Burnout. It happens to the best of us, and actually tends to hit harder the more motivated you are to push yourself as much as you can during a regular workout. At some point, even those who have gone years sticking to their exercise routine could grow wary with their fitness and just want to take a break.
The problem is when that break extends further than you initially planned, going from days to weeks and then months. Before you know it, you can’t remember the last time you worked out. It’s easy to fall into bad workout habits, which is unfortunate, as each time you take an extended vacation from exercise, you essentially start back from square one, and it will take time to get back to where you once were.
Sometimes those breaks aren’t intended. You may be going about a standard workout when you suddenly pull a muscle or suffer some other sort of injury. If you embark on a doctor-mandated rest period after going through the proper treatment, it can prove difficult to bring yourself back into the mode of thinking that sees you pushing yourself vigorously nearly every day once the healing process is over.
Motivation can be hard to come by in a number of situations, but you thankfully have some recourse. There are ways to help ensure that you’re always going to be ready for the exercise you need to keep your body as healthy as possible. In this way, not only can you stay fit, but you can hopefully avoid injuries that result from extended inactivity. A new article lays out some of the ways that motivation can be assured, and you’ll want to keep the advice in mind the next time your drive just isn’t there.
Introduce a little variety to your exercise. If you run on the exact same path or treadmill every day, try to switch things up by venturing somewhere you’ve never gone. Or if running itself has proven tedious, then intersperse it with some weight work or go cycling for awhile; this type of balance is critical for a healthy body anyway. Or, if you’re used to doing distance, instead run a few sprints. Always keep your body on its toes.
The buddy system is also a great way to stick to workouts that may otherwise cause you to retreat from exercise. When there is a group of people urging each other on, you’ll begin to look forward to workouts and even be able to go further with the exercise you take part in.
Finally, if you sustain an injury, don’t push too hard too fast. Give yourself time to get back to the level you were once at so that you don’t think of exercise as something that has to be agonizing.
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