Sometimes in life, we get stuck in the mud, unable to make the changes for the life we desire. In this instance, the next focus is fitness and it happens to the best of us. You know you’ve completely fallen off the wagon when every Instagram or Facebook post you see from a fitness-obsessed friend just makes you feel sick, especially if it’s been months since you’ve seen the inside of the gym.

Getting sick, family crisis, overtime at work or school papers that need to get finished sometimes keep us from exercising. But after a month, two months or possibly a year off, it can be hard to get started again. Now, the question is: how do you start again? Once you have an exercise habit, it becomes automatic. You just go to the gym with no force involved.  Here are some tips to climb back on that treadmill after you’ve fallen off:

Don’t break the habit: The easiest way to keep things going is simply not to stop. Avoid long breaks in exercising, else rebuilding the habit will take some effort. This may be an advice a little too late for some people. But if you have an exercise habit going on, don’t drop it at the first sign of trouble.

Reward showing up: Woody Allen once said that, “Half of life is showing up.” I’d argue that 90% of making something a habit is just making the effort to get there. You can worry about your weight, number of laps you run or bench-presses, if you don’t stay committed, you are still joking about fitness.

Commit for 30 days: Make a commitment to go exercise every day (even if it’s just for 20 minutes) for one month. This will solidify the exercise habit. By making a commitment, you also take pressure off yourself in the first week of working out.

Make it fun: If you don’t enjoy yourself at the gym, it is going to be hard to make it a habit. There are thousands of ways you can move your body and exercise, so don’t give up if you’ve decided lifting weights or doing crunches isn’t for you. Many large fitness centers will offer a range of programs that can suit your tastes.

Schedule exercises rightly: Don’t fix exercise time where it will easily be pushed aside by something more important. Right after work or first thing in the morning are often good periods. Lunch-hour workouts might be too easy to skip if work demands start mounting.
Get a buddy: Grab a friend to join you. Having a social aspect to exercising can boost your commitment to the exercise habit.

X your calendar: One person I know has the habit of drawing a red “X” through any day on the calendar he goes to the gym. The benefit of this is, it quickly shows how long you have stayed away from the gym. Keeping a steady number of X’s on your calendar is an easy way to motivate yourself.

Enjoyment before effort: After you finish any workout, ask yourself what parts you enjoyed and what parts you did not. As a rule, the enjoyable aspects of your workout will get done and the rest will be avoided. By focusing on how to make workouts more enjoyable, you get more inspired to keep going to the gym.

Create a ritual: Your workout routine should become so ingrained that it becomes a ritual. This means that the time of day, place or cue automatically starts you towards grabbing your bag and heading out. If your workout times are completely random, it will be harder to benefit from the momentum of a ritual.

Stress relief: What do you do when you’re stressed? Chances are it isn’t jogging. But exercise can be a great way to relieve stress, releasing endorphin which will improve your mood. The next time you feel stressed or tired, try an exercise you enjoy. When stress relief is linked to exercise, it is easy to regain the habit even after a leave of absence.

Measure fitness: Weight isn’t always the best number to track. Increase in muscle can offset decrease in fat so the scale doesn’t change even if your body is. But fitness improvements are a great way to stay motivated. Recording simple numbers such as the number of push-ups, sit-ups or speed you can run can help you see that the exercise is making you stronger and faster.

Habits first, equipment later: Fancy equipment doesn’t create a habit for exercise. Despite this, some people still believe that buying an expensive machine will make up for their inactivity. It won’t. Start building the exercise habit first, only afterwards should you worry about having a personal gym.

Isolate your weakness: If falling off the exercise wagon is a common occurrence for you, find out why. Do you not enjoy exercising? Is it a lack of time? Is it feeling self-conscious at the gym? Is it a lack of fitness know-how? As soon as you can isolate your weakness, you can take steps to improve the situation.

Start small: Trying to run fifteen miles on your first workout isn’t a good way to build a habit. Work below your capacity for the first few weeks to build the habit. Otherwise you might scare yourself off after a brutal workout.

Be yourself, try not to Impress. Going to the gym with the sole goal of looking great is like starting a business with the one goal of making money. The effort can’t justify the results. But if you go to the gym to push yourself, gain energy and have a good time, then you can keep going even when results are slow. Try those tips and you are surely going to be the happier and healthier for it.
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