How to Get Back Into a Fitness Routine After the Summer Holidays
How to Get Back Into a Fitness Routine After the Summer Holidays
September has a bit of a January feeling about it, doesn’t it?
The holidays are over. The kids go back to school. Work gets busy again.
And suddenly there’s an urge to GET BACK ON TRACK.
New diet. Five workouts a week. No alcohol. 10,000 steps every day. Meal prep every Sunday.
And by about the third week of September?
You’re exhausted and wondering why you can’t stick to anything.
So if your exercise and nutrition have been a little more relaxed over the summer, here’s my advice:
Don’t try to make up for it.
You Haven’t Ruined Your Progress
A few holidays, meals out, BBQs or missed workouts haven’t undone everything you’ve achieved.
And you certainly don’t need to punish yourself for enjoying your summer.
What matters far more is what you do consistently over the next few months.
So rather than trying to change everything on Monday morning, start by rebuilding your routine.
- Put Your Workouts in Your Diary
Don’t wait to “find time” to exercise.
For most busy women, that time magically never appears.
Look at the week ahead and decide when your workouts are going to happen.
Three 30-minute strength sessions gives you just 90 minutes of training across an entire week.
And yes – that can absolutely be enough to make progress.
- Don’t Go From Zero to Five Workouts
If you’ve barely trained throughout August, jumping straight into five hard sessions probably isn’t your best move.
Start with two or three.
Get your body used to training again and give yourself a target you can realistically achieve.
You can always add more later.
- Get Your Protein Back Up
Rather than immediately slashing your calories, start with the basics.
Try to include a good source of protein at each meal.
Protein helps with fullness and is particularly important when you’re strength training because it supports muscle repair and growth.
Think:
- Eggs or Greek yoghurt at breakfast
- Chicken, tuna, tofu or cottage cheese at lunch
- Meat, fish, pulses or another protein source with dinner
It doesn’t have to be complicated.
- Bring Your Everyday Movement Back
Summer routines can mean our usual activity disappears.
Maybe the lunchtime walks stopped. The school run disappeared. Your normal commute changed.
So look at your steps too.
You don’t automatically need to hit 10,000.
If you’re currently averaging 4,000, aim for 5,000 or 6,000 first.
Progress beats perfection.
- Stop Waiting for a Perfect Week
This is probably the most important one.
There will always be something.
A late meeting. A child who’s ill. Dinner out. A terrible night’s sleep. A birthday. A weekend away.
Your fitness routine needs to survive normal life.
If your plan only works when everything goes perfectly, it’s not a very good plan.
Your September Fitness Goal
Instead of trying to have a “perfect” September, choose three things you can consistently do.
For example:
3 strength workouts + protein at each meal + 7,000 steps per day.
Do that for four weeks and you’ll achieve far more than you would from ten days of trying to do everything.
You don’t need another reset.
You need a routine you can still follow when life gets busy.
And if you’d like somebody to build that routine around your life rather than trying to figure it all out yourself, that’s exactly what I do with my online coaching clients.
