When You Know You Need to Exercise Regularly

As a boutique fitness and transformation studio owner, the pattern below is something I see all the time. Until now, I hadn’t dived deeper into the WHY. Enter this blog post. It is my hope that if you struggle to exercise regularly and stick to something you started, that you take back your power and realize that you are a badass who’s capable of reinventing herself over and over and over again.

So, picture this: you start a new workout regimen and you’re on FIYAH. You’re a mainstay with your new fitness family and you’re high on life (and endorphins). Then, little by little, your motivation starts to unravel. It starts with one missed day, and then two … and then … it’s been MONTHS and you’re feeling guilty and you don’t want to show your face around these parts for fear of judgment.

So you skip off somewhere else and repeat the same cycle, never getting to the root cause of your start and stop tendencies. Or maybe you do actually come back around these parts, but round two just leaves you feeling like you can’t seem to get back in the groove. Ugh, right!?

Sound at least a little familiar?

Let’s explore the likely reasons behind this, and how to break free with these 10 observations:

1. YOU GET TIRED OF BEING SORE

Let’s face it: being active means being sore. But being so sore you can barely walk, sit down on the toilet and perform other basic daily living activities could mean something else is up. That’s normal at the beginning or when you’re first getting back to your routine, but should ease up as your body gets conditioned. Prolonged and severe soreness could be due to:

• Dehydration. Are you drinking around ½ your body weight in ounces per day?
• Over-training. Everyone’s exercise tolerance will vary based on lifestyle and other factors. Maybe you’ve been going too hard for too long and your body is rebelling. Time to incorporate at least one extra day of rest per week.
• Unhealthy diet. If the majority of your diet consists of processed foods, you will not recover well from physical activity. Time to join us for the next season of our Get Fit Challenge.
• Not enough sleep. The body repairs itself during a good sleep sesh, so if you’re chronically underslept it will be harder to recover. In fact, sleep should be your absolute #1 focus for being healthy in general!!

2.  YOU’RE SUPER BUSY AND IT FEELS LIKE ONE MORE THING TO WORRY ABOUT

Hey busy-as-a-badge-of-honor. I see you over there, overworking yourself. Thing is, there is nothing glamorous about not taking the time to take care of your basic needs … I promise. Burnout could be right around the corner – stop it at the pass by:

• Deciding that something is better than nothing. Can’t make it to your regularly scheduled workout? Do 20 minutes in your living room instead!
• MAKING TIME. Assess your motivation: is it really that you don’t have enough time, or that you’re not making the time? Solution: put it on your calendar as a meeting. Let the people in your life know you will not be available at the said time. Rinse and repeat.
• Check to see that your priorities are in order. A daily movement should be at the top of your list not just for weight loss, but for health. At a minimum aim to get in a 30-minute walk if you don’t do a workout.

3. YOU WEREN’T SEEING THE RESULTS YOU HOPED FOR

This is where you do some soul searching and get real with yourself. Ask yourself things like:

• How long did I stick with the program?
• Did I follow it 100%?
• Was my nutrition and self-care in alignment with my exercise habit?

Usually, nutrition and self-care are a struggle because of LIFE. So it’s easy to feel like your workout plan wasn’t getting you results when in reality you need to see it as one big puzzle – exercise is a piece of the puzzle but by no means the only element of success.

4. YOU’RE HANGING AROUND THE WRONG CROWD

Hang around people who only ever want to go to happy hour, and eventually, your healthy habits will become a thing of the past. You’ve heard the saying: “We are the 5 people we hang around most”.

Take a look at your social circle: do they pump each other up and mix in healthy activities, or do they tend to bring you down and even low-level mock your healthy endeavors? If you’ve got goals, make sure you’re hanging around people who want to elevate each other.

5. YOU’RE NOT GETTING REAL WITH YOURSELF

Most of the time, “failure” with exercise habits and goals, in general, is because you’re waiting for something miraculous to happen. In reality, weight loss is small steps repeated day in and day out. It’s not all that sexy when you think about it and there are no shortcuts to any place worth going.

Brene Brown talks about this concept in her book “Daring Greatly;” in our quest to uncover the amazing and miraculous, we forget to appreciate the small, seemingly mundane things we accomplish every single day:

• That workout you did even when you could have slept in.
• That cigarette habit you kicked.
• That healthy meal you whipped up that tasted oh-so-good instead of going out to eat and dropping wayyyy more than necessary (yay for leftovers).
• That self-care routine you accomplish every morning because YOU’RE WORTH IT.

Stop chasing the miraculous and start celebrating the simple. It will bring joy to your heart every single day and motivate you to keep going.

6. YOU’RE NOT CELEBRATING YOURSELF

When’s the last time you stopped and got all ra-ra about yourself and how far you’ve come? Perspective is powerful. On your journey, it’s easy to create new set points and forget that you once dreamed of being where you are right now. Take time to celebrate your wins and acknowledge your hard work. Set mini-milestones and reward yourself by doing things like:

• Buying new workout clothes
• Getting away with friends (or maybe even yourself)
• Soaking in a new book
• Creating a new playlist to pump you up

Whatever you choose as the reward, what it’s really about is the symbolism: what it symbolizes for your goals and your journey. It forces you to not just glaze over your accomplishment but to give them meaning and purpose.

7. YOU DON’T TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

I get it – you might not be competitive. But what if it’s not about that and it’s more about those all-important NSVs (Non-Scale Victories)? Hands down, those who keep track of their progress (at our studio that would be body scans, workout tracking, etc) see better results over time and more consistency with motivation. Tracking your progress means you’ll be able to see that:

• You’re getting stronger and fitter.
• Your hard work is paying off.
• Your journey is much more than just the weight.

8. YOU HAVEN’T ASKED FOR HELP.

In our culture, it’s common to fear vulnerability and to ask for help. But lemme be clear: there is NOTHING wrong with getting help! The most elite athletes in the world have help! Anyone who has accomplished any great feat did not do it alone. And you don’t have to, either.

Be it an accountability buddy, personal trainer/life coach etc, getting help is not a weakness. It’s a sign that you are destined for greatness because you’re using the tools you have at your disposal and choosing vulnerability instead of pride.

9. YOU’RE NOT CHANNELING YOUR INNER BADASS

You’ve probably heard me say that your workout is an extension of your strength. I believe wholeheartedly that the hard work you put in during your workout is a direct reflection of how resilient, amazing and all-around badass you are in daily life. So, it’s time to create an exercise alter ego. What’s her name? What types of things does she say when she wants to quit but know she needs to keep going? What does she look like? Beyonce has said she channels an alter ego whenever she performs onstage. Be like Beyonce: design an exercise alter ego!

10. YOU’RE STILL FULL OF EXCUSES

Allow me to keep it real with the final observation of this blog post. There are a variety of reasons you may fall off track. I’ve listed ten in-depth above. What matters, though, is taking action to get out of a rut and keep it moving. Take a rest day or two and then decide that your goals and dreams and aspirations are more important than your excuses. Decide that your reason for being healthy is bigger than weight loss. Decide, most importantly, that YOU ARE WORTH IT.

Because you are.

Thanks for reading,

Christina