By Christine Ayala
Whether someone is new to the world of fitness or they are returning after a long time off — the challenges in establishing a routine that offers exercise, enjoyment and fits into an already busy life are significant.
Why some trainers don’t get it
Too often fitness professionals seem to shame sedentary people who want to become more active for struggling to adapt to the demands of a new workout routine. While shame can be a powerful motivator, it’s not the best basis for establishing a new health-centered habit.
My theory for why so many fitness professionals appear tone deaf to the difficulties of new exercisers is a matter of relatability and interia. The trainers who have been athletes since they were in diapers simply cannot relate to the feeling of an adult entering the fitness space, they don’t have the difficult emotions, gym phobia or lack of self confidence to perform. And if a trainer has been active since t-ball or toddler gymnastics, they don’t know the difficulty of fitting exercise into a sedentary lifestyle, because that’s always been their life. The momentum of their life-long experience with athletics or fitness makes every day they come back to the gym that much easier. They don’t have to fight the inertia of their sedentary habits or even resistance of their social circle or family who are used to their current habits.
Of course, not all personal trainers grew up as athletes — I sure didn’t — but many did, and even those who did not often adopt the same mentality that “it’s not that hard” after a few years as a gym rat.
The point of this post is not to bash trainers (although I see why’d you’d think that). Instead, I want to affirm the many factors that make starting a fitness routine so tough — beyond just the challenge of the actual workouts.
Finding the time for fitness
Annoying people will say “we all have 24 hours in a day,” and while this is true, a new gym-goer is already filling their 24 hours with something. A good chunk is likely spent working, commuting, caring for themselves and loved ones, home chores — and everyone deserves to have leisurely downtime that is spent without an obligation to be productive. Whatever down time is left (if any) may or may not be spent doing something productive or healthy — but that time is already being spent in some way. Whether it’s on Instagram, taking a bubble bath, gossiping about coworkers, gardening, gaming or napping — something is occupying that time.
So, finding time to throw a workout into the mix is a bigger challenge than it is made out to be — and not just because it’s something new but also because of everything that goes along with it like changing into gym clothes (or having to buy some), packing a change of clothes depending on your plans after, showering after a workout, doing more laundry more often, etc.
This is a significant challenge but scheduling specific times, blocking them off on your calendar from social or other obligations or even having the accountability or a personal trainer or workout partner can be a huge help in making exercise a normal part of your routine.
Finding motivation
When something feels like a chore or only feels necessary for the health of our future self, we may be able to appreciate the benefit of doing it but still really hate the act of doing it. Conversely, when we enjoy an activity, we don’t require a lot of convincing to actually do it, whether there are long-term benefits or not.
Without immediate results or instant gratification it can really sound unappealing to do something we know will be physically and mentally challenging — especially when there are so many other things to be doing that do not require momentary suffering.
Setting mini goals, celebrating small and big wins, as well as surrounding yourself with people working on similar activities and goals can all help boost your intrinsic motivation to stick with your new healthy habits.
Am I even making progress?
One of the most challenging aspects of getting started in fitness is putting in the work without “seeing” results. We can’t help it, even if we know that’s not how it works: you don’t get jacked after one dumbbell workout and you don’t run a marathon after a week of training. Strength, speed, conditioning, fat loss, muscle growth, developing athletic skill — they all take time. It’s like planting seeds in a garden. Even if you do everything right and water it daily, it will still take time to grow, mature and ripen.
It’s not our fault for finding this difficult, especially in an age when you can order groceries from your couch and be eating the snacks you bought 2 hours later, or watch a full season of a TV show in one day — without having to wait through any ads or for a new episode to drop. Instant gratification is the norm and waiting for results can feel like agony or even pointless.
So, it’s important to consider the 5 stages of change:
Precontemplation: not planning to start working out in the next 6 months
Contemplation: planning to start within 6 months
Preparation: planning to start soon, taking steps toward it and may even be sporadically working out
Action: working out for less than 6 months
Maintenance: working out consistently for 6 months or more
So often, we go from the contemplation phase and expect to next be at the maintenance phase. This can dampen motivation as well, but understanding that a sustainable fitness routine will take time to build can help manage expectations.
Stress, overwhelm and fatigue
Work and life can be stressful enough before adding the mental stress of adding in a fitness routine or the physical stress of the actual workout. Chronic stress can leave the body fatigued and mentally drained. This can be a massive huddle to overcome when adding yet more to an already full plate of responsibilities. Thankfully, an appropriate fitness routine can have amazing stress reducing benefits and boost energy. In fact, regular exercise can reduce stress via the brain releasing endorphins associated with pain reduction and feelings of increased well-being and happiness, as well as lowering heart rate and blood pressure helping to relieve stress and anxiety.
Bro, I’m not having a good time
One of the best markers for whether someone will stick to a fitness routine is simply whether they enjoy it. If everything else is in place but the actual activity is not enjoyable it may not be something that can be sustained long term. And why would you want it to be? The good news is that in the world of fitness there are so many ways to get moving, get stronger, improve mobility and promote longevity. Certain forms of exercise — such as resistance and cardio training — have essentially universal benefits, but there are many ways to experience these types of training. Often we fail to consider what we might enjoy when considering a new fitness routine because we expect it to unpleasant — but a fitness hobby like climbing may be a better fit for some than working with a strength coach, a group class like pilates might be a better fit than running alone, or hitting the gym with your best friend might be a better fit than joining a team sport with strangers.
Sometimes it takes a bit of trial and error to get a sense for what feels good and is fun when it comes to movement, activity and fitness, but it’s worth treating it like an experiment so that lack of enjoyment is not a barrier to sticking with it.
Getting back at it
And for those returning to the gym after time away,an added challenge may arise in the form of impatience and self-imposed pressure to get back to the place they were before — lifting a certain amount of weight, running at certain level, training most days out of the week or even feeling amazing after a workout instead of feeling exhausted (regaining conditioning).
It’s said that comparison is the thief of joy — and this is true even when comparing yourself to a past version of yourself. I challenge you to take inspiration from the fact you know you did it once before, you have evidence that you are capable and this time around doesn’t have to look the same — it may even be more fun if you focus on that rather than getting back to where you used to be.
You got this
Getting started can feel daunting and moving through the barriers to exercise can feel like playing whack-a-mole. So it’s important to remember these challenges are very real, but they don’t have to stop you if you have the patience and playful mindset to find a fitness routine that works for you.
Christine Ayala is a National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) certified personal trainer. She is a strength athlete who has competed as a powerlifter, including at the USPA 2022 Drug Tested Nationals. She is a health and wellness writer with more than a decade of reporting and editing journalism experience.
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