in ways that feel good, not punishing ourselves!

DON’T BE HARD ON YOURSELF – take care of your physical and mental needs, if you feel you need to take a rest day, give yourself that rest day and don’t feel guilty about it! Listen to your body and mind, exercising shouldn’t be a punishment so if you’re not feeling it, don’t worry!