The Ultimate Guide To Restarting… Again!
This might be the first time you’re restarting or the 50th, either way we’ve got your back!
So you may have fallen off the wagon, again, already.
Welcome to the club!
Statistically speaking, MOST people have already abandoned their New Year resolutions – I did warn you about setting these!
But nevermind that now, where do we go from here?
First of all, I want you to FORGIVE YOURSELF!
Do you have a little voice in your head laughing at you, telling you you’ve failed, you’re a loser?
Would you ever say these things out loud to another person?
No?
Then why are you saying them to yourself?!
Nobody deserves that abuse and that includes you!
So forgive yourself right now and we can move on.
What went wrong?
Absolutely nothing. You basically conducted an experiment that didn’t yield the results you were expecting. This is neither a good nor bad thing, it just is!
So let’s dig deeper – what did you try to do?
- Do a 60 minute workout every day
- Run 5km every morning at 5am
- Strictly stick to my macros and calorie targets
Is this really a list of things that suit your current lifestyle?
I didn’t think so.
The 2 most common factors for falling off the wagon are –
- Your goals were too vague – they lacked a deadline!
- You tried to change too many things at once – keep it simple!
In our heads we often like to think of exercising as a light switch, it’s either on or off. We either do it or we don’t.
Well out here in the real world, we like to think of it as a dimmer switch. Instead of turning it off completely, just turn it down a notch or two till we’re at a more comfortable and realistic commitment level.
You tried to change everything everywhere all at once. I get it, you’re ambitious, I love it! Keep that enthusiasm going! But how about now we just try and change one thing?
Did you actually enjoy what you were trying to achieve?
Going for a run everyday when you HATE running doesn’t sound the most sensible idea. If you want to increase your CV load you can always mix it into your regular training routine – just like hiding broccoli in your mash potato!
Did you add too much in to start with?
How about a substitution rather than addition – adding exercises in can make your sessions longer. If you’re already stretched for time this is never going to end well. You can swap your chips for a salad or side of veggies once a week or swap those fizzy drinks for sparkling water. Substitutions help keep things varied and exciting!
Is the bar set too high?
You might have started off the year with loads of free time but now life has returned to normal and the workload is piling up again, you might find yourself with less time to get a workout in than you first thought. This is absolutely ok! Life changes, priorities change. So you can’t get to the gym for an hour, ok, how about 40 minutes? I don’t have time for 5 sets of everything, ok, how about 3 sets?
When we’re trying to build a routine, exercise isn’t actually the important part, we need our plan to fit our lifestyle. At this point, it doesn’t matter if it’s 60 minutes in the gym or 6 push ups on the kitchen floor!
Lower the bar, be kind to yourself, get the little “wins”!
There’s absolutely no shame in what other people would call “failing”. We see it as practice.
And what does practice make?
Change one variable, and run the experiment again.
If it didn’t yield the right results, adjust your parameters!
The most important thing here is to track what you are changing and what results it provides. Once you can see which changes create the best results you’ll have a recipe for success!