How to Avoid Fitness Burnout

Back in August I mentioned that I was taking a break. Now I’m back to blogging and I feel like I’m in a much better place than I was before. To read that post click here. Now that I’m back into the swing of things I thought I would give you guys a little more insight as to what caused my need for a break and how to avoid fitness burnout yourself.

8 Ways to Avoid Fitness Burnout

Don’t Try to Overhaul Your Lifestyle in A Day

Seriously guys, just don’t. I’m sure all of us had said at one point or another “tomorrow I’m starting my sugar cleanse/alcohol cleanse/raw diet/(you fill in the blank)” and tried to change all of the fundamentals of our diet overnight only to quit a week (or less) later. This tactic almost NEVER works. Unless you have been told by a medical or health professional to remove something from your diet immediately, I would strongly suggest making small, gradual changes.

Allow Your Body to Rest

More is not always better when it comes to exercise. Your body needs time to properly recover from the demands that you place upon it through exercise. Overtraining leads to excessive fatigue, poor form and ultimately injuries. I know there are tons of posts out there on social media saying to “put in the work even when you don’t want to” but there is a huge difference between that and overtraining. Not wanting to workout and not feeling well enough to workout are very different.

Take an Active Recovery Day 

Working out doesn’t have to be boring and monotonous. In fact, chances are if you enjoy what you’re doing you’ll be far more likely to do it. Each week find fun ways to stay active to keep yourself from slipping into a gym rut. It could be hiking, taking a bike ride, swimming, playing tennis with a friend or whatever it is that you enjoy doing.

Ignore the Scale

 The scale takes so many things into consideration when calculating your “weight”. Your weight can vary greatly throughout the day depending on how much you’ve had to eat or drink, if you’ve gone to the bathroom, the clothes you’re wearing, etc. Everyone will see fluctuations in their weight. Yes, everyone. Don’t let this be a measure of your success or failure because nobody knows (or cares) how much you weigh. Your health and well being are so much more important.

Don’t Get Obsessed

If you find yourself feeling anxious if you miss a workout or obsessing over calorie and macro you consume you need to stop. While it is good to have a desire to workout, sometimes life gets in the way and you’ll have to skip the gym. It is also not healthy to give up your social life for the sake of aesthetics. Having a healthy social life is a great contributor to your overall wellbeing.

Do Your Best, and Show Yourself Grace 

As I mentioned in my post How to Find Balance in Your Diet, there is a big difference between eating and exercising for health and fitness vs. aesthetics. Eating a not so healthy meal every so often won’t derail your efforts in the gym. Just make sure to balance out what you eat and drink with what you do. If you know you’re going to eat pizza and beer with friends for dinner, try to eat a lighter more nutritious lunch and be sure to get your workout in. There will be times when you don’t eat very well all day but you have to pick yourself up and get right back on track the next day.

Find Ways to Keep Working Out Fun

For me I like to keep things fresh and exciting my changing up my workout routine every 6-12 weeks and changing up my workouts. When I started working out with a trainer last year, I got addicted to seeing results and kept doing program after program each more intensive than the last. As I’ve said before our bodies are easily adaptable to the demands we place upon them so this isn’t always a good thing. This lead me to having to spend more time in the gym to achieve and maintain my results. The biggest thing I’ve learned is to make sure you’re periodically switching up your routing.

Have a Gym Only Playlist

I find a lot of energy and motivation through music. Having a list of songs that pump me up that I can only listen to at the gym really helps keep me motivated. Here is what is on my playlist right now:

Playlist:

Can You Feel My Heart – Bring The Horizon

Dream On – Aerosmith

You Know You Like It – DJ Snake, AlugaGeorge

Cake By The Ocean – DNCE

Five Hours – Deorro

The Half – DJ Snake

Pushin’ Weight – Ice Cube

Starboy – The Weeknd

Don’t Let Me Down – The Chainsmokers

Send the Pain Below – Chevelle

Turn Down for What – DJ Snake

As I was suffering from my own case of fitness burnout, I’m not sure if you guys have noticed or not but I also haven’t been posting as much fitness related content as I used to. I’ve been working on a project for the past several weeks which I’m super excited to share with you all. I’m currently developing 2 brand new fitness programs that can be completed in 45 minutes or less that are perfect for busy moms on the go. They can be done at home or in the gym using only dumbbells and I’ll be offering them at a very affordable price.

With each program you’ll get access to my private Facebook Group for accountability, support and motivation, access to me as your trainer 24/7, 6 weeks worth of workouts that will change bi-weekly, video demonstrations of all the exercises in my programs, a meal and recipe guide with calculated macros and more.

If you’d like to receive notifications when these programs go live, please sign up here: [mailerlite_form form_id=3]

xo,

Erika