Finding a New Routine Can Be Hard – Try My Top Tips to Keep Motivated

Before the coronavirus outbreak, most of my spare time was spent doing something active.

A typical day would involve leaving my home, tripping over the many bags that I would have in my hands as I headed off to work. My regular routine consisted of work, eating well, walking lots to and from meetings and then heading straight to the gym. Although this could sound dull, it really wasn’t. I was doing what I love and would get to see my friends daily.

When I first heard that things were changing, that we would be working from home for the foreseeable, I wondered: “how is this going to effect my usual routine?”

Adapting to Change Can Be Challenging

To begin with, I thought I would have lots more free time to be active. In fact, I  believed that I could actually be almost, a full time athlete. I could exercise all of those times when I would have been in the car or walking to meetings. Plus, do workouts in my lunch breaks at home, and get straight back out after work for a run or something similar.

I am not too sure what has happened, but it hasn’t been like that yet. It’s safe to say that the motivation to be active has been harder than I first thought.

Like so many others, prior to coronavirus outbreak my world was very much surrounded by people all the time. Friends outside work, that I would meet up with at the gym. Friends in work, that would encourage me to try new activities and talk about how it went.

I’ve realised, that seeing my friends and being with them on a daily basis, really helped to motivate me to be active.

And, that, it’s too easy to put off doing physical activity until tomorrow, or at the end of the day. Or, maybe not getting round to doing it at all and thinking who is actually going to know?

The ‘New Normal’

Now, we all find ourselves in a new and very different situation. Everything is online. There is so much information that it can be confusing on where to start and what to believe. We are surrounded by Instagram influencers that have the most amazing homes, gyms and buckets of motivation.

For most, our lives have slowed down, we face different pressures and a completely different set of circumstances.

So, we need to find new ways to deal with this, try new things, adopt new behaviours and habits. It is going to take more than a few weeks to settle into the new way of life but I’ve made a start.

Try My Top Tips for Keeping Motivated

I have put together a few tips that are helping to keep me motivated, which you might like to try:

Office clothes stay in the draw. Now I put on my ‘active wear’ as soon as I wake up. This makes is so much easier to step away from my laptop and join in with an online session.

Planned breaks in my day to be active. Blocking out a specific time every day in my calendar has helped me to plan an activity that I can do, or take part in. Whether it is a 15 minute stretch, yoga session, HIIT workout or a lovely walk in the fresh air. It is sometimes hard to step away from the laptop, but you need to, to feel the benefits.

Being accountable to people and stay connected through digital tools. At work, we create online meetings throughout the week to do a 20 minutes workout together. I would highly recommend this. It is really enjoyable!

10,000 a day! I have gone back to wearing and tracking my daily steps. I hit an all time low a few days ago with just 480 steps. This needs to change. Getting up and having a little walk around the house and garden, roughly every 30 minutes, has helped me to up my daily steps.

Start something new. For the past five years, I have competed in CrossFit but this is a perfect opportunity to try something new. After seeing some fun online dance sessions, I think I am going to try some. I am not a dancer but have always loved the idea of learning. So I am giving it a go. No one is going to know if I am any good as I am behind the screen. Dance like no one can see you, (isn’t that the saying?).

Let’s Do This Together -#StayInWorkOut

I am a big believer in helping and supporting one another, to work through the challenges and share the successes.

It would be great to hear your story and how you are finding ways to stay motivated towards being active at home. I wonder how many tips and tricks we can share to help all of us through these tougher times.

As we embark on this new chapter that we are faced with, it has never been more important to be and stay active. There are mountains of evidence that explains why physical activity is so important. Not just for our physical health but our mental health too.

I am missing my old routine and I could find it quite easy to just do nothing, but we need to keep moving and working hard at sticking to our new routine.

To help inspire you more, Active Devon has set up a range of tools and resources for all the family. This includes advice on staying active, for all ages, plus a range of free online activity sessions.

This article is written by Louise Evans – Programmes Manager Leading on Working Age and Women and Girls at Active Devon

During these strange and challenging times, we believe that:

“Everybody should stay at home and follow the latest government advice, protecting the NHS and saving lives. However, it is also more important than ever that people keep moving, as physical activity is crucial to good health and mental wellbeing. Throughout this crisis, here at Active Devon we’re doing all we can to support you, your family and your community, so that you have the tools and resources to remain active whatever the situation.” #StayInWorkOut