Jane's Best Fitness

Fitness tips for working women and BUSY moms

establishing a workout routine

Forgive Yourself, Focus on Establishing a Workout Routine

It’s springtime and you are suddenly reminded of all the junk food you binged on throughout the long, cold winter months. Instead of jumping up and going for a run, you ridicule yourself and take the unnecessary journey through a pointless guilt trip. Really, this only makes things worse. Take a deep breath, exhale and promise yourself to change. Then do something about it – focus on establishing a workout routine! It isn’t easy to establish and stick to a workout routine, but it can be done. (This is very similar to having a nutrition routine).

Where to Start When Establishing a Workout Routine

Muscle Memory

With a bit of commitment on your end, and of course the right equipment, you can build an effective workout routine that can keep you in shape. First thing’s first, realize this isn’t going to happen overnight. You need to come up with a plan you can stick to, not an overly intense workout routine that is going to immediately wear you out.

Muscle strength dwindles considerably depending on how in shape you were before you stopped working out. For people that take a break from their workout routine, after about 3 weeks of inactivity, their body begins to lose muscle strength.

For athletes and professional sports players, they can go up to 6 weeks before their muscles show any sign of loss. Either way, you cannot start strong if you haven’t worked out in weeks. You definitely need to pace yourself as you begin to work out again.

Forgive Yourself

Never fear, this doesn’t mean you will be out of shape forever. Pacing yourself only helps you in the end, it doesn’t hurt you. Save the cliché, we really do all have to start somewhere. There are light-weight activities you can do to build your strength back up.

Always remember to stretch before you work out. This will lubricate your joints and prepare them for any heavy lifting or running.

Start your new workout routine with mile walks around your neighborhood or in the park, once in the morning and once in the evening. Once you are comfortable doing this, you can add hand-weights or even ankle weights to your new routine. This will help strengthen your leg and arm muscles considerably. Increase your walking speed every day to build your muscles up.

establishing a workout routine

Eat Right

It is natural to want to be in shape, and with consistency, it just might happen sooner than you thought. As you are working out and maintaining a decent schedule, remember food plays a part, too. So toss out your TastyKakes and fried treats, and shop green.

Be sure to keep plenty of fruits and vegetables on hand, snack on granola bars and things that require a bit of preparation. Staying away from additives and chemically induced food might be hard for you, but it is a lot better for your body. This isn’t to say that you should starve yourself, just be extra mindful of what you are consuming.

Overall

So forgive yourself for taking that short reprieve from your workout routine, and thank yourself for making the effort to get back into shape again. It might be a little difficult, but remember that hard work often pays off when establishing a workout routine. Exercise daily, don’t be too hard on yourself, eat right and enjoy life!

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About the Author: Jane Hart

Working crazy hours in a high-stress work environment resulted in my body one day telling me, “Enough is enough!”

Navigating this serious health journey was both mentally and physically exhausting. But through some serious mindset work and instilling healthy habits, I was able to rebuild my life one day at a time and come out stronger on the other side!

Now my mission is to empower women like me to prioritize their fitness and well-being in a healthy, sustainable way and build a community of strong, happy and healthy women!

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