Nearly the holidays already! If you are starting to think that it will be difficult to maintain your healthy routines during that time – you are not alone. For most of us, the usual routines go out the door over the holidays. Often we just want to rest, or we are travelling and/or making the most of social engagements over this time. We might also overindulge a little. The good thing is that, as long as we get back into things afterward, taking a break from routines (even if they are healthy ones) can be a chance for your body and mind to recharge. It may even allow you to reflect on what was working in the past year and what was not, the progress you made and so on.
When you come back to your routines, it is important to remember that your body has got this. Matter over mind is a helpful phrase to think about during this time. In other words, you will do best in getting back into healthy routines if you trust your body to do its thing. Rather than overthinking or beating yourself up about having had a break, I encourage you to trust the process.
A few years ago, when I was coming back to New Zealand after one of my Christmas holidays in Germany, I had a very intense reminder of this. Going on what would have been a casual run before Christmas felt crazy hard. I felt that I was bumbling along, needing to breathe a lot harder than normal and all of that at what was a sedate pace. I was starting to curse the tasty treats from the German Christmas markets. I was mad at myself for not trying to fit in some running while I was over there. But while the run was hard and the next one, too, I did not die or have to stop, or not manage the races I had planned for the coming year. So what can we do when our mind seems to be putting on the brakes after a break?
Research has looked at the benefit of different strategies when facing this and other similar situations. One strategy is that of relying on the automaticity of previous habits, and in this case the automatic ways of moving. This is in contrast to the reflective process that might be going on when you follow your healthy routines at the usual time. Normally, with this reflective process, you might be more deliberate because you are using past memories of your healthy habit to evaluate your current performance – you are consciously motivating yourself (more about that in the next blog). When you are returning to a (healthy) habit, a particular strategy that works is to focus on a specific target outside of you/your movement (also called ‘quiet eye’ training). For example, during a hard running training session after a break, you might focus on the park you are running to or the post-run snack you have prepared. That way your body will just get on with it and you are more likely to finish without feeling drained and ready for the next hard session.
Another strategy that works well is to make a training plan for your return to healthy habits. Making a training plan or committing to one that has been done for you, takes the planning work out if it. Your body will more likely switch back into the autopilot of your previous routine than if you have to think about what to do, when, where and how. Training plans, when done well, also mean there is an appropriate progression built in. This means you are definitely able to do it, even when your mind tells you that this is very hard.
Finally, a strategy that has been studied for performance in many different areas of life, including sport and education is breathing. When things are getting harder than what you expected, focus on slowing down your breath. This can give you back the control and also allows the rest of your healthy habit to come along naturally. I promise you, your body will ‘remember’ all the hours of practice that you put in before the break. Focusing on your breath can stop your mind from putting the brakes on.
So, in summary, this holiday season please remember the following:
- Enjoy! Don’t feel like you have to give 100% all the time.
- When you are back in your normal routine, pick up your healthy habits as soon as possible and use a training plan or coach to take out that part of the hard work.
- When you are stressed because your healthy habit seems so much harder after the break, trust your body and focus on an endpoint rather than the activity itself.
- Focus on breathing to overcome stress, worry and fatigue during the early part of getting back into your healthy habit. Your body has got this.
If you are keen to learn more about how you can develop power for your physical and mental activity, follow me or subscribe to the blogpost. To work with me one-on-one to apply some of these principles to your own life and movement, message me for a free call. I look forward to hearing from you.
References (for the extra keen)
Rodrigues et al. (2020)
Rowland et al. (2021)
Tosti et al. (2024)
Wells et al. (2012)