Do you suffer from Exercise Guilt and what can you do about it?

What is exercise guilt?

Exercise guilt is the feeling of guilt that many of us experience when our intentions or values regarding exercise do not align with our actual behaviours or actions. Research shows that guilt arises significantly more when we perceive that we are the cause of missing the exercise session rather than if it is an external factor that caused us to miss a workout (Meade et al., 2020).

It is common to feel exercise guilt when we:

• Don’t exercise at all
• Miss a workout/class
• Feel we have not trained hard enough
• Don’t meet external expectations in society of how to look or how to exercise

Sometimes feeling guilty can help to motivate us to meet our goals, whereas other times it can be harmful and negatively impact both our physical and mental wellbeing.

How can exercise guilt be helpful?

Guilt is an uncomfortable feeling and in order to make it go away we have to change our behaviour or change our values and goals. We can then use this to help motivate us to change.

We may need to review our goals and make sure they are realistic
We may need to revisit our values and prioritise them
We may then to change our actions to make sure they match up to our values.

It’s about making intentional decisions that best serve you and what is important to you.

 How can exercise guilt be harmful?

Here, it’s important to be aware of WHY you may feel guilty about exercising and then you are better equipped to tackle these thought patterns and seek help or support if they are getting in your way or negatively impacting your mental health.

• Realistic goals: If you experience exercise guilt daily/weekly then it may be time to re-evaluate your goals and see how realistic they are. If you have a busy schedule aiming to work out every day for an hour at a time may not be the best schedule for you, and that’s ok. I often say to my members that doing less is doing more. Better to aim for 3 sessions a week and enjoy doing them well and consistently, than aiming for 5 a week, missing 1 or 2 and then beating yourself up about it. Set yourself up for success.
• External social expectations: Societal messages and today’s fitness culture can influence how we feel: i.e. we don’t exercise as much as someone else, we don’t look like a celebrity after working out and we feel we should follow restrictive diets and an intense workout to be worthy. Decide for yourself which is more important; how you look or your health, wellbeing and being able to move easily. Focus on what is important for YOU.
• Factors out of your control: When the guilt is coming from not being able to exercise for legitimate reasons that you have little-to-no control over (like an injury or illness, for example), it is not helpful to your mental or physical health. Rest is just as important for your health and wellbeing as exercise.
  If any of these factors are the case for you, this could be a great time to reach out to professionals who can support you in managing this guilt. All of the above are issues I help my members with in our mindset sessions in ‘Core’, where we explore, discuss and support each other in overcoming exercise guilt.

 Tips for managing exercise guilt

1. Positive mindset

The most important part of a positive mindset is your identity. Do you see yourself as an active, healthy woman or a stressed, overwhelmed, just keeping her head above water woman?

Interestingly, one research study found that people who viewed themselves as not being active were 71% more likely to die in their 21 year follow-up period than those who perceived themselves as active — even when they actually had similar activity levels, health behaviours, and sociodemographic variables. In other words, simply changing your mindset to view your everyday activity as beneficial to your health can change your physical health (Zahrt & Crum, 2017).

We also advocate self-love, self-worth and recognise and celebrate our progress.

2. Powerful Habits

It helps to plan any exercise into your schedule so that it is realistic for you and you can therefore do it consistently; little and often is the most effective approach.

Recognise that there will be times when you can’t exercise and know that is ok. Rest is just as important. See not exercising as an opportunity for your body to rest and recover, rather than feeling guilty that you’ve missed a session. Often less is more – quality over quantity.

Everyone in Core works at their own pace and acknowledges other priorities in life as well.

3. Bitesize Pilates

In CORE it’s about enjoying moving your body in new and better ways. Forget exercise, move your body because you want to. Exercise is not a chore, it’s fun and something you can do easily, incorporating it into your everyday life. Find a physical activity that you enjoy doing and you are more than half way there!

With this unique approach, you can exercise guilt free!

Exercise on your terms, for YOU – and because you ENJOY it!

If you’d like to know more about Core you can find out the details here

References 
Meade, L. B., Semenchuk, B. N., & Strachan, S. M. (2020). Is there positive in the negative? Understanding the role of guilt and shame in physical activity self-regulation. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 18(4), 502-518.