Tips to get more energy to exercise

A barrier for many people when they are embarking on exercise is that they feel they just don’t have energy to exercise. I will go over my tips to get more energy to exercise. So that you can take action into managing your energy levels and move the needle for your health. 

Let’s start with sleep.

Without adequate sleep there is just no point in trying anything else. There is nothing that can replace it. (Nothing that I approved of at least) So, as a first point look at the hours you sleep and I would suggest to see how your sleep is over a week. The recommended hours are 7-9 hours per night.  

Close second is nutrition.

If you are under fueling, or eating irregularly then you might find that you dont have the energy to withstand the urge to skip the session you had planned. You might be in that ravenous state where you haven’t eaten for a couple of hours and feel slightly shaky or unfocused. If you dont have a balanced diet of macronutrients (carbohydrates, fat and protein) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals)you can get tired due to iron deficiency for example. But if you do eat a balanced diet for your activity level this should not be too much of a worry. Also make sure you are hydrated. If you are under fueling or training on fumes you will do more damage to your body. You will  wear on the muscles but the quality won’t be good so it sort of defeats the purpose. Also this action will require more recovery to bring the body back to a good state. 

Consider you exercise volume and intensity

Lets say you are getting the required amount of sleep and your nutrition is not the case you don’t have energy. You might have to have a look if you need to take the intensity back a bit or the volume. It can be a rest day, a session with less intensity and or volume in terms of time, speed, load. It can be to replace it with a walk or other more restorative activities.

Move throughout the day

Sounds controversial, you might be thinking how on earth will this make me have more energy to exercise? Hear me out, by not moving we tend to become sluggish. Think of that feeling after standing up after a long meeting, car ride, being stuck at the desk for hours. You would feel pretty stiff and sluggish. By moving a bit more through the day you will feel less of that sluggish and stiff feeling. You will literally have better blood circulation and more nutrients going through the body. Doesn’t mean you have to run up and down stairs the whole day. But be mindful of breaking up long bouts of sitting with a short walk down the corridor, pop out for 5 min here and there, take the long route to the tube etc.  

Self-care

It all comes down to having the balance of not doing something too little and not too much. 

Sometimes we are doing everything right but I call it that we dont have the mental energy to always be ON. So sometimes if you just need a bit of a break regardless then do whatever self care activity works for you. It can be some kind of movement, physical activity, it can be a massage, it can be cooking a nice meal or taking a coffee with a friend. 

Might sound like obvious tips but this is it. Find your sweet spot and you will see a difference.

These were my top tips to get more energy to exercise, enjoy your new found energy.