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Exercise & Motivation, Part 4: Maintenance & Relapse

Copyright 2005 Tanja Gardner

WHAT ARE THE MAINTENANCE AND RELAPSE STAGES?

In the maintenance stage, you’ve been exercising regularly for long enough that it’s become a habit. You’ve created a routine that works for you, and (if you’re doing it right), you’ve started seeing the benefits you originally wanted in your life. There are still a few traps that can derail you, though. When this happens, and you find yourself no longer exercising, you’re in Prochaska’s ‘Relapse’ stage. Most ‘traps’ will either involve a change in your life circumstances, a change in your goals, or a combination of both – so if you’ve been exercising regularly for a while and suddenly find motivating yourself difficult, ask yourself what’s changed.


CHANGES IN CIRCUMSTANCE

If your circumstances have altered, you’ll usually be well aware of what’s happened and how it’s affected your motivation. For example – you might enjoy exercising in a gym, then take a sudden drop in income that doesn’t allow you to keep your gym membership. Your working hours might change, making your original workout timeslot unavailable. Someone you exercise with might decide to stop, or you might injure yourself somehow. All these things will disrupt what was an effective routine, and if you don’t actively plan to work around the disruption, it can sap your motivation to keep exercising.

If this applies to you, imagine you were back in the Contemplation stage, and look at the motivation suggestions for this stage. Revisit your main goal for exercising. Is it still valid? If so, move through the suggestions for the Preparation stage. Your initial ‘how’ no longer works – so what needs to change? If you can no longer keep the routine that used to work, what can you still do that’s convenient, enjoyable and affordable? If you’ve kept a fitness journal, go back through the entries you made when you were setting up your routine. What did you think of to try then (and didn’t end up using) that you could experiment with now?


CHANGES IN GOALS

If your circumstances haven’t changed, it’s likely your goals have. Perhaps your initial goals aren’t relevant any longer? If this is the case, don’t beat yourself up about it – instead, ask yourself what you *do* want now. Perhaps you started off enthusiastic about training for a triathlon, but quickly found the required time and effort unbalanced your life. Perhaps you began wanting to lose 20kg, then realised as you had to replace your entire wardrobe that you actually preferred being curvy – now you just want to feel healthy and energetic. Remember, it’s your life and no-one can tell you what your goals should be. It’s OK for goals to change – what’s not OK is to keep grimly putting time and effort into something you don’t actually want any more.

Remember there’s a difference between wanting to take a day off, and


losing long term motivation. Part of any successful plan is allowing yourself occasional rest days. Taking one or two every week doesn’t mean you’ve moved into Relapse – in fact it’s necessary to avoid overtraining. It’s also OK to vary your workout intensity from week to week – alternating weeks of pushing yourself with weeks of coasting. This strategy (called ‘periodisation’ when it’s done to a specific plan) is actually far more effective for reaching fitness goals than pushing yourself as hard as you can every single workout. If you’re starting consistently skip workouts though, you need to figure out why and do something about it.


GETTING HELP WITH MOTIVATION

Finally, as we suggested for those in the Action stage, if it’s getting harder to stay motivated despite all of the above suggestions, think about working with a personal trainer. In fact, a trainer can help you manage your motivational difficulties whatever stage of Prochaska’s model you’re at (or even if you’re not quite sure where you are right now!) If you’ve thought about hiring a trainer in the past, but the time has never been right, Optimum Life Ltd has an offer that might convince you to finally make the investment in yourself, your health, and your happiness. If you e-mail us on mailto:optimumlife@xtra.co.nz during October, you’ll be able to sign up for a full Total Fitness Membership at a 25% discount - only $US30 per month (when you consider that most trainers charge between $50-100 per session, you can see why it’s such good value!)

As you can see from this article series, the question of how to motivate yourself to exercise isn’t an easy one to answer (if it was, we’d all be exercising regularly, and there’d be no need for this article!). The best way to motivate yourself depends very much on where in the stages of change you are at the moment with respect to exercise. Figure out where you are in the model, then try the relevant suggestions for getting yourself moving. If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact us – we’d love to hear from you. Otherwise, may every day bring you closer to your Optimum Life.


About the author:
This article © Tanja Gardner, Optimum Life Ltd. Please feel free to reprint it in whole, as long as this resource box remains intact. Optimum Life Ltd (http://optimumlife.co.nz) provides balanced fitness and stress management services to clients worldwide. For details of how we can help you achieve your optimum fitness on a budget, visit http://trainerforce.com/optimumlife Fora copy of our free 'What is Optimum Fitness?' Report and Checklist, please send an e-mail to mailto:optimumlife@xtra.co.nz with 'Please send Fitness Checklist & Report' in the subject header



 

Exercise at About.com
Offers fitness and exercise related links, articles, information, and discussions.
exercise.about.com
 
American Council On Exercise
Fitness Certification and Education: The American Council on Exercise (ACE), a non-profit organization, promotes active lifestyles by setting certification ...
www.acefitness.org
 
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Tells why exercise is important and explores the many benefits of physical activity.
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MedlinePlus: Exercise and Physical Fitness
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MedlinePlus: Exercise for Seniors
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Exercise: A Healthy Habit to Start and Keep -- familydoctor.org
Information about exercise from the American Academy of Family Physicians.
familydoctor.org
 
Welcome to ::-:: Exercise, Fitness and Leisure
Information on various aspects of exercise and fitness and providers of sporting, exercise and leisure equipment.
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ExRx (Exercise Prescription) on the Net
Fitness and exercise information including diet, nutrition, exercise, sports and weight training. Includes a muscle directory.
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Weight Training, Exercise Instruction & Kinesiology
Weight training and kinesiology reference with many animated weight training exercises, stretches, plyometric movements, and illustrated muscles.
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Swimming, cycling, jogging, skiing, aerobic dancing, walking or any of dozens of other activities can help your heart. Whether it is a structured exercise ...
www.americanheart.org
 
Howstuffworks "How Exercise Works"
Exercise creates a set of responses in your body, whether you work out regularly or not. Find out how these responses can be enhanced by training.
www.howstuffworks.com
 
Exercise and Diabetes - American Diabetes Association
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Exercise works the same way. Taking that first step can be hard, especially if you've been ...
www.diabetes.org
 
NIHSeniorHealth: Exercise for Older Adults - Table of contents
See the Exercise Stories. Exercise for Older Adults Table of Contents. Benefits of Exercise · Safety First · Exercises to Try · Charting Progress ...
nihseniorhealth.gov
 
Exercise to Improve Your Body and Your Brain
My comprehensive exercise guide. ... The key to obtaining the benefits of exercise is to find a program and stick to it. Of course, it is useful to have a ...
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FitnessOnline.com - Exercise Health Nutrition Advice Weight Loss
FitnessOnline.com - expert advice on exercise programs, diets, weight loss, muscle gain, vitamins, supplements & strength training.
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Table of Contents
Exercise: A Guide from the National Institute on Aging ... Chapter 2: Is It Safe for Me to Exercise? ... Chapter 4: Examples of Exercises to Do at Home ...
weboflife.nasa.gov
 
Exercise Physiology Page for the MAPP
Aging, Exercise and Short Term Power · Principles of Training- Revisited · The Time Course of Training Adaptations · Understanding Interval Training ...
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