Three tips to maintaining your fitness routine as ‘normality’ resume

Jeff Kloepping is an International Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor, specialising in body transformations. Originally based in New York, Jeff pursued his own goals and became an award-winning bodybuilder after a lot of hard work and determination. In 2006, Jeff wanted to share his knowledge and passion by making the leap into personal training. After growing his client base in the US, he has since moved to London in 2017 to work with clients on both fitness, fat loss and nutritional goals. He is always happy to share his expert advice and tips on subjects surrounding general fitness, muscle building and staying motivated, which is particularly important during this time. 

Many have taken the initiative during this lockdown to use their excessive alone time to work on their fitness and get in shape. Inspirational individuals, such as Joe Wicks, have played a huge part in the nation's fitness craze. With the lockdown's restrictions easing and a sense of 'normality' gradually returning, there will be many who find it difficult to maintain their current level of fitness.

With countless pubs and eateries due to reopen next week, many newly health-conscious folk will be tempted to ignore their fitness regime and slip back into an unhealthy lifestyle. Whilst there's nothing wrong with treating yourself here and there, it would be a shame to see all this hard work go to waste once people go back to their regular day-to-day schedules.

Jeff Kloepping is an international fitness instructor who has been delighted to see the effort people have been putting into their lockdown exercise. He would like to do what he can to ensure that people don't give up on their healthy lifestyle as lockdown restrictions lessen, and has provided his advice on sticking to a good workout routine, as well as ways to keep exercising even if you've got a busy schedule. 

Rise & Shine

Although this is certainly far more difficult in the Summer months, as it may require getting an early-ish night whilst the sun is still out, Jeff recommends getting up early and getting your exercise done first thing. This energizing method is also a great way to start your day (even though it may not feel like it when the alarm wakes you). Long, stressful work days and the pressures of maintaining our social lives can make it difficult to stick to an after-work routine. If this is how you feel, getting it out of the way early is the way to go! 

The upside to early morning exercise during the summer months is that the weather is often lovely at around 6am, meaning you can have a refreshing work out in the sun before breakfast! Where possible, take advantage of this weather whenever you can. Any time spent outside, taking in the fresh air, is going to be good for you. If you have ten minutes to spare, take a short walk. Maybe try to squeeze in a midday run. Even just doing some stretches in the park is better than nothing. Being proactive in this way will have multiple health benefits, not just for your body, but for your mind too.

Make a plan

Consistency is the key to getting results, but this doesn’t mean you’ve failed if one day your routine is cut in half. What matters is that you keep going back for more. Sometimes it might feel like you simply have no spare time to put into exercising, but by making sure you keep at it, it will end up seamlessly becoming a part of your normal, day-to-day routine – to the point where it feels strange if you go a day without working out. 

When life is hectic and you feel as if you have no control, putting some time aside each day to exercise will give you that sense of control you need to keep moving forwards – as it’s not just good for your physical health, but your mental health too!

So, even though your schedule may be more packed than you’ve gotten used to over the last few months, and free time might feel non-existent, ultimately there’s no excuse for doing nothing.

Ease into your routine

Something very important to note is that you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself. If you beat yourself up over every single day you miss out on exercise, you’re going to end up associating your fitness routine with this miserable guilt, and it will end up feeling easier to just stop altogether. Instead, try to make little rules for yourself – don’t miss two workouts in a row, for example. If you miss a day, who cares! Forgive yourself, but make sure that you train the next day no matter what!

When things start getting back to normal, and you find that sometimes you don’t have enough time to complete a full workout, that’s no reason to scrap it altogether. If you don’t have time for a full workout, just cut it short. 20-30 minutes is better than nothing!