Why Can't I Get Back Into My Exercise Routine?

I was going to an exercise class. It was hard, and I was sore, but I felt like it was really doing something. Then life got busy, and I stopped going. I'm still paying for it, but I feel so lazy; I can't seem to get myself back into that routine!

Can you relate to this woman I met this week? If you have ever started an exercise routine with real intention, and then it quietly faded over time, I want you to hear something clearly: that wasn't a failure of willpower.

Why Can't I Get Back Into My Exercise Routine? In nearly forty years of listening to patients and clients ask this question as a clinical exercise physiologist and health coach, I've noticed the same three things get in almost everyone's way, at one point or another:

Pain. Both pain someone already lives with, and the pain that shows up in the process — the soreness, the flare-ups, the fear that moving will make things worse.

Stress. Not just life stress, but the stress exercise itself creates — the pressure to do more, faster, for results now.

Low motivation. Which usually isn't laziness. It's boredom, overwhelm, or the quiet guilt of "I should be doing this" hanging over something meant to feel good.

Which one stands out for you — with one type of exercise, or all of them?

These three barriers feed each other, and a lot of that traces back to messages most of us have heard over and over: no pain, no gain, more is better for faster results, you need someone to push you. Every one of those was meant for exercise that improves athletic performance — not for health and wellbeing.

What's more, your body doesn't need "exercise" as one generic box to check. Our bodies need three specific skills — mobility, strength, and stamina — what I call the Move Well Skills.

Many people are strong in one and quietly missing another. Maybe you walk regularly but keep putting off strength or balance work, worried about getting hurt or short on time. You know it's important, and that makes not doing it — or not being able to do those types of exercise — keep you in the should's.

The Be Well Now Method restores all three together, but not just as some far-off fitness goal. The whole-person approach ensures doing them leaves you feeling calm, confident, and connected right now. That's the "Well" in Be Well Now.

Over the next several articles, I'll walk you through each barrier, starting with pain, since it's most tangled up with the other two.

My hope is that this is reassuring: you don't have to try harder. Getting unstuck starts with understanding how your brain, body, and heart are designed to support your wellbeing now — which makes each step forward doable, meaningful, and yes, actually enjoyable.

A question to ponder today: Of the three — pain, stress, or motivation — which one has kept me in the "shoulds" and "can'ts" the most?

Warmly,

Janet 🌞

Find Your Core Why