Ask any trainer or group fitness instructor about their quietest time of year, and I am certain they’ll tell you: summer. (Followed closely by approximately the whole month of December.)
Things get slow right around now. Classes are empty. Sessions are frequently canceled. No new clients. Little tumbleweeds of dust, chalk, and protein powder start blowing through gyms.
I totally get it: Many of us are either traveling or doing fun things outside, or dealing with end-of-school-year chaos (yes, NYC schools are still in session until Friday! And then we don’t go back until September 10, helppppp). Routines are all over the place. Plus, it’s damn hot out there.
So let me return your attention to one of my favorite concepts: checking the fitness box. In fact, I actually first wrote about this concept literally one year ago today!
In defense of phoning it in
Hey friends: You’re getting this on Tuesday, but I’m writing it on Monday. I had to rush my daughter to urgent care last night, where (after a lot of vomiting and crying and a semi-traumatic chest x-ray) she was diagnosed with pneumonia*. Of course the pharmacy was closed by the time we finished up, so I had to wait until…
At that time, I was in the midst of an exceptionally June-cember-ish June, because in addition to prepping for summer, attending all the end of year festivities, and dealing with a dangerous heat index, my almost-kindergarten-graduate got pneumonia and slightly cracked her head open in the same week. (The head-cracking actually happened after this piece was published! It was then followed by being completely unable to remove the dried glue — or untie the glued-up knot of hair they’d used to close the wound — after she healed, and then she got lice, and the lice lady was able to get the glue out. So…success?? 😵💫)
ANYWAY. Here’s the idea: It’s very, very normal to have periods of time when exercise just isn’t a priority. It happens to me several times a year, at minimum, and exercise is literally my job. But instead of just skipping it altogether, I highly recommend figuring out a very tiny amount of movement you can do, and then committing to doing it regularly (I’d say at least every other day if even remotely feasible). Not because you’re going to achieve any miraculous fitness goals, but truly just for the sake of doing it and staying in the habit.
As I wrote last year:
I’m not talking about when you are actively ill or it’s otherwise completely impossible or unwise to move (take a break, please!). I’m talking about when it’s possible but really hard, and you just don’t have much in the tank, whether for a week or a year. In these situations, I’d like to encourage you to think of it like this: You aren’t in fitness mode, you’re in habit maintenance mode. In other words, you can exercise, but you aren’t exercising to get stronger or healthier. You’re moving simply to stay moving and avoid getting too far out of the habit. Maybe you score a little energy or mood boost; maybe you even do enough to help manage your back or knee pain and help make this moment a little more bearable. But maybe you’re just checking the box, phoning it in.
In case it’s not clear: That’s a totally acceptable thing to do. Checking the box helps you maintain a baseline amount of strength and mobility so that it isn’t a giant leap to add on more when the time comes. It helps you feel a little bit better in your body. And it helps you maintain the identity of someone who exercises, which is a really important factor in behavior change work.
Last year’s piece was all about staying moving in the hard times, but this applies to the fun times, too! If your friends are playing hooky from work and going to the beach, I highly encourage you to do it too, even if it means skipping your planned workout. If you’re on a great vacation and just don’t feel like exercising, please lounge about and enjoy the heck out of it. Maybe you can do a quick box-checking movement session and then move on with your fun, great day. A season with more mojo for exercise will come.
If you’re looking for ideas, this workout I created for my pal Melinda Wenner Moyer and the readers of Now What is a perfect choice — there’s no equipment, and you can literally just do one round of the workout and be done in less than 6 minutes if needed (that’d be from about 2:00 to about 8:00 in this video). It also isn’t behind a paywall, so you can use the video even if you aren’t a paid subscriber.
Check those boxes, and get out there and enjoy your summer!
xo
Anna
PS I love that the end of that post from last year was about encouraging folks in NYC to vote for Zohran and Brad Lander for mayor and not rank Cuomo. WE DID IT! It is pretty cool having a good mayor. Let’s hope yesterday’s primary leads to some good assembly members and congresspeople!
It often feels like you're reading my mind and this is another instance of that. I love this identity piece. I've really been struggling but I'm sure I can do six minutes and start checking boxes. Thank you so much.
This was perfect timing, Anna. Exactly what I needed.