The pandemic destroyed my workout routine. Here’s how I’m trying to rebuild it.
6 tips for developing the good habit of regular exercise.
Somewhere between March and September 2020, my workout routine fell apart.
It wasn’t just the pandemic — which relegated me to working out in my tiny bedroom, the side yard of my house, or at public parks. It was also the wildfires that sparked up here in Colorado and across the western U.S. Smoke wafted into Denver, leaving skies yellow and air thick enough to choke on for three months. And if that wasn’t enough, sometime in July, I injured my knee playing tennis. The subsequent months of physical therapy became basically my only exercise.
Since college, I’d maintained a consistent workout habit, doing some combination of running or lifting or swimming five days a week for nearly 10 years, with only a few months of exceptions. But those three factors — pandemic closures, wildfire smoke, and injury — shattered my routine. I rejoined the gym in October 2021, and have spent most of the last two years struggling to consistently work out three times a week.
The struggle has raised a lot of questions:
Was I addicted to exercise before?
Did I have some kind of obsessive-compulsive attachment to working out?
Did I not know how to take a day off?
Were my previous injuries due to over-training? (At least one almost definitely was.)
Do I even care about fitness anymore?
Can I still identify as an athlete if I’m not doing athletic things?
Am I doing this for fun or for function or because I miss looking muscular?
Do I need to change my mindset around exercise?
Is fitness just not as high a priority now because I’m getting older?
But isn’t fitness more important as I get older?
All of these questions are worthwhile — I’ll probably explore some of them in future newsletters — but they all stem from one bigger question:
Why is this so hard?
Why is building a habit that’s good for you, that makes you feel good, so hard to do?
I’m sure psychology has some answers for us, but what I’d like you to hear from me is: I get it. I actually do. Building a habit of regular exercise is hard. Especially if you’ve never done it before — and even if you have.
This summer, I finally saw some progress toward a consistent routine. It took week after week of deciding to just go, move. And plenty of days where I let a walk around my neighborhood suffice.
A mix of rigid boundaries, flexibility, and gentle coaxing have helped me bump up my workout sessions, so I thought I’d share a few of my strategies with you. Who knows, maybe they’ll help you with your own routine.
1. Set a minimum goal and a maximum goal. Anything within that span is a success.
For example: work out 3 to 5 times per week.
Your main goal is to work out more than twice a week. You never have to work out more than five times. Broadening the definition of success can reduce the sense of guilt you might feel if you don’t work out five times in a week. It also ensures that success is attainable.
This is helpful for me because I tend to set ambitious goals that turn out to be unrealistic. A range helps me keep that ambitious goal in mind, while also being realistic and not beating myself up for falling short.
2. Schedule gym time on your calendar and protect that time.
Monday and Wednesday evenings are my dedicated gym time. I don’t make plans with anyone on those nights. If something’s going on that I want to participate in, I rework my schedule on that day to make sure I still get to the gym.
Earlier this year, some friends invited me to a game night on a Monday. I planned ahead, packed my dinner and a change of clothes, and joined them after my workout.
If you want something to happen, you have to set a time and decide to make it happen. It’s up to you to protect and prioritize that time.
3. Follow a program so you don’t have to come up with your own workouts.
If you’re not motivated to go to the gym, you’re not going to be motivated to write your own workouts, so don’t force yourself to. Instead, lighten the load by subscribing to a program from a trusted source. I recommend looking for programs that are written by licensed trainers or folks with degrees in exercise science, kinesiology, or another related field (like Alyssa Olenick’s The Lyss Method).
Earlier this year, I started using Brooke Ence’s Naked Training program. Despite its obnoxious name, the program was exactly what I was looking for: strength training with CrossFit-style metabolic conditioning sessions that can be adapted to a commercial gym. Following the program has made working out less daunting. All I have to do is show up and open the app, no extra brainpower needed.
4. Be flexible on sluggish days — but movement isn’t optional.
There are days when I just don’t want to go to the gym. Not because I’m sick or injured, but because I just don’t feel like it. These are the days where that gentle coaxing comes into play. I have to do some kind of movement, so I’ll allow myself to get away with:
Only doing the big lift in my program. The way my program is written, each workout starts with one major lift: back squat, front squat, deadlift, overhead press, etc. I’m allowed to do the full sets of that movement and then call it a day. In doing this, I’ve found that I usually liven up after that first movement and end up finishing the rest of the workout. This allowance gets me started without being overwhelmed by the whole workout.
Going outside for a run or a looooong walk. Sometimes, I just don’t want to go to the stuffy gym. Especially when it’s overrun with smelly teenage boys. If the weather’s nice, this is the perfect opportunity to get a run in without hating every minute on a treadmill.
Swimming at the rec center. My gym doesn’t have a pool, but I love swimming. So when I don’t want to be in the gym but it’s too gross outside to run, I’ll let myself go to the rec center and swim laps. It’s a complete change of pace from my usual routine, and the silence of the water is a palate cleanser for the brain.
5. Focus on one area of fitness you’d like to improve right now.
Goals — especially functional goals — can help spark motivation on the days when you’re not quite feeling it. They give your sessions purpose beyond checking off another workout box.
When I rejoined my gym in 2021, my goal was to regain the strength I’d lost over the pandemic. I spent a lot of time with the barbell and saw my maxes increase on all of the major lifts (including my bench press). Right now, my focused goal is to improve my cardio fitness so that running, hiking, and the occasional CrossFit workout won’t completely destroy me. Over the last couple weeks, I’ve given myself outdoor running days to help with that.
What’s something you would like to be better at in a month or two or six? Work toward that.
6. Remember that working out can be fun — and find ways to make it so.
What this looks like will depend on you. For me, I enjoy flipping tires, jumping rope, throwing sandbags, deadlifting, and doing pullups, to name a few. The more I can do those things in my day-to-day workouts, the more I enjoy the process and the more I want to go back. I’m not interested in doing the same thing for long periods of time, so you will never see me sign up for a marathon or even a 10k, but if that’s what you like, go for it.
The best intrinsic motivator is love, so find a way of working out that you love and, who knows, maybe a year from now we’ll all be working out consistently 3 to 5 times each week and looking forward to every session.
Recommended Reading
How Climbing Helped Me Recover from My Eating Disorder (Climbing)
The Quest to Pick Up the Lost Lifting Stones of Ireland (GQ)
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