3 Ways To Break A Workout Rut

I have a confession for all of you: After my marathon fail, I fell into a period of doubting my fitness levels. Don’t get me wrong, 16.5 miles is really good, but when you’re supposed to be completing 26.2, it’s a bit….disappointing. And by a bit, I mean it’s kind of like being kicked in the stomach.

After the race, my drive to work out was at a steady zero. I lacked motivation, which kind of surprised me, because I thought for sure I would be all — YOU CAN DO THIS! 26.2 IS CALLING YOU! START NOW! Except I was more like…well, let me just take a walk around the block and check the workout box for today. And that was if I even left the house! You guys, it was bad. Physically I wanted to be there SO BADLY, but mentally I was out to lunch.

A couple weeks went by before I really felt “all in” again and a couple more weeks went by before I was back to enjoying working out again. During this time, I realized that I had officially entered a fitness rut. I needed help! Today, I’m sharing a couple things I did to pull myself out of that funk in hopes that it might help some of you reading 🙂 Be sure to read to the end because there’s a fun surprise waiting!

So let’s get started…

1. Music. It’s amazing to me what music can do and for me, music is so important when it comes to working out. I mean, if I get to the gym and realize I’ve forgotten my headphones, I don’t even turn the car off. I’m already driving back home to get them and..most likely…forfeiting a gym workout for running outside. Here’s the thing – music gives me life. I need it to get shit done. Workouts, house cleaning, driving…you see where this is going. It just makes me feel good and want to accomplish things. Do I sound like a crazy person or do you get it?

Anyway, I went through all my old music off hard drives that I didn’t even know existed anymore to pull songs for new playlists. I had been listening to the same 300 tracks on loop for MORE THAN A YEAR. That just wasn’t doing it for my anymore, so I created multiple playlists, all in varying lengths to inspire me. I’m sharing one of my favorites below. Fair warning – my music tastes are ALL OVER THE PLACE! Seriously – I’ll let you have a look for yourself…

2. Routine. For so long, I was in the same routine – get up, drink coffee, RUN, go to work/go about my day. After the marathon, I dreaded my coffee, because that meant it was time to workout. This HAD to stop. I had to break the routine, because I was starting to do myself a disservice by continuing it. Usually routines have the opposite effect, but in this particular instance, I was just plain tired. I had to do something different. I signed up for kickboxing, spin and full body exercise classes for different types of cardio at all different times of the day, I upped the ante with weights and I began running with our dogs to break the cycle of mindless endurance training. It sounds so simple, but IT WORKED!

3. New clothes. One of the ways I motivated myself to get back to it was with new clothing. I know how that sounds – but putting something new on got me excited again. In this process, I discovered what is worth the spend at Lululemon vs. Athleta. 

Have you ever been in a workout rut? How did you get back on track?