Do you enjoy it? Do you dread it? Do you love it? Do you see it as the worst hour of your life? All of these things will impact your ability to stick with it and potentially stop you seeing results.

How did you learn about exercise?

You may have seen your parents do it. Or did you see your mum gain a few lbs then exercise and diet for a few weeks before giving it up when those lbs just wouldn’t come off.  Or maybe you saw your dad religiously doing it as part of his routine. He may have absolutely adored that one hour he got to himself each day.

A love/hate relationship

For me I had both and I have a ‘love hate’ relationship with exercise. At times I love it and at times I hate it. But that’s ok. I’ve had to understand why I may sabotage my own goals, what my barriers are and what really motivates me to keep going!

We all have barriers to exercise. To be honest it’s hard right? And to become better and work on ourselves is hard. If it was easy then everyone would do it.

Here are three things I’ve had to understand first:

1. Women cannot train like men. It’s not possible as we have to work around all our hormones which is damn hard.
2. I need to track my feelings – good workouts vs bad workouts. At least 10 days of every month it will feel like a slog for me. I don’t want to workout and I am more likely to give up. Accepting this is all normal and ok.  On those days the focus needs to change. I focus on movement, rather than hard workouts. Maybe lighter training or even no training and just lots of walking.
3. I had to work out what I enjoyed. Yes weights are essential and yes running may put impact on your knees. We’ve all heard that one before 🤣 but it comes down to doing what you like to do. A bit like your job! You will never stick at anything you don’t like. And don’t get me wrong, exercise is all hard, but we all prefer something. Do what you love!

Understanding movement is essential. We need it and if you don’t do it your health could be impacted in a negative way.

The shift has to move from just having short term goals. Weight loss in itself isn’t enough. You need to have long term goals too to stay on track. Short term goals are fab but sometimes the quick fix to get there cannot be maintained.

Build a healthy relationship with exercise

Try to build a healthy relationship with exercise, focus on moving better, getting stronger and being the best version of you. For you, for everyone around you and for your mind!

Natalie Bhangal is a personal trainer who has a passion for health, fitness and strength training. She trains beginners, athletes, pregnant and postnatal women, those with injuries and injury prone clients. For more information email natalie@graftfitness.co.uk