I know after a long time or even sometimes a short period of time away from doing any kind of fitness, it can be difficult to come back. Here are some tips that may help to get you back into a fitness routine:
Make a short-term commitment to yourself. What do I mean by this? Set a start date for you to get back to the gym. Then pick a target date 1-2 months away that you want to attend X amount of classes by. I recommend 3 days on 2 days off. Don’t write this in stone though- be flexible with it. If you don’t make it to the gym all 3 days that week, then cut your losses and pick it back up again. If you do hit that goal, then great; and if you make it to even more classes that is even better! Talk to your coaches, LISTEN to them- they are there to help guide you and ease you back into the swing of things.
DO NOT live in the past and be discouraged about what weight you used to lift or how fast you used to be. Don’t be shy because the person next to you in the workout may be using the prescribed weight and you are scaling the workout. Remember that everyone started out scaling the workouts one way or another. Let the natural progression of things take its course. You will be surprised at how quickly you will get off that trainer bar or be able to do a pull-up again or even get your first pull-up!! Focus on moving through the entire workout efficiently and maximizing your results.
Fight the fatigue. Believe me, I took a lot of time off from fitness and have been down this road before. For me, this was one of the most challenging parts of getting back to it. At the end of a long day, I had zero desire to do any more than I already had for the day. I started to force myself to get to the box. The part of being at a CrossFit gym that many people like is that the thinking is done for you. You are not trying to decide what piece of machinery to use at the Globo gym. The workouts are programmed, and the coaches are there to help you through the class. During the workout you may be thinking to yourself this sucks my lungs are on fire!! My legs are on Fire!! Believe me, everyone in that class is feeling the same burn as you. At the end of the workout, I can promise that you will leave feeling better. Your mind will feel refreshed you will probably even have a few laughs in class.
Hope some of these honest tips help you get back to the gym. There is no proven prescription to feel 100% ready to come back, but what we can guarantee is that you will leave class feeling better!
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