Fitness Together Georgia

No matter how devoted to your fitness routine you are, it can be fairly easy to get derailed. Perhaps you took a vacation and forgot your gym clothes, or you were down with the flu, and now you are finding it arduous to get back on track with your regularly scheduled workout, while tormenting yourself with guilt and deriding your lack of motivation. It may surprise you to know that laziness is not necessarily all that is keeping you from getting back to the gym.

When you are in your routine, your body is accustomed to the pace and routine, and is energized by the activity of working out. However, when you go more than three days without working out, you trigger a hibernation like response in the body, making it physically more difficult to muster the oomph to get up and go. So its not all about motivation, there is a physiological response. How do you overcome this hurdle? Here are 4 tips to get you back into the swing of things:

Mix it up. Doing something exciting and different is a surefire way to muster enough motivation to conquer your slump. Try a new fitness technique, take a fun aerobics class, or start incorporating a change of scenery every once in a while. Staying out of the gym once a week might help you stay in it the rest of the time.

Take it Slow. If you are having a particularly difficult time amping up your motivation, then give yourself a break by working into your routine slowly. Go for a walk instead of a run, do 20 minutes instead of 30, or try doing 2 sets instead of 3. Remember that you are building back up to your normal routine, so let it happen gradually.

Drink up. Perhaps while you were off your routine your hydration habits slipped a bit. Dehydration zaps more energy from us than we often give it credit for, so if you feel sluggish and unmotivated, get back on the water train – remember to drink at least 8 cups of water per day, and add a cup for every cup of coffee you drink.

Eat right. Its hard to stay on track after a week of no routine, even more so when you’ve been indulgent in your eating habits – and who isn’t when they are on vacation? However, a week’s worth of restaurant food is enough to drag your metabolism down and zap some of that stored energy. Get back on track by boosting your diet with extra lean protein, whole grains, and lots of veggies, and your body will thank you with a prominent increase in energy in no time at all.

Getting off track happens to the best of us. Getting back on track doesn’t have to mean all out psychological warfare with yourself. Give yourself a break and enjoy getting into a new fitness routine, and you’ll be back on track in no time at all.