How to Get Your Gym Plan and Diet Back on Track

Ok, no matter how determined we are to reach our goals, or how much we love working out, we’ve all fallen off the wagon at some point. Maintaining an effective exercise program and clean, healthy diet plan is no easy task, and even those of us who’ve got it nailed, keeping it up day after day, month after month, year after year is virtually impossible. Even top-level bodybuilders and athletes need some downtime now again, to retain their sanity, if nothing else.

The thing that separates the successes and the failures however is not whether they falter from time to time, but how effectively they can recover and get back on track. Nine times out of ten, the toughest part about getting your training and diet back on song is motivation. When it comes down to it, motivation can only come from within, but here are a few tips to help you:

• Create a detailed workout and/or diet plan, define a concrete start date
• Define your goals and specify a time period for you to achieve them
• Buy yourself some new gym gear to give you an incentive
• Join a new gym for a change of scenery to freshen things up
• Checkout YouTube for some new training ideas (as an added bonus I find watching other people train makes me want to get in the gym asap!)
• Buy a healthy recipe book to give some new, tasty meal ideas

Setting foot in the gym or eating that first meal of grilled chicken and veg can be tough if you haven’t done it for a while, but getting over that initial hurdle will set the ball rolling and make you hungry for success once more. The key thing to remember is that you’ve done it before and learned some valuable lessons about what does and does not work, meaning you have an established platform to build upon.

Of course your mental state is only one part of the equation, your body needs to be ready for your new exercise and diet plan as well, and ensuring you assess your physical state before you restart will prevent injuries which could put you out of action indefinitely.

Whether you are training predominately with weights or favouring aerobic workouts, you’ll need to ease back into a conservative workout program, rather than simply reverting to the level you trained at at your peak. Warming up and stretching will also be extremely important when easing yourself back into training so ensure they form a significant portion of your program.

When all is said and done, the knowledge that you’ve been there and done it before means you have a key advantage when restarting an exercise or diet plan. Remember this and use that knowledge wisely to ensure your new regime doesn’t stagnate. Make time for the gym, be measured in your food choices, and most importantly, love your training!