3. You’re being impatient

For personal trainer Veowna Charles, the key reason we’re feeling a bit meh about our workouts is because we are expecting too much, too soon. “After having so much time off, people had to rebuild their aerobic capacity as well as their strength,” she says. “I know that a lot of people are now feeling like they should have advanced further than where they are now, but they’re not considering the fact that they actually needed to retrain their body for the first few months.”

Stylist’s news writer Amy Beecham knows that not meeting her expectations has led her to feel unmotivated to train: “My favourite body part split always used to be upper body as the feeling of lifting weight over my head was so empowering to me, but I find myself zoning out when I’m completing my military presses and feeling unbothered by barbell rows.

“It’s hard to put my finger on why – I know that I’ve found it increasingly hard to make steady progress with my lifting now that some of the “beginner gains” that I experienced when I returned to the gym after the lockdown hiatus are wearing off.”

The only way to work through that is to be humble. While adding numbers to the bar is great for your ego, it’s not the only way to progress. Frequency, variation and enjoyment of your routine could be better ways to monitor your gym success until you get back to where you were.

5 reasons you’re struggling to exercise right now (and the mindset shifts that could help)