How to Get Fit Again: A Gentle 3-Step Plan

I recently received an email from a listener who said:

I found your podcast and YouTube channel and really appreciate your work. But here’s the problem: I haven’t really exercised since I was in college and I don’t know where to start! Every time I have started a workout program in the past few years, I have ended up injured, frustrated, or both. Can you help?

I completely understand this listener’s dilemma. It is a complaint I've encountered often, both as an endurance coach and from the people who are just starting the Weighless program. Some haven't ever been interested in exercise, but they were suddenly faced with a doctor telling them they need to get in shape or else. Others were fit years ago, maybe in high school or college. But once they stopped competing in team sports, they never found a replacement for that physical activity.

These are similar but slightly different issues. 

1. Never being fit (or interested in being fit) can lead to not knowing where to start.

2. Having been previously fit but letting it slide for several years can lead to trying to jump back in where you left off. 

The good news is that you can address either of these challenges by adopting the same mindsets.

We are all good enough. And at the same time, we're all works in progress.

Start where you are

In a previous Get-Fit Guy episode on functional movement screening, I wrote about a test that can identify what areas of fitness you may want to work on first.

Chances are, if you're reading this article right now, you aren’t a complete couch potato. That means me telling you to simply “move more” isn't going to help. So these types of tests can give you a good indication of where to start. 

Ask yourself if you're telling yourself an unhelpful mental story about what you should or shouldn’t be capable of.

But even more important than identifying the gaps in your overall physical fitness is to identify the mental gaps in your thinking. You need to ask yourself if you're telling yourself an unhelpful mental story about what you should or shouldn’t be capable of. Are you “shoulding” yourself into either not doing anything or “shouldn’ting” yourself into doing too much, too soon?

Start where you are—not where you want to be or where you were, but honestly and sincerely where you are...

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