6 Ways to Get Back into Your Fitness Routine

I’m a big creature of habit.  I do best in life when I know what’s coming up and what’s going on.  I like knowing that each day of the week will be the same: Mondays I do this, Tuesdays I do that, etc.  When I’m taken out of my normal daily routine and schedule, it seems that every other aspect of my life gets turned upside down, too.  The biggest area to get thrown off is my fitness routine.  I have a pretty solid workout and gym schedule, which is really based on the days that I get to work from home.  They are the same days every week and I plan my workouts accordingly.  But if I have to switch one of my work from home days and head into the office that day then I’m not at the gym.  Nope.  No way.  I use it as an excuse to skip.  The problem then comes when the excuses just keep coming and then all of a sudden you’re in a workout funk.

I was into a funk with my workout routine late last year.  The motivation was completely gone and I really didn’t care.  I was more than happy to sit on the couch and re-watch Schitt’s Creek on Netflix over and over again.  But then January came and I knew I needed to get back into the swing of things (and not just because by this point, my jeans were getting a little tight!)

It can be hard to get back into a fitness routine once you’ve fallen off track, but it’s not impossible.  Here are six ways to help you out:

1. Plan your workouts in advance – On Sunday I will plan my workouts for the week.  Some are group classes, some are solo sessions and always a couple yoga classes, too.  I plan in advance so that I know the times of each class, what type of exercise I’m going, what body part I’m focusing on, etc.  I find that extremely helpful.
2. Change things up! – In December my motivation to get to the gym or yoga was at an all-time low.  I’m not sure if it was the stress of Christmas and the holidays, but I didn’t get to the gym much.  Between Christmas and New Years I thought of trying out my local F45 to see if that would help get me out of my funk.  I didn’t end up at F45 but come January I had tried out some new classes at my gym and LOVED them!  I’ve added them to my weekly fitness routine and couldn’t be happier.  I realized that I was just a little bored with my regular workouts and the change really helped.
3. Treat them as meetings with yourself – think of your workplace, you wouldn’t just not go to a meeting because you didn’t feel like it, so why skip your workout because you’re too lazy to drive to the gym?  By planning ahead and scheduling the workouts in my calendar, I treat my workouts as appointments with myself.  I’ve scheduled that meeting and I need to go to it.  End of story.
4. You don’t need to dive in head first – If you’re just coming out of a workout funk, don’t try to get back to 5 or 6 days a week at the gym.  Start slow with maybe 3 or 4.  Then the next week get to 4 or 5 and slowly build back up.  But if you have the motivation to get right back into things, then by all means go ahead!
5. Change up the music – this might seem silly, but if you’re doing solo sessions at the gym, you’re likely listening to the same “workout playlist” over and over.  Those songs can get repetitive and sometimes you need some extra motivation!  I will regularly update my workout playlist to include songs that I know will give me that push.  Sometimes you just need to find that one specific track to get you off the bench.
6. Meal Prep – If one of your main reasons for not working out is not having anything to eat afterwards, meal prep will help solve that problem.  Knowing that I have a nutritious meal pre-cooked and waiting to be heated up once I’m home from the gym is a HUGE help.  Click here for tips on how to meal prep for the week.

What other tips would you include?