Help me start jogging

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Hi all, I used to be super fit and jogged, worked full time with horses etc but after having my ds who is nearly 3 I have got zero motivation to start again.
It's affecting my mental health and my body needs seriously toning up.
How to do break the mental barrier to start and stay at it? Any tips welcome

Couch to 5k did it for me. It's got managable goals, structured program and you don't end up overdoing it in a way that can set you back. After I finished mine I've just kept going 3 times a week.

Jog/walk, with good music or podcasts.

I'm starting again tomorrow I've got new trainers coming. I've downloaded couch to 5k. I used to jog a little and enjoyed it. I need to tone up and I'm hoping it helps with my anxiety too.

C25K definitely! I was non runner pre lockdown. I now run 5k twice a week, one "long run" anything up to 10K and one interval session a week. It's amazing!

I agree with pp. Download C25. I hated PE at school, avoided exercise most of my adult life; C25k was a gamechanger for me.

Couch to 5k - use the Public Health England app and set aside 3 regular slots a week to run. Could you put trainers and kit beside the bed and go out for a quick run whilst others on the house are waking (make it automatic so you are out of the house before your brain wakes up) ...oR maybe after bedtime for a bit of you time ?

If you can try and get a friend to do it with you either a fellow newbie or an experienced runner who wants to give something back and will help and encourage you. There are also c25k threads on mn that will support and encourage, plus I think one called health unlocked which you could google.

Good luck !

I had this problem for weeks after starting up exercising at home for the first time in a long time! I really wanted to go jogging but had a mental barrier, a wall, I don’t know how I broke that I just got up quite early one morning and went for it, I think my problem was thinking others would look at me laugh at me and judge me ( I am fat!) but going in the morning there’s less people around which helped, once I got going I got going I didn’t care and felt great! I find having the running gear in the bedroom/bathroom helps with motivation. I hope you have broke your barrier and got back out there

Also get yourself a good running soundtrack, it helps greatly, for me a bit of drum and bass, chase and status and jungle music do it for me

Thanks for the tips I'll definitely get a playlist ready and I'm going to lay out leggings trainers and a top and get on it in the morning. I'll look into couch to 5k.
Yeah I'm worried people will laugh at me too but it's ridiculous isn't it? I mean when have you ever thought to laugh at anyone doing some jogging etc it's so silly.
No excuses I'm on it tomorrow and will report back. Thanks so much for the motivation

Good luck OP, I hope you get out there and throw caution to the wind, you’re right we never look at joggers/runners and judge, if anything I admire them for doing it in all weathers come
Rain or shine. Let us know how you get on

I'm just about to start couch to 5k in about ten minutes!!

Ok so I've just been out and done it. The first three runs were a doddle. I started to struggle half way through 😂 I didn't do two of the runs because I just couldn't so walked super fast!
I plan to give it another go in the next couple of days.

Well done you! 🙌

I have a couple of friends I run with so that definitely motivates me as I would feel like I would let them down if I said I didnt want to run.

I started Couch 2 5k in April and have managed a 7.5km this week! The goals are achievable so you get the mental reward and when there is a step up and you think you can’t do it - go out and you will, even if it doesn’t quite go to plan first time.

I had done couch 2 5k before but not since I had my children. The app is great (the NHS one)- some encouragement on it but not so much as to make you roll your eyes! You can play you own music alongside it and there are some great running playlists on Apple Music if you have that and I imagine other music platforms too.

I also found that giving myself permission to forgive myself if I went out and didn’t finish helped - I could just repeat the run next time before moving on and at least I went out!

Good luck!

I’d just go out every other day and run and up it each time

Personally I found c25k too slow and im in 40s

Running isn’t that hard once you’ve mastered the breathing