Many of us start an exercise routine only to find ourselves unable to keep up with it.  In fact, around this time of year many people begin wavering in their commitments to continue to exercise.  In this article, I share four key mindset shifts that can help you stick to you your exercise routine.

So how do we make an exercise routine stick? 

After five and half years of extreme fatigue, I have tried many different times to reincorporate exercise back into my life.  I couldn’t rely on the same mindset I had as a professional athlete – exercise was just part of my daily and weekly routine.  As a professional athlete, I didn’t have to work to make sure I kept up my level of fitness.

But after suffering from fatigue, I have had to shift my mindset to create an exercise regime that sticks.  After many failed attempts, I have found four key mindset shifts that have helped me successfully integrate exercise back into my regular routine:

1. Mastering the Art of Showing Up
2. Habit Stacking
3. Accepting that taking breaks are a necessary part of being fit
4. Playing the long game

So for anyone out there who is trying to get back to or stick with an exercise regime, I hope you’ll find these tips helpful!  

1. Mastering the Art of Showing Up

The first most mindset shift is to master the art of showing up.  James Clear in his best-selling book Atomic Habits talks about mastering the art of showing up as an essential step in building a new habit.  (Listen to this great podcast interview with James Clear on Whitney Johnston’s Disrupt Yourself podcast for a sneak peak of what he talks about in his book).

One example James Clear shares (in the podcast interview above) is of a man who committed to an exercise regime but his first step was to get dressed and go to the gym every morning for just five minutes.  Through this practice, the man mastered the art of showing up and became that kind of person that goes to the gym every single day.  Over time, he increased the amount of time he would spend at the gym until he established a regular exercise routine.  Mastering the art of showing up is one of the most important steps to create a new healthy habit.

My friend Amy helped me master the art of showing up.  I got a gym membership at the same gym just a few blocks from both our houses.  She suggested that it would be best to plan to work out every single morning from 6 am to 7 am.  Now this may seem like overkill but the rationale is that every week something will come up that interrupts this routine so we don’t have to schedule a rest day. 

We have now had this routine for over 8 months and, as Amy predicted, every single week an illness, a sick child or partner, an early work meeting, or an interrupted sleep has ensured we take at least one day off per week.  But having that consistent commitment to show up has helped solidify our routine.  Every morning after our workout we say: “See you tomorrow morning!” and through this we have mastered the art of showing up.

2. Habit Stacking

The second tip also comes from James Clear’s book Atomic Habits.  It is called habit stacking.  Habit stacking involves building onto a current habit another habit right afterwards.  Each time you habit stack, you increase the chances significantly of sticking to your new habit because it starts to create new synaptic connections in your brain that support the new habit you’re trying to create or sustain.

So in relation to my exercise regime, I habit stack by getting out my workout clothes for the next day right before I jump into the shower after my workout for that day. So the next morning that I get up to go to the gym, I just grab the pile, get dressed and head to the gym.  Even if I miss a day at the gym because of an early meeting or less restful night, I know that my gym clothes are set out and ready to go for the next day. 

A colleague of mine habit stacks by bringing her gym clothes into the office every day.  Instead of leaving them in the car, she brings them in so she can change into her gym clothes before she leaves work.  Having changed already, it increases her chances of going to the gym because she is already set to go work out.  Instead of driving past the gym on her way home, this habit stack significantly increases her chances of stopping to work out on the way home.

So consider a way that you can habit stack to support your exercise routine.  It can really help keep your momentum going and help you master the art of showing up.

3. Accepting that Taking Breaks is a Necessary Part of Being Fit

About four weeks after Amy and I started working out together, she left on a six week visit to her family in another country.  I diligently continued with my exercise regime for about three weeks after she left.

Then one week, life got in the way… I had a bunch of deadlines to meet at work and with my personal writing and instead of using my mornings to work out, I needed to use them to write and meet all these deadlines.  The next week I felt a sore throat coming on and opted to sleep longer rather than pop out of bed and get to the gym.  Then the third week I was at a cottage relaxing.

Like many people, I felt a little guilty.  But the thing I noticed most was that I started to feel worry and anxiety build up in my belly: I was worried and anxious that I might not get back to my routine and that these excuses would overtake my will power to get to the gym.

Then it hit me. 

I was reminded of a conversation that I have had innumerable times while still competing professionally with friends of mine who were lamenting stopping their new exercise regime.  The conversations were always centred around them feeling badly because they stopped their exercise routine.  My response was always:

“Starting and stopping is an natural part of being fit.  It is normal to stop and start regularly and it doesn’t help to beat yourself up when you take a break.  Instead, just accept that taking a break is a normal part of the fitness cycle and then get started again!”

This is a central lesson that I learned in one of my favourite books of all time that I relied on daily while I competed internationally Working Out, Working Within: The Tao of Inner Fitness through Sports and Exercise.  Studies show that on average, people who have successfully established a new exercise regime started and stopped 13 times before getting into a consistent routine.

And it also reminded me that even at the international level, we started and stopped: we had designated rest days every week and we were required to take a full month off after the competitive season ended. We also rested when we got injured to allow our bodies to recover and get strong enough to resume our training.

Stopping is an essential part of being fit, even while competing at the highest level.  Once you accept this as a reality of being fit, it helps reduce feelings of guilt when you encounter bumps in the road that interrupt your fitness routine.  Accepting that taking breaks is a normal part of being fit will also enable you get started again that much more quickly.  (And coupling this idea with the tip below and you will remain on your path to being a fitter, healthier you!)

Be kind to yourself during those times when life gets in the way. Let yourself rest when needed.  But then get back out there and get moving once again.  As my big sister Naomi says: “Celebrate every coin you put into the exercise jar!”

4. Playing the Long Game

It’s easier to stick to an exercise regime if you’re playing the long game. To be effective in improving health, exercising is a long-term lifestyle change.  So for me, after not exercising for five years, I have been very deliberate about reminding myself that it will take me a much longer time than I expect to get back in shape. 

Rather than expecting immediate results, I have been telling myself that it’ll take me about two and half years to get back into the shape.  (Since it took me at least 2.5 years to start to regain my energy bit by bit after years of fatigue, I am kindly giving myself a similar timeline for recovering my fitness.)

With this long term in focus, it’s easy for me to get back to the gym even after taking a week or ten days off for a family vacation.  And because I have set my sights on a longer term, I have tempered my expectations of the results I will get over the short term.

Many people start an exercise regime to lose weight and after a few months, they get discouraged and give up.  But if we consider that including exercise in our weekly regime is good for our overall health – increasing our heartrates keeps our heart healthy, lifting weights keeps our bones strong, stretching our muscles keeps our bodies limber and mobile, and daily exercise releases feel-good endorphins – then it’s easier to commit to exercising over the long term.  Rather than being about losing weight, including exercise in our lives is about healthy daily choices – it’s like choosing salad over French Fries; it’s not always the easier choice but it’s worth it in the long run.

So if you are at the point where you’re starting to waver in your commitment to exercise, remember these three tips:

1. Master the art of showing up
2. Habit stack
3. Accept that taking breaks is normal part of being fit
4. Play the long game

Work on each of these tips to sustain a healthy exercise routine and I’ll see you at the gym!

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