How do you start again? Help me get back on the horse!

[missaulnier]

Hello all,

I worked hard to achieve some diet and fitness goals by the time I turned 40 (in June), but basically stopped all my workouts once I reached my goal. I'm maintaining my weight OK, but I've lost most of the strength, tone and endurance I gained. I'm also feeling pretty low energy and my mood is rather crummy - which I know is related in part to the lack of exercise.

So, what do you do when you want to get back in to working out, but you don't feel very energized or motivated?

[Kitten]

I did 10-15 minutes first thing in the morning usually a Leslie walk, when I first restarted.

[Tinks]

PowerFit Harmony is beginner, low impact, and only 20 minutes long, which always sounds doable to me.

There's also Jessica Smith's Walk On: 3-DVD Super Set - The Ultimate Walking Collection which has 6 30-minute routines, and her Ultimate Workouts for Weight Loss 4-DVD Collection

[MomOf2Gremlins]

Short workouts, like Kitten already mentioned, Leslie or Jessica Smith's shorter YouTube workouts usually work well for me. I try to fit 10-15 min in and maybe later on in the day another 10.. Eventually I'm back at 30 mins and later 45 (I rarely do longer workouts), which still doesn't happen everyday since ~30 min is my personal happy medium.

Just remember, every little bit is already better than nothing!

[Pam]

I pick a easy, favorite workout and just continue to choose whatever I feel like that day, for a week or 2. I don't care if it is strength, cardio, hike, walk, bike, or flexibility, as long as I am working out again.

After a week or 2, I am in the rhythm again, and I want to continue working out, and than can make up or follow someone else's rotation to where I am covering all bases-cardio, strength and flexibility.

[PhyllisG]

For me it has been Ellen Barrett Fusion Flow. It helped to work out all those kinks, stiffness, twinges. I just felt so much better afterwards.

[BunnyHop]

As others have said, I found success by starting small, and just being persistent.

Finding out what you WILL do is key.

I like all kinds of workouts, but apparently will only actually do those that are fairly low impact and not too speedy.

Plain old walking is a great place to start. A few months ago, I picked it up again as a habit and was surprised to find that I really worked my core muscles just from walking. (was kinda sore for a while, LOL!)



Power Fit and Power Fit Harmony are good for the basic fitness sort of routine workouts in short segments, but since I'm so step challenged, I can't even do the 'step' they do in this workout, which involves stepping over your stretchy band that's on the floor. (Some part of my brain just can't coordinate the movement of my feet with the instruction. I get the idea, but persist in thinking I should move my feet some other way than her instruction intends.) When that part of the workout comes, I either do whichever walking steps I can manage, or I jump on my rebounder and just bounce til they're ready to move on to something else.

Karen Voight's Ease into Fitness has been a good choice for me as well. It's not too long, and now that I am familiar with the workout, I can fit extra reps into the moves and do moves alternating both arms, etc, as she's giving instruction. It does require some equipment, but nothing you can't find at WalMart (a three pound squishy ball, ankle weights and stretchy bands, IIRC.) It's mostly done seated, but I really like the moves, I think she's quite creative with some of it. Like the stretching moves at the end quite a lot.

Lee Holden's Qi Gong is nice too. I like the gentle constant movement. The PM routines are good just before bedtime.

I really like Classical Stretch, but do find that some of it is kind of beyond me, so I do have to adapt. (i.e., lifting all my weight up onto one foot? Harder than it sounds if you don't use momentum to get there.) I do think I'm stronger and more limber after having done some CS pretty consistently for the last few weeks. Kind of surprised me, since the workouts themselves seem so low key and I mostly do them as a gentle warm up before I move on to weights or cardio.

[StephE]

I just started working out again a couple of weeks ago after a long stretch of letting life get in the way. So much of it is a mental decision to "just do it" (as the Nike saying goes). I was sick of my own excuses and decided it was time to do something about it. So, I promised myself that I would workout a minimum of three times a week for at least 30 minutes. I also started back with Leslie's walking DVDs and Jessica Smith. And one of my "go to" workouts for starting back is The FIRM's Ultimate Fat Burning Workout. I absolutely love the kickboxing sequence in that workout. It just makes me feel good! After doing that one, I felt excited about working out again.

When starting back, I think it is so important to do workouts that you're familiar with and that you find just plain fun. Do workouts that make you feel good! And be sure to choose workouts that are on the easier side. In the past, I would try to do a harder workout and then get frustrated because I'd realize how much strength/endurance I'd lost, and then I'd just want to give up. Now, I've learned to pick an easier workout (like a Leslie DVD) and then "ramp it up" if I want to.

Anyway, that's just my two cents. I'm right there with you in the "starting back" department. We can do this! And after just two weeks, I'm already starting to feel my endurance coming back. I feel really good, and you will too.

[BunnyHop]

Me again, with another thought.

I've been having great success incorporating a Classical Stretch routine into my everyday life.

I try to do one every morning, but the other day I was having one of those days, and just couldn't manage it.

Later in the day, I did the Karen Voight Ease into Fitness workout.

Even later that evening? I actually felt as though I hadn't done 'anything' just because I hadn't done the CS episode I was kinda hoping/planning on.
How contrary is that?

A lot of what I'm trying to overcome is entirely psychological, and I need to remember that doing 'something' is just fine, even if it isn't the one special something I'd been hoping to manage that day.

[sheepla]

I start back with Tamilee's Tight on Time workout. Only 10 minutes and I like how it counts down in the corner of the workout.