Top tips for returning to the gym in january
It’s that time of year again; time to actually start moving instead of sitting on the sofa watching christmas specials. We all know the feeling; you’ve eaten your body weight in chocolate, pickled your liver with booze, it was YOU who ate all the pies (of the mince variety), and you’ve had the meat sweats for the past week from all the turkey and pigs in blankets you managed to put away………….time to get back in the gym!
But how hard is it to find the motivation to drag your (expanding) bum to the gym?! And where do you start when you’ve not exercised for weeks, months or maybe even the best part of this year?!
Here are some top tips to return to the gym and get yourself back into good habits:
- Start off steady with a bit of cardio; this is the best way to start shifting the calories you consumed over christmas. You can even carry on watching your christmas specials whilst your pedaling away on the bike or cross training!
- Try allocating one specific day and time per week that is your gym or exercise time; routine is important when it comes to exercise. Once you have got used to this, then introduce another day and time on top of this until you’ve built up to 3 times per week.
- Invest in some new gym wear! You’re more likely to want to go to the gym once you’re wearing your new ‘activewear’.
- Bring a friend- you are more likely to go to the gym instead of putting it off if you have a scheduled time to be there. Better to encourage each other to exercise than encourage each other to eat another chocolate!
- If you find that you re too tired at the end of the day to motivate yourself to go to the gym then try mixing things up and going in the morning instead…….it’s a struggle when the alarm goes off but it will wake you up for the day and mean guilt-free relaxation time in your PJs after work!
- Plan what you are going to do in the gym before you get there; this way it saves you walking around aimlessly and wasting your valuable time!
Getting started is the hardest part, once you have started getting into a good routine you won’t have to think about forcing yourself to go and it will just become second nature!
If you are new to exercise or have an injury or condition that limits your ability to exercise then come and see us here at Indergaard physiotherapy! We can assess you and give you advice on the safest way to begin exercising and the correct way of going about it.
