Starting again

Getting back into exercise after the holidays

January is a great time to start again: routines settle back in, and lots of people around you are doing the same. The trick is starting small enough that it's still going in March, when most of the January energy has gone.

By Bjørn Lundell, founder of Oreuma · 11 October 2026

Why January plans fade

The usual pattern is a big start. New plan, five sessions in the first week, maybe a new diet on top. It works for a couple of weeks, then a busy stretch or a cold breaks the run, and the whole plan feels lost. By February it's on hold until next year.

None of that says anything about you. The plan was sized for your best week, and January always contains some ordinary ones.

A January plan that lasts

1. Start the first week with three short sessions. Ten to twenty minutes each. Easy enough that you'd do them on a tired day.
2. Change one thing at a time. If exercise is the goal, let it settle before you add diet or other resolutions.
3. Put the sessions somewhere in your week. Same days, same rough time, so it doesn't depend on motivation.
4. Plan for the missed week now. When it happens, the next session is short and easy. No catching up.
5. Judge it in March, not in week two. The goal is still exercising when spring arrives.

If you already started and stopped

Pick it up again this week, at the easy end. A gap of a week or two costs very little, and coming back is the skill that matters most. Count how many times you return this month instead of how many days in a row you manage.

If you have a heart or lung condition, are pregnant or recently gave birth, or are coming back from an illness, injury or surgery, check with your doctor or a physiotherapist before you start. Stop if something hurts sharply, and get help if you feel chest pain, faintness or unusual breathlessness.

How Oreuma helps

Oreuma builds a short bodyweight session each day, sized to how long it's been since your last one, so a missed week just means a gentler next session. There are no streaks to break and nothing to catch up on. The first 7 days are free, with no card and no account.

More on starting again

• Getting back into exercise
• Why you keep quitting
• Workouts without streaks
• How long it takes to get back
• Do short workouts count?
• Starting again after 40
• What Oreuma does after a break