The Importance of Consistency in Exercise: A Personal Journey to Recovery
Maintaining a consistent exercise routine is essential for overall health and wellbeing, but what happens when illness disrupts your fitness journey? A recent personal account highlights the challenges of returning to exercise after a period of sickness and the determination required to overcome physical setbacks.
After feeling unwell for several days and avoiding exercise, the experience of returning to a workout routine proved challenging. The lack of physical activity had led to stiffness throughout the body, particularly in the legs, making even basic stretching painful. This serves as a powerful reminder that consistency in exercise is not just about fitness goals but about maintaining basic mobility and comfort.
“I have been feeling sick for some days, I have not really exercised and I did not do any good for my system. That did not help me at all,” the account states, highlighting how avoiding exercise during illness actually compounded physical discomfort rather than alleviating it.
The journey back to fitness began with a short 20-minute workout session. Despite experiencing ongoing symptoms including neck pain, headache, and nasal congestion, the determination to return to an active lifestyle prevailed. This demonstrates the mental discipline often required to maintain fitness habits through challenging periods.
Mind Over Matter: Controlling Your Fitness Journey
A key insight from this experience is the importance of mental control over physical impulses. As noted in the account, “It is very hard to lose weight but very easy to gain weight. All you need to do is to push your body. You force it. Not letting your body control you – you control your body.”
This philosophy extends to dietary choices as well. The discipline to say “no” to cravings and make healthier choices requires the same mental fortitude as pushing through a challenging workout. It’s about establishing dominance over impulses rather than being led by them.
Starting Small: The Gradual Return to Fitness
The account emphasizes the importance of starting with manageable goals when returning to exercise after a break: “We must not be professional. You must not lift 100 pounds. Just start by lifting 10 pounds. Five pounds. So if we cannot lift 10 pounds, just little by little, we are going to be fine.”
This incremental approach is crucial for sustainable fitness. The workout session described involved jogging at a moderate pace, with careful attention to energy levels and endurance. This mindful approach to exercise allows for proper recovery while still challenging the body enough to rebuild strength and stamina.
Measuring Progress: The Value of Tracking
The fitness journey described includes tracking various metrics such as time, calories burned, and speed. Starting with lower intensity settings on exercise equipment and gradually working up to higher levels provides concrete measurements of progress.
In previous fitness periods, higher speeds and intensities were achievable, providing a clear benchmark to work toward during this recovery period. This kind of objective tracking can be highly motivating during the rebuilding phase of fitness.
The Reward of Perseverance
By the end of the short workout session, the positive effects were already becoming apparent. Despite initial fatigue, the determination to continue led to increased energy levels and the satisfaction of seeing progress in calories burned.
The account concludes with a statement of renewed commitment: “I am going to be doing better today.” This simple affirmation captures the essence of fitness as a journey rather than a destination – each day offers a new opportunity to improve upon the last.
Whether you’re returning to exercise after illness or simply trying to establish a more consistent routine, this personal journey reminds us that persistence, patience, and self-discipline are the true foundations of physical wellbeing. The path to fitness isn’t always linear, but each step forward counts, no matter how small.