Return To Training

While the pandemic is a good enough reason for your fitness training coming to a halt, it often takes significantly lesser reasons for health and fitness to be placed on the backburner. When this halt happens, it can carry on for days, weeks, or years. 

When you finally get the urge to start a regimented training plan, the first step is often the hardest. 

Let's look at some tips to help you navigate a return to your fitness training or properly starting your fitness journey. 

Understand that everyone struggles at some point. 

I often see clients beating themselves up over a missed day or an off week. This negative cycle starts to build in intensity and results in a lack of confidence. It is easy to look at the social media world and think that everyone else has a perfect training session each day.  We see all of the highlights that way and very little of the lowlights. 

Make no mistake, everyone struggles at some point. I love this stuff and I still have off days. 

There are three main reasons people struggle to stick with a fitness training plan. 

1) You don't have time. 

This is a given it seems. We all battle time management and carving out enough time to regularly exercise. The good news is that you do not have to live in the gym to get the results you deserve. Effective training sessions can take place in 20-30 minutes and even broken into 10-minute segments dispersed throughout your day. 
 
2) You are playing the, "I used to be able to do that" game. 
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This goes back to the earlier point about social media. You might have a training partner that is just crushing it and you are struggling to get through the warm-up. You might've been The Golden Jet in high school and resonate more with Calvin Joyner in your current day (movie reference: Central Intelligence). The comparison game is a momentum killer. 

Avoid this by starting your fitness program with all focus on you. Strive for incremental progress over time versus going for the grand slam during your first at-bat. You will start to appreciate all of the changes you see and lock into your process. When you do this, the results will come. 

3) You have failed in the past. 

You can find studies galore pointing out that half of all people who start a training program quit within a year (or sooner). This is because many people try to achieve everything in a day instead of aiming for "bite-sized" progress over time. They set themselves up with a grueling schedule of training and lose steam quickly. 

Train within your means.

The next thing to focus on is your abilities and resources. I have watched many people pick a training program that utilizes equipment they do not regularly have access to. Then when an exercise comes up in training with that piece of equipment, they just skip and move on. The same thing goes for movement types. For example, pull-ups are tough for many. When they show up in your training, do you just skip them or do you figure out a variation that works for you? Often the answer is to skip. This is not the best way to achieve the progress you are looking to achieve.​

That is why our Custom Training program is so successful. During your onboarding, we learn about what equipment you have access to, your availability, abilities, and goals. By doing this, we provide training that truly fits your needs and helps you progress. We also eliminate the frustration of having to say, "I don't have access to that type of equipment." 

Speaking of training within your means, check out this recent blog on how to make push-ups fit your abilities.

Start slow!

I'm glad you're excited and I want you to keep that excitement. That being said, start slow and "slow cook" your training. People are often in a rush to make massive changes and then rush right into an unfortunate injury. Take your time and move with purpose. Focus on learning proper form for the movements in your program and then strive for gradual progress from there. 

You'll avoid burnout and enjoy the results much more. 

Masters Athlete Quick Start Training Guide

Have you experienced a pause in your training and are looking for a way to get back on track? I have created a training guide to help you with this exact problem. As part of this free guide, you will get access to two strength training sessions and two regeneration sessions. These sessions only require an exercise band and work well at home or in the gym. 

Access the guide