Exercise is time for you to prioritise yourself. But keeping fit can be a constant uphill battle which can lead to an unhealthy relationship with exercise, deteriorating motivation and a slump in your mental and emotional wellbeing.
Injury. New job. Moved home. Starting a family. For many, these are simply another step and a new experience/learning curve in life. But for a sizable number of people (including myself!), things that should just be a part of 'the normal life experience' feel like substantial hurdles, preventing them from their fitness - and aesthetic - goals. And the hurdles don't have to be life changing - they can be daily responsibilities that just get in the way. It ultimately comes down to one's priorities. But prioritise your fitness, and you may feel it may appear selfish or obsessive and you may miss out on other experiences. But don't prioritise exercise, and you could see a slump in your physical wellbeing and other aspects of your mental/emotional health. It's always a compromise. And that's okay, but coming to terms with that, and finding that compromise can be a journey, one that's different for everyone.
For some, it's a genuine problem. Exercise shouldn't be a chore. But the self-defeating mentality makes many feel that they have to choose between keeping fit and other aspects of their lives. You are not alone. You should want to improve yourself. Why not? But it can feel like the pressure of keeping fit just isn't worth the toll on your happiness and stress.
As a boy at school, I took my running and fitness very seriously. It wasn't ever about aesthetic, it was about performance and improving my times across a variety of distances from track to cross country. But as I went to University, I fell victim to injury for the first time, and, upon graduating, I found time wasn't freely available with work, in addition to the pressures of maintaining a relationship and what felt like a weakening social life. My fitness suffered quickly and I slowly felt like a disappointment to my former self.
This took a long term toll on my mental health. Not only did I feel like a failure, I didn't want to fully commit back into running in fear it would confirm what I already knew - I was undoing all that hard work; I was getting unfit. This made me feel not only inadequate but also constantly guilty that wasn't exercising. It became increasingly easy to find excuses, all whilst the guilt and pressure to exercise mounted. I lost sight of what it meant to enjoy fitness, having formed a toxic bond between happiness and success/performance in sport. It took a few years, but I broke this cycle. I found my compromise.
A lot of people may have peaked at one point fitness wise in their youth, and now look back and wish they made more of it - or wish they still had the fitness they had back then before life took them on the roller-coaster of adulthood. People may feel that they have passed their best and this can result in many individuals struggling to motivate themselves to reclaim, or maintain, even a basic level of fitness.
But something is better than nothing, and your health should always be a priority. Steps need to be taken.
So what do you do to get out of the rut? What can you do to make exercise managable -and even fun - again?
1. Change the goal. Life changes and so should your goals to match the demands on your life. The stresses you face today will be different to what they were a few years ago. What is it you actually want to achieve?
2. Make a plan. You know what you want to achieve, now set a plan that gets you there. Start off really easy. Allow plenty of room for growth - mentally and physically! Training intensity should increase by no more than 10% a week to allow your body to adapt and keep risk of injury at a minimum.
3. Work out what's stopping you. Inevitably, there will be barriers. Try and make your fitness flexible so it can meld around these barrier and other plans. If a part of your routine is stopping you doing the fitness, then change it. Can you remove this restriction? And if not, look for a compromise. Life does get in the way, it's annoying, but we have to work with it, not against it.
4. Find people that support you. Don't let anyone get in the way of your happiness. Indulging, having fun and looking yourself aren't mutually exclusive. Blending friends and fitness is an excellent motivator, so look out for fitness clubs that reflect *your* vibe whether that be competitive or more social and causal. It can be hard putting yourself into new social crowds, but the rewards are worth it.
Having reviewed my own goals, I realised my objectives were *waaaay* too ambitious. I was forcing my body to train at the level I was at during my peak and I knew all that would achieve was injury. I ended up stripping back my training entirely into bite size chunks. I started a '1Km a Day Challenge'. As it says on the tin, I simply set myself run 1km a day for a week. It took me all of 5 minutes, but I feel like I accomplished something. The following week, I began to slowly increase the mileage, and, in turn so did my confidence.
Since then, I've also identified that I simply don't enjoy running like I used to. It's often a lonely, overly competitive and time consuming activity and I've subseqnetly adjusted my long term fitness plan to include more circuits and gym work to add some much needed variety, without fully parting ways with the running - afterall, some fresh air and exploring a new route/scenery can be great for the body and mind.
I now train 3-4 times a week, plus a bit of yoga, foam rolling, stretching and dog walking to keep the muscles rested and well rounded. I can run 5km decently and that's all I need to be happy. I'm slowly lifting more whilst also eating well - not perfect (far from it!), but well. I feel content.
It just needed time to learn that giving up is not a crime. Sometimes, it's just time to move on to something new.
Have you ever found yourself in a motivational rough patch when it comes to fitness? What did you do to get yourself out of such a mindframe?
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