Three Keys to a Fitness Routine

By: Maddie Clark

December 9, 2021 was the last time I played collegiate volleyball. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t prepared for it to be over. It wasn’t just playing the sport of volleyball. It was so much more than that. It was the 8 hr. bus rides, laughing at Coach’s dad jokes, chatting at dinner in Saga until 8:00pm, early morning pool workouts, and so many more memories with my team. Now what?

My first emotion was sadness/sorrow/gloom/despair (I honestly cannot think of a word that describes the emotions I felt). My volleyball career, no no, my athletic career had come to a close.

A few weeks after that last game, I felt a sense of relief as my body recovered from the intensity of the last five years. From 2017-2021 for approximately 20 hours a week, I was dedicated to performing at my peak physical capacity. My daily lifestyle and fitness routine were now thrown to the way side. I didn’t need to be a high performing athlete because I was no longer a collegiate athlete. Questions flooded my head. What do I enjoy outside of volleyball? How do I workout now? What’s next?

It took me an entire year to develop a sound routine and to change my perspective of working out. In that time, I discovered why I was going to stay active.

My three bits of advice are:

1. Be patient. It takes time.

2. Enjoy the opportunity to choose

3. Discover your why. What motivates you?

Be Patient.

The following six months post-volleyball were a constant battle. I didn’t want to work out at all. That mentality lasted for about a month or two. My activity was walking the perimeter of my parent’s field in the middle of January, and that was enough for me. I hated working out. I had zero drive to do anything because I justified it in that my body needed a break. I had been beating myself down for the past five years, working my butt off & pushing myself mentally. I “deserved” a break. Jumping right back into tough lifts and grueling runs were not in the cards for me.

Over time I found myself naturally being active. I didn’t have to force it. I would go outside and play with my dogs, clean my parent’s house, go on long walks, etc. This is movement, and for me this was progress.

In June of 2022, I joined a sand volleyball league for the summer. And I was surprised at how much I liked it! I was moving and learning to enjoy that movement again. Slowly I began to section off specific time in my day to work out. It took time, but patience was key.

Enjoy the Opportunity to Choose.

As an athlete, your only input in each workout is how much of yourself are you going to give? 80% 110%? Your choice in every workout was the amount of effort you put in. I’d never received the opportunity to choose the entire practice plan, lift, etc. My coaching staff or trainers did that. Now that I didn’t have someone writing up my workout every week, what was I going to do? At first, the opportunity overwhelmed me and I froze not wanting to make a decision. Because what if I chose the wrong one? That terrified me.

I attempted many different exercises as I tried to figure out what I wanted in my rotation. I went back to what I knew and grew to love in college, lifting. I was the most comfortable in the weight room. However, those first three months post graduating in December, I did not have access to a weight room. So I tried HIIT, yoga, ab workouts (that were actually full-body workouts), running, etc. Some of these workouts I enjoyed, and some you could not pay me to do again.

For some this freedom may be just what you need. For others, this flexibility may be more challenging until you find the activity that clicks.

Find your WHY.

After graduating, I lost my why in staying active. In college my teammates were my why. They were my biggest motivators. The reason I pushed myself to my absolute max mentally and physically was for them. My ultimate desire while playing volleyball was to be the best team in the 

nation. This drove me in all of my work outs. 

That was my why.

I am still close with many of my teammates, but we don’t have a common desire anymore driving us to our shared goal. What is my new goal? What am I trying to accomplish? Do I need to accomplish something? Why am I doing this? Post volleyball I was utterly confused and without a why.

Finding your why takes a little soul searching, and will present lots of questions that you need to try to answer. To find a tangible why that will last more than four months, you have to dig deep.

Post-volleyball, my why is family. Hopefully, someday I will have kids. I want to play with my kids and grandkids and by living a healthy life now, I hope it will allow me to do that. They are my why. Of course, I have other supporting whys; health, functioning human, etc, but my core why is for my future kids.

Whether you are a collegiate athlete or adjusting to the transition post-high school athletics, this next phase of your life is going to be challenging. For some, it will be a smooth transition, but for others, it will be one of the hardest things you’ve ever done. I’m here to encourage you that you can do it. Take comfort in the fact that there have been many former athletes before you who have found a new fitness routine post-college, and there will be many after you who do it too.