How to get back into heavy lifting? 4 year hiatus

[HannsG]

Hi,

I lifted constantly for around 10 years, got married, went through a lot of personal strife and my health / apperance really took a hit.

At my peak I was bulking, ripping up, hitting compounds the lot. Put on a heck of lot of mass and to be honest at the time its how I snared my missus!

So I have built a home gym over time. A gym standard treadmill and a hell of a lot of bars and weights.

How does one motivate themselves to start feeling the 'burn' again after a heavy lifting session. Just after all the personal st everything seems like an uphill battle.

I do feel I could put the negative energy to good use in the weight room.

[Warnie]

Start lifting again to enjoy it and not to gain the body mass you once had overnight. Make little goals each week and make sure they're achievable, this will keep you motivated. If you've gained a lot of weight sort the diet out, throw in some cardio as it's so much better to be able to see the new muscle your building. The better you look in the mirror the more motivated you become to improve even more.

[vanordinaire]

For most people,the worst thing about home gyms is the lack of motivation. Find yourself a gym buddy or two with similar goals. After I got married and settled down with kids, 'we' decided I did't have the time to go to a gym every day so I put one together in an outbuilding. Great idea in theory but I gradually stopped using it till one day one of my neighbours saw it and we got talking. 6 months later we've got a wee group who come round 3 or 4 nights a week, have a warm up run or kickabout then an hour or two in the gym. Better than ever now.

[Hoofy]

As above, set goals.

[AudiSport]

I'm in a very similar situation. I've just started back at the gym after 4-years off. It's hard work, and I'm not sure I'll ever get back to how I used to be. I just want to be better than I was yesterday..

[PaulG40]

I suffer hugely from lack of motivation. Usually I've got a regime I want to follow, but if it's busy and what I need to do next is busy, I find it hard to think, right what to do now so I either sack it off or bugger off and do some cardio on the bike.

A gym buddy is definately a good call. Most people at my place are fairly hardcore and they each motivate and push each other.

[AudiSport]

Really agree with the above. My training has always been at my best when I've got someone to workout with. I guess this is purely down to the intensity you achieve when pushing each other on, and because you tend to agree the next what and when details of the next workout while training - which you naturally attend.

[FatSumo]

I train at home, usually find the hour of lifting and the 'feel good factor' post workout is enough motivation for me

Have you chosen your routine etc yet? If not, maybe Stronglifts 5x5 could be a good way of getting back into it?

[Warnie]

Whatever you do train whenever you get the chance, because as soon as you leave it a few days the easier it gets for you to convince yourself to go back to your old ways, or to keep promising yourself you'll go the next day after convincing yourself you have a good excuse not to go today.

We have 24hrs in each day, of which, even if you allow 10 hours for work, you still have 14 hours to sleep and do what you want with. All it needs is 1 hour a day out of those 14 to get yourself in better shape than the majority of the population.

It's not a bad idea either to educate yourself about your body and how to feed and hydrate it. Don't just read the daily mail's latest version of how to live long, do your own research.