What To Do About Missed Workout Guilt
Despite how GOOD exercise makes us feel afterwards, and how good it is for our bodies, maintaining motivation to do it regularly is tough for all of us. And once we’re out of a routine, it can feel like pulling your own teeth to get going again.
Even when we find a modality we love (cough, pilates, cough) it’s hard to lack motivation- and the reason diet culture marketing works is because most traditional brands think that if they don’t shame you into working out even when your body isn’t up for it- that you’ll never come back. Needless to say, I disagree.
There’s a fine line we need to find between finding the necessary motivation to move your body even when your bed is so cozy because you know how great you’ll feel after, and forcing yourself to workout in a disordered circumstance. Finding a non- appearance related reason to exercise, honing your time management skills, and keeping good sleep hygiene are all ways to insure you keep a regular practice without having to overthink it- but getting too rigid about anything- even a healthy habit- can wind up being unhealthier than allowing yourself the flexibility to opt out.
It’s not you, it’s diet culture.
In a perfect, diet culture free world, we wouldn’t feel bad about not exercising, and we’d actually look forward to exercise in the first place. We somehow got things twisted to view exercise as punishment and as a result, feel ashamed when we miss a class or avoid fitness all together. It’s a vicious cycle.
Even the most disciplined fitness buffs have off days and need rest. It’s not something we SHOULD feel shame around because missing a workout doesn’t make you lazy, weak, or a bad person. It makes you human! You could be sick, injured, or just tired and not feeling it. It doesn’t matter the reason- truly. Even if you had all the cheesecake in the world the day before, you still don’t need to force yourself to exercise when your body is saying no thanks. Sometimes a missed workout is just a missed workout. It won’t make you bad at wellness or tank your fitness goals.
However, diet culture IS a think and the media bombards us with messaging that we should feel like we failed if we choose intuition over discipline or rest over hustle. Guilt or shame are bound to show up sometime, even when we know better. All you can do in this circumstance is understand that diet culture is the problem, not you.
So what do you do when you’re beating yourself up about missing a workout?
Remember that rigidity is worse for your mental health than movement is good for your physical. Both exercise AND rest are good for you. Try to avoid all or nothing thinking and feeling like you totally messed up if you skip- you can always start again the next day… and when you do; I’d recommend doing something gentle and reallllly feel-good, like stretching or myofasical release to get you feeling embodied and psyched about the impact of movement on your overall well-being.
Once you start moving- you’ll either a) remember how good it feels and reinforce the positive programming in your brain that you enjoy exercise, or b) you might even feel so great after doing a little stretching that you decide you are up for a full workout after all.
Conclusion
To help you practice exercising intuitively, I organized Helen Phelan Studio to be a choose your own adventure, decide how you want to feel experience. You can filter by intention, class length, equipment, and focus to help you take care of yourself in a more thoughtful way and heal your relationship with food and exercise. You can check it out for free for 10 days to start moving more mindfully and feel the difference between forcing yourself to move and looking forward to it!