As a four-times UK Fitness Champion, former international adventure athlete and renowned personal trainer, our columnist JOEY BULL knows a thing or two about keeping fit. Here's her latest column.

HAVE you ever fallen out of love with something that you used to do?

Maybe you got quite good at it, perhaps it was pivotal to your identity, work or social life. Then for whatever reason, it stops and you’re not that person anymore. I think most of us have a version of this somewhere in our personal back catalogue.

While you are finding your feet again and maybe looking to rekindle that passion for an activity you notice other changes, a little displacement maybe, less of a role or identity.

When we moved back to West Wales after raising children in the Swiss Alps for 14 years, there were numerous adjustments to make. Sport was certainly one of them. Coming from a mountainside there was no flat ground for football clubs, rugby isn’t exactly Swiss and as for cricket, good luck with that! Girls skated and skied and boys played hockey and skied.

Snow sports was their thing and they were all rather good at it. Skiing is what you do in the Alps from the age of 3, it is part of the curriculum. Every village had Olympians at some stage and schools would sledge down to the market square to watch the local hero on a big screen competing in the Winter Olympics.

Amongst our group some favoured freestyle, others slalom, some ski cross or powder and cross country was apparently for old age and the injured, although those skinny skis and loose bindings require immense nerve and skill! So when asked what sports they liked at their new school, they’d say skiing, skating and ice hockey, probably sounding rather spoilt and privileged.

So the sporting landscape here (as well as the physical landscape) was very different and with plenty of welcome variety. But with the pandemic, clubs closed before we discovered them and momentum juddered and stalled. Skills, hobbies and sports stopped. Some found new outlets but it would have been the same in most households up and down the land, energy slipped, discipline dipped and focus too easily turned to screens and slobbiness.

And it's not confined to the children, it can happen to us adults too. How often do you hear “I used to be... but I’ve not done it for years now”. What happened and what replaced it, if anything? For most people, going back and getting started again takes some serious self-talk. So how do you manage this standstill or plateau and how do you relaunch?

If you ask yourself ‘Why did I exercise in the first place?', you will awaken memories and intentions.

Exercise is a key component of overall health and fitness, but it also acts as an emotional prop for many; ‘It keeps me sane’ is something I have heard often, or ‘It’s something I’m in charge of’.

Then when your levels increase, pressure to continue the upward curve grows and you might get yourself to heights that are impressive but also mean that any drop-off means quite a fall. The identity goes, “I work out and am pretty fit' isn’t there anymore. Confidence might take a dent and we can find ourselves re-examining who we are. Maybe it’s a mini rebellion against that discipline you used to display? When so much was under your control, how can you have relinquished that control and all the positives it brought you?

If this sounds familiar, ask yourself, ‘What were the reasons for exercising before and what would be the reasons now to get up and start again?' What are you seeking now? Maybe it is confidence-boosting; focus, pride, satisfaction, energy, movement, accomplishment? How do you want to identify yourself?

Honestly delving deep into this question and the associated emotions will set you onto the path to an answer and unlock the process of inspiring, motivating and reigniting the fire!

Find your answer and attach the appropriate actions. “What does exercise bring me?" If the first thing that springs to mind is "A flat tummy", ask yourself why a flat tummy matters to you. satisfaction and pleasure?’’

Once you’ve got the answers, you reclaim the will and inspiration to go for what you lost before. Or maybe you'll try something new, either way it is positive reinvention.

Whatever your reasons are, remind yourself of them regularly. Then consider the difference between I’d better do this and I get to do this! Seeing exercise as a choice rather than homework is key.