avatarHelen Cassidy Page

Summary

The article discusses the challenges and strategies of resuming a workout routine after taking a break due to various life events, emphasizing the psychological battle with one's inner critic as the key obstacle to overcome.

Abstract

The author shares a personal account of the struggle to return to a fitness routine after life interruptions such as vacations, work commitments, illness, or other priorities. The piece highlights the importance of mental fortitude in the face of the inner voice that deters exercise. It suggests that the true battle lies not in the physical act of working out but in the psychological resistance one must conquer. The article encourages readers to stand up to their inner critic, acknowledging that while motivation and external support can help, the ultimate victory comes from within. The author, an 80-year-old, uses their own experience to underscore the urgency of not delaying exercise, as time is precious and health can be unpredictable.

Opinions

  • The author believes that the hardest part of getting back into a workout routine is not the physical aspect but the mental game of overcoming the inner critic that provides excuses to avoid exercise.
  • It is expressed that motivation, while helpful initially, can wane, and the true test is in consistently confronting and silencing the voice that encourages procrastination or inactivity.
  • The article suggests that common excuses for skipping workouts, such as feeling unwell or having other tasks, are often just tactics by the inner critic to avoid exercise.
  • The author emphasizes that regardless of age or life circumstances, it is crucial to prioritize exercise and not to let the voice in one's head dictate one's actions or health.
  • The piece conveys a sense of urgency, implying that putting off workouts could lead to missed opportunities for maintaining health and fitness, especially as one ages.
  • The author shares a personal victory over their own inner critic, demonstrating that it is possible to regain control over one's exercise habits at any age.

How I Got Back To Working Out After A Break

We all slip off the work out horse. Getting back on is what matters.

Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash

You can’t beat the high of walking out of the gym after a hard workout. If you had to beat resistance into submission to get yourself there, you get an extra gold star.

Whether exercise is a vigorous walk at lunch, running up ten flights of stairs every day, or a brutal boot camp four mornings a week, life is good when we stick to our routine.

But the day of reckoning comes for everyone when life gums up the works. We go on vacation, a business trip, or we have to put in long nights and early mornings to finish a project. Every other commitment goes out the window because P for paycheck comes before any spelling of workout.

And just as we’re ready to get back on the exercise horse, we catch a bug. So it’s the sickbed and chicken soup for the next week or so. Add another ten days to get our strength back, and it’s exercise what?

We’re back at square one coming up with every excuse in the book to bond with the couch instead of hitting the gym.

Photo by Derek Story on Unsplash

But here’s the thing about exercising. It’s not just about lifting the weights or doing the reps on the bike or smashing the rower. Like everything else in life, sticking with a work out regimin is a head game.

And like any game we enjoy, the adversary across the board is what makes it interesting. In the case of keeping yourself motivated to exercise, you’re playing with your inner critic. A gremlin. Imposter syndrome. Call it anything you wish.

It’s the voice in your head that feeds you all the reasons you shouldn’t work out today. Or, if it senses you’re good at beating down arguments, it will shut down the back and forth so you don’t even hear it. It will just send you directly to Netflix with a bowl of popcorn for the evening. Three hours later when it’s time for bed, you find yourself scratching your head and saying where did the time go, forgetting there’s even such a thing as a gym?

Let’s face it. The best laid plans and all that. The most dedicated gym rats run into problems that prevent them from sticking to their schedule. Taking a break from your routine is not the issue. Getting back to your program is the problem.

It’s often harder to resume an exercising schedule than to begin one. At the start of a commitment to get in shape, you’re all pumped up with motivation. You have a picture of the results. You in a bikini. Or, finally rocking washboard abs to show off to the bros at the weekly poker game. Maybe it’s to lose the freshman 15 or the baby fat. Not your own, the twenty pounds you’re carrying since you delivered your little cherub last year.

Photo by Christopher Campbell on Unsplash

Motivation is great. It makes the world go ‘round. Until it fizzles out. And you’re left with the boasts you made to your co-workers that you’re getting in shape for a charity marathon. Or, your changing your diet and losing some weight after your doctor gave you some unsettling warnings. Now it’s all hard work and no glory. Friends have forgotten your goals, your enthusiasm.

You’re in danger of taking that big slide back to the beginning, or worse.

But stop. You can start again. You can regain your lost ground. There’s only one thing you have to do.

Okay, put runs on your calendar it that helps. Have an accountability partner. Whatever motivation technique you just read on Buzzfeed? Sure, go for it. But that’s not what I’m talking about.

Photo by Jason Rosewell on Unsplash

You just have to have some serious chats with the inner voice in your head. The one that lets you sleep in every morning. Or, distracts you as you walk past the gym every day, or tells you to forget jogging at lunch time because you get too sweaty. You have to finish that novel because it’s almost overdue at the library.

And blah, blah, blah.

See, there’s only one thing you have to do to regain your routine and your pride in yourself. To get you back to working out like a boss. Just one thing.

Stand up to that voice in your head.

That’s all it takes. I’m serious.

If you have a lot of money, you can hire someone to knock on your door and dress you in your sneaks and sweats and drag you out of the house. But, trust me, it’s cheaper to say to yourself, “Self, we’re going to the gym. Now.” “Get your warm fleece. Time for a run.” “Hurry up. We have to catch that Zumba class.”

That’s all it takes. You showing that voice in your head who’s boss.

Because that voice is what’s keeping you from your goals. You want ripped abs? Tell the voice to STFU when it whispers to sleep in the day you’re supposed to up your weights.

When you feel inertia, and you start thinking you might be coming down with something? Check your temp. If it’s normal, you’re coming down with a case of giveupitis, and the voice has won.

You need to say, “Let’s see how far I can walk when I really don’t feel like it.”

Photo by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash

What’s really happening is that you’re boiling down all efforts to motivate yourself to their essence. The war with the voice in your head is on. Who is going to win?

You can get caught up in the argument. You can give yourself reasons why you can’t run today, or why you need to sleep in this morning, or detail to yourself the to-do list you have to complete.

That’s fine, but know that it’s bullshit. That it’s a distraction from the real business at hand: the tug of war with the voice. Will it win? Or, will you? Do you put your athletic shoes on and get your a$$ out the door, or do you shut off the alarm, your excuses chipping away at your backbone.

In case you think I’m being a little hard on you — after all, I don’t know all your commitments, and you may have reasons for not getting back to your workout today. Tomorrow, maybe, but you’ve got that project, that date with a friend for coffee, that nagging backache.

Well, so do I. My workout schedule got derailed a few weeks ago. I was out of town and couldn’t go to the gym. Then I had a little bug. And by the time the dust cleared, I’d lost my motivation. So, I get it.

Photo by elizabeth lies on Unsplash

But I have the advantage of being 80-years-old. I know how fast time goes by and how unreliable plans are. I can slip into a mindset that thinks I’ll do it tomorrow. The reality is, though, tomorrow may never come for me. Or, it will come with the shock of an ailment that will prevent me from working out. And I’ll have lost my last chance to enjoy that feeling of satisfaction, that surge of endorphins from challenging myself at the gym. All because I think I can outwit Mother Nature, or Fate, or the banana peel I might slip on.

So I’m not going to make that mistake. I started back to the gym, taking longer for my break than I intended. However, once I conquered the voice last Monday, I knew I had the upper hand. I’m back at it, and I’m not letting go of my routine now. The voice is telling me it’s 3:10 in the afternoon. I have to clean my apartment before dinner and edit a client’s book. I took too much time scrolling the Internet, and I have to get back to my novel.

All those things are true. They can wait, though. If I go to the gym as I planned today, I might be a little behind in dusting my knick-knacks, but I won’t have given up a piece of my life to the voice in my head. The one that says I’m too weak to give it the middle finger and do hard things that are good for me. Housework can wait for tomorrow.

Photo by Sofia Geada on Unsplash

So I’ll run this piece through grammarly.com and send it to a publication for review. Then I’m getting my rear-end out the door before the voice has another chance to make a liar out me today. Because today I’m back at my work out routine. And the voice in my head can go suck canal water.

See you later, when I’m sweaty and buffed.

Health
Technology
Life Lessons
Motivation
Self
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