I know it’s hard. You take some time out of the gym thinking you’ll be back soon. That turns into a couple of weeks, which turns into a couple of months, which turns into a couple of years or even longer! It may seem overwhelming but you can get back into it. Here are a few keys.
1 – It’s OK to make yourself a priority! Listen, I know how it is. When we’re young we have all the time in the world. We can hit the gym, take a while to prepare our food and still have some time left over for relaxation. That changes when family and/or work enter the picture.
What I see over and over is that people wind up putting themselves last. Here are two things I know:
Your spouse and kids want you to be happy and feel good. If they really love you don’t they want the best for you, after all?
Doing something for yourself makes you a better parent and spouse. We know that doing something positive gives you more self-confidence, more energy and more happiness. It also will give you a much better chance to be around longer for them!
2- Start small. People always ask me how many times a week they should work out. I tell them to pick a number they know they can stick to 100% and start there. You can always add more later. Think of the phrase “Progress not Perfection”. If you’re not doing anything right now, one or two days a week is progress. This leads us to the next one.
3- Enjoy the process. This isn’t supposed to be a quick fix, right? It took you years to gain that weight or develop that knee pain or bad posture. It’s going to take some time to fix it. That’s OK. There are going to be a lot of wins along the way so enjoy them! Just hitting the gym again is a win!
4- Don’t compare yourself to others (that includes the younger version of you). You’ve taken your own path to get where you are, as has everyone else. I guarantee that the people that look like they have everything together still have plenty of things they struggle with. Every single one of us do and that’s OK.
5- Commit. If you’re going to do this, just do it. Don’t go halfway. Commit to working hard and you’ll be amazed at what happens. You don’t need to be one of those fitness models you see in the magazines (they don’t even really look like that) but if you give yourself over to the process you’ll be fine.
Let me know what you think and thanks for reading!
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PN Level 2 Lean Eating Coach, FMS 2861 Grove Way in Castro Valley 510-754-7113 MitchRFitness.com MitchRFitness@gmail.com
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