Has something in your life changed that is making a structured exercise regime difficult to follow? A common example would be extended (and quite stressful) working hours. Alternatively, family obligations or changed living circumstances may make your exercise session quite difficult to accomplish on a regular basis.
Before continuing, I wish to emphasise a point discussed extensively in many prior blog posts. They key to success with any fitness endeavour is consistency. The cumulative effects of multiple workouts is what delivers amazing results – no single workout in isolation will ever provide you with progress of any great magnitude. It is important to keep this in mind as the premise of this article.
Circumstances change – nothing is ever constant. Pausing an exercise routine will almost always become a necessity for all of us from time to time. In my professional experience, I have seen this situation culminate itself in a number of different ways (including changing jobs, longer working hours, moving house, lack of motivation, tragic events and financial circumstances). What may start out to be an honest and valid temporary pause on one’s fitness routine will more than likely turn out to be a long-term rut. When I say more than likely, I have seen it happen 95% of the time (at least) from a professional perspective.
So what differentiates this 5% minority to the 95% majority of people who struggle to resume their training, although they have the best of intentions when they initially pause their regime? It’s all to do with mindset. The few 5% of people who do resume exercise as quickly as possible are the people who are absolutely passionate about exercise and have managed to integrate an enjoyable routine into their lives. Exercise is something that is an integral part of their lifestyle. It is a priority in their life because the benefits of exercise (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually) run right down to their core. From my experience, this is not the case with the majority of people, because exercise is often considered to be a burden of some means (effort, financial, time etc.).
You will know in which category you stand. The 5% minority have absolutely no question in their minds that exercise is a necessity to maintain the quality of their lifestyle. The 95% majority may go through peak periods of regular exercise, yet this is also accompanied with long troughs where other life influences affect their consistency.
Consider your training history in an objective manner to determine where you fall. Don’t be fooled by your current mindset – this can be quite misleading, for nearly all people will get excited about exercise in one point in their life. The critical determining factor is whether or not you have displayed a consistent approach to exercise over a sustained period of time (years). If this is the case, you can objectively say that you do fall into the 5% minority.
So why such an emphasis on the distinction between how “most” people think about exercise? Well, if you’re thinking about pausing your exercise routine, here’s why:
The 5% minority prioritise exercise very highly all the time. Therefore only very (very) high life priorities will affect their consistency. Nothing affects how highly exercise is prioritised, it is a necessity of a good quality and enjoyable life.
The 95% majority normally have exercise as a much lower priority, or at a variable priority level. Therefore many life factors will affect their consistency. During specific periods of time, exercise may be prioritised higher (eg. preparing for a race, an upcoming event like a wedding, a weight loss challenge, warmer weather, a holiday etc.). However during other times, exercise is not of great importance and thus consistency is affected.
Because consistency is the key to long-term, sustainable and exceptional results, it is obvious why the majority of people fail to accomplish their goals in a sustainable manner. Exercise must be prioritised permanently, else you will continue to be “stuck” indefinitely.
Coming back to the topic at hand, if you have been exercising consistently for a short period of time and are considering placing a hold on your exercise regime, ask yourself why that is:
- Do you fall into the 95% majority? If you do:
- What is your reason for ceasing your exercise routine? Is it a legitimate reason and is it truly more important than continuing to exercise?
- Can you honestly say that you will resume your exercise routine in the near future? If you can, on what date will this be and will you commit to this?
Ask yourself these questions honestly. Kidding yourself will only work to your detriment.
If at all possible, take every necessary step to avoid ceasing your exercise routine. Try making workouts less frequent, shorter, or try training outdoors/closer to home – whatever it takes to fit in with your changed circumstances. If you’re feeling de-motivated, hire a professional to get you back on track. If you fall into this 95% majority and cease exercising, I can say almost certainly that it will be significantly more difficult to resume an exercise routine in the future, than to continue exercising at present. This is because:
- Habits are easier to maintain (whether that be habitually exercising or habitually remaining sedentary)
- You will most likely feel discouraged after months of inactivity after the realisation of the physiological regression that has taken place (loss in fitness, loss in muscle mass, loss in strength etc.)
My professional advice is to avoid putting an exercise routine on hold AT ALL COSTS. I cannot emphasise this enough, as it is commonplace in this industry for people to initiate a routine, adhere to it temporarily and then cease training (for whatever reason), only to find themselves back at square one.
If you are currently at the point where you are still not convinced that continuing to exercise will work favourably to your goals, I would consider having a long hard think about your goals. Spend time to determine exactly “why” you want to achieve them, rather than “what” you want to achieve. Why you want to achieve something has an emotionally motivating force behind it and is something very close to your heart. This could be intertwined with self-worth, fear of heightened medical risk, confidence etc. If you can identify the core reason as to why exercise is important in your life, maybe you can work out a way to fall into that minority of people and accomplish some amazing personal feats.
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