Is it hard for you to stay consistent with your home exercise program? Are you feeling less motivated to do your exercises than ever before? You are definitely not alone! Despite the many benefits of an active recovery, many people have a hard time sticking to the exercise program their healthcare provider has given them, especially over the long term. People oftentime face time constraints, lack of motivation, mental blocks, or simply forget to do their exercises.
Here are 5 things you can do to help you stay consistent with your home exercise program and get you back on track to recovery. Also check out our blog on 5 tips and tricks to fit rehab into your daily schedule.
1. Make It A Habit:
Changing any kind of behavior is difficult, and learning to do your exercises every day is no different. Making your exercise program a daily habit is a helpful way to remember to do them. An easy way to make your exercise program a habit is to pair it with another activity that is already a habit for you. For example: you can do your exercises before or after every meal or after you brush your teeth![1][2][3]
2. Plan Your Day:
A great way to make sure you end up with enough time to do your exercises is to plan your day ahead of time. Intentionally setting time aside each day can make it easier for you to remember to do your exercises and help you know you have enough time in the day to complete them. Make sure your exercises make it onto your daily task list. [2][3]
3. Have Someone Help Keep You Accountable:
A good social support system is important to help you stay consistent with your exercise program. Finding someone who can remind you to do your exercises and help keep you accountable if you feel like skipping them is a great strategy. A family member, partner, or friend is a good person to do this as they are likely to be around you often and know when you should be doing your exercises. [2][3]
4. Break Up Your Exercise Program Into More Manageable Segments:
Oftentimes people find it difficult to do all the exercises they are given in a day at once. A good strategy to make your exercise program more manageable is to break it up into smaller parts and do each part when you have time over the course of your day. The most important thing is to do your daily exercises when you have time, no matter how you decide to break it up, instead of skipping them because you do not have enough time to do them all at once.
5. Set A Goal:
Setting a goal to strive for when doing your exercise program is a really good way to help keep you motivated and stay consistent. A goal often makes the program more meaningful to you and gives you a sense of purpose in doing your exercises. There is no wrong goal but whatever you decide your goal will be, try your best to make it manageable and realistic.[1][3]
The most important thing to do for a good recovery from injury or surgery is to stay consistent with your exercise program. Implementing these five tips can help you do just that, especially over the long term.
Curovate has also collaboated on the following article related to staring consistent with your daily exercises.
Curovate can help you make exercise a habit and keep you accountable by sending you daily reminders at specific times you set for yourself and sending notifications when you have missed your exercises for a few days. Curovate also has a list of daily exercises that is divided into morning, afternoon, and evening segments and can remember where you have left off from the previous day. This can help you plan your exercises into each day and allow you to break up each day's routine into smaller segments if you need to. Lastly, whatever goal you have set for yourself, Curovate is one of the few physical therapy apps that can help you achieve it by helping you keep consistent with your exercises.
If you need further customized assistance during your surgery or injury recovery check out our Virtual Physical Therapy page to book your 1-on-1 video session with a physical therapist.
