7 Top Tips to Restart Your Exercise Program

Its okay, you can finally admit it has been two months since you have done any serious exercise. But you have lots of good valid reasons for this. Getting sick, family issues and overtime at work are some of the things that got in the way of you exercising.

But you are not the only one as even people who consistently stick to an exercise program can sometimes fall out of the fitness habit from time to time. It can be challenging to get back on track again and you need to find a way to rebuild and form a new strong desire to get started on your exercise again.

Here are 7 ways to give yourself the mental kick in the pants that you need to stop dragging your feet, get up off the couch, and get back into the habit again.

1) Firstly don't break your precious habit - The easiest way to keep the habit going is simply not to stop for any reason. Avoiding long breaks in exercising or rebuilding your exercise habit will take some effort and this advice may be a little too late for some people. But if you have an exercise habit going strong, don't drop it at the first sign of trouble as it is so much easier to stay fit than to actually get fit.

2) Focus your time and energy on just this one goal - If you have lots of other stuff going on, it is hard to focus on one important thing. Just work on one goal at a time giving it a little extra attention till it fits back into your life.

 3) Start off small - We all have a tendency to try and do too much at first, especially if we are used to a certain level from our old exercise program. But when you are re-beginning it is best to hold back and just do a little, and then progress slowly back up to your old level. Once you are back in the habit and it is comfortable, you can increase your workload.


4) Do it for just one month to start -You can get started today as you do not need to start at the beginning of a month. Make a goal of 30 days and commit to that, and once you are past that, it will get much easier to simply keep going. You will be feeling so great why would you want to stop there?

5) Put an X on your calendar - Draw a red "X" through any day on the calendar that you go to the gym or do your exercise program. Keeping a steady amount of X's on your calendar reinforces your success and is an easy way to motivate yourself.

6) Create a preparation ritual - Your workout routine should become so ingrained that it becomes a consistent ritual. This means that the time of day, place or cue automatically starts you towards getting ready, grabbing your bag and heading out. If you are able to do it at the same time every day and it will become a stronger habit. If your workout times are completely random, it will be harder to benefit from the momentum and strength of a routine.

7) Try and learn from your mistakes - There was a reason you stopped your exercise program and it may well happen again. If you can indentify what it was that de-railed you, you can plan to beat it next time. If you don't do this it will surely happen again.

Following these seven simple guidelines will help you to become a regular, consistent, self motivated exerciser living a long, healthy and productive lifestyle.