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How to break the streak of not working out
Have you been keeping up with your workouts or struggling to stay consistent?
If you happen to find yourself in the place of skipping workouts and struggling to find time for yourself (now or in the future), here’s a quick tip to help you break the streak of inactivity:
Roll out your mat, set a 10-minute timer or press play on a 10-minute workout, and require nothing more of yourself than being on your mat for 10 minutes.
That’s it.
No pressure to do the full workout. Just be on your mat.
No pressure to feel high energy. Just be on your mat.
No pressure to perform. Just be on your mat.
Move, breathe, stretch.
When we go a long time between workouts, it’s easy to allow the feelings of guilt to get in the way of starting back up again.
It can feel like a massive thing to restart and get “back on track,” but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Just break the streak.
Start small and keep taking those small steps day after day, week after week. And remember you can use this trick to “break the streak” as often as you need to. (No one’s keeping score!)
Tuck this tip away for the future when you’re struggling with motivation or put it to use today.
You’re doing great. Just keep moving forward. All of us here at The Balanced Life are in your corner and cheering you on!
xo,
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2 thoughts on “How to break the streak of not working out”
When I first started working out the first 3-4 months were…. exhilarating. man, I was motivated and excited about doing the workouts. i was making valuable progress, taking things fairly seriously. then a holiday hit and i left town for a week. I did some extra workouts, sure… but when I got back – ‘motivation’ wasn’t in it. the enthusiasm and sheer vigor I felt had thoroughly evaporated. instead of walking up to the gym with excitement about what was to come, it had flipped to become trepidation at the work i was about to have to put in. anguish at the slow progress. and I missed, immediately, the zeal and vigor too, every day as I walked up. but… one foot in front of the other. step one, step two, left-right. It had to force it, just do the work. one day at a time. that was about a year and a half ago. corona’s thrown me for a loop, but I’m still exercising a minimum 3x a week, probably average 5. I’m starting my physical therapy back up so I think I’ll be doubling that up soon to account for some evening stretch-down’s end back work. so… maybe my anecdote isn’t the most encouraging. the moral of my story is that the motivation won’t come back the same way. you may not ‘jump’ for your workout routine the same way again. but you can’t really go back to sitting on your duff again, can you? there’s an inspo quote I heard not too long ago that I’ve been chewing on since I’ve heard it – I’ll likely be paraphrasing, but it goes like this – “you might be complaining about how hard it has been to do as little as you feel you’ve done, but a year ago you wanted nothing more to be where you are right now.”
Thanks for sharing the beautiful experience