You’ve finally joined the fitness bandwagon and are on your exercise wheel, motivated and vowing to keep this wonderful new habit forever. All is well and you’re feeling great. But life often gets in the way, even among the best-laid plans. A week of bad weather, a packed Holiday schedule, a vacation, and even boredom are some situations that conspire to put a slump in your workout schedule. As interruption is the enemy of your workout momentum, you should recognize its transient nature and know how to work around it so you do not lose your drive.
Let’s face it. Doing the same running routine on the treadmill gets boring after a time. Heck, even your state-of-the-art gym starts looking lackluster after a time. If you’re a person that thrives on change, then change your workout routine. Redo your workout program to target different muscle groups or change exercise venue. Learning a new sport or engaging in a different fitness activity could ensure you don’t stray from your fitness track. Be creative about your exercise routine when you perceive you’re getting tired of it. The important thing is to move and enjoy what you are doing.
Invest in a few dumbbells and other resistance training accessories which you can hit at home when the weather turns rough or too cold to merit heading out. Cardio workout videos are a must as well. Bad weather shouldn’t deter you from keeping up your fitness momentum.
With the long hours of sedentary meetings and seminars, power lunches and dinners, plus deals in the balance, who has the time for exercise? Plus you’re in a strange place. The best thing: use your hotel’s gym. It may be limited, but it’s got the basics. If your hotel doesn’t have a fitness center, turn your room into one. Pack resistance bands to substitute for weights. Pop a cardio training video into your laptop. One of the best overall training systems you can pack is the TRX Suspension Training System designed to give you a total body workout even inside your hotel room.
Do your workout before you hit the breakfast table so you are sure to get it done for the day.
When it comes to your diet and exercise, don’t let it all hang loose when on vacation. Instead, opt to make your vacation an adventure. Learn a new physical activity like scuba diving, rock climbing, martial arts or whatever floats your boat. Even if your idea of a vacation is to bask in the sun with a margarita in hand, don’t fail to squeeze some calorie burning activity in your day. You want to come home rejuvenated, don’t you?…not exhausted and packing some extra weight along with your luggage.
Instead of an everyday fitness schedule you used to have, find at least two or three days where you can squeeze your workout in. You can shorten your training hours too by increasing the intensity or changing the workout process so you can get more out of your limited time. The key here is time management. Look at your workout period as time allotted for yourself.
More obstacles to your fitness routine will be coming your way as nothing in life remains static. The secret to beating the workout slump is to maintain the determination to be fit for life and to find your own creative solutions to deal with life’s interruptions. On a positive note, interruptions do force you to seek out ways to vary your fitness routine and learn new things. Scale back, change or amp up your routine; just beat those workout slumps. Pretty soon, you’ll be back one hundred percent on track again.