Burnout is not always predictable but life, work, an injury, health issue or a family stress can certainly increase the risk.
If you are struggling with motivation or struggling to find your "why", it's time to change your relationship with your training/exercise regime. Here are a few tips to help you return to a place of joy and excitement for exercising:
- Avoid just checking off your workouts and simply going through the motions. If you feel obligated to show up to a workout, but gain little enjoyment or satisfaction from the process of completing the workout, get back to your "why."
- If you feel physically and emotionally exhausted, find a different way to move your body. Exercise is a great way to improve your mood so don't scratch off exercise from your to-do list just because life is stressful. Give yourself permission to move blood, participating in an exercise that makes you feel good, for 20-30 minutes a day.
- Change up your routine if your daily grind is becoming monotonous. Go somewhere new, join a group or invite a friend to join you for a workout. Sometimes a mind/body recharge can serve as a great motivational boost.
- Join a group or go solo. Depending on your "normal" exercise routine, perhaps you need the fun factor of training with a group. Or if you are used to always training with others, you may just need some alone time.
- Do a nutrition/hydration check-in. If your energy or hydration intake is not meeting your needs, your body may be shutting down to prevent a health issue. Look to your daily diet and hydration practices to see if your body is in need of more food and water.
- Keep goals realistic and processed driven.
- Remove the pressure on yourself that you have to improve with each workout. Far too many burnout stories stem from pushing through fatigue. Added pressure to beat your previous workout session brings stress and anxiety.
- Get your Zzzzzzs. Sleep is an amazing recovery tool but when you fall short on sleep or try to function in life with restless sleep, it's easy to feel run down.
- No structure workouts are in order. Sometimes you need a break from showing up to a specific workout. Go for a run without a watch, ride your bike for fun (and stop at the local coffee shop) or do an open water swim and enjoy the freedom of not following a black line. Or, do nothing related to your sport without guilt.
- More is not better. Don't let your fitness routine control your life. If you have found yourself in a training rut, grinding away the miles and feeling an intense amount of guilt if you miss a workout or don't hit your expected watts or paces, it's time to rethink your drive.