Doing It Right
First of all, be safe. Just two months away from exercise can mean a loss of 50% of your cardio capacity. Remember this when making your return. Furthermore if it was an injury that has kept you away or have been away for an extended period you should first check with your doctor.
Make a Habit that Won’t Break
When you are planning your return to exercise, keep in mind you are not going to pickup where you left off. Don’t get discouraged. Set realistic goals. Remember even short periods of exercise are helpful and don’t wait for the weekend. The best way to form a habit is to stick with it; so even if you don’t want to work out, tell yourself that you will just go to the gym and if you still don’t want to exercise, that’s fine, but if you decide to go ahead and work out, reward yourself afterwards.
Walk Before You Run
After an absence from regular exercise your lung elasticity, your heart’s ability to pump and your blood vessels have decreased. If you try to return to previous levels it will be uncomfortable and hard to recover. Look at walking the first few times, then jogging, before running. If you use weights, decrease them to half of previous levels. For circuit training decrease the repetitions to start.
Staying Motivated
We have already discussed setting realistic goals and forming good habits. Set up a schedule but allow it to be flexible and subject to adjustments. Missing a work out is not the end of the world. Keep your intentions, if you can’t do your regular routine, try to get in a short walk or some home based body-weight workouts just to maintain the habit until you get back at it.
Enjoy and have a great new year.