When to Hit it and When to Quit it

(From archived lianprice.com blog, circa 2017.)

What up Fly Tribe!

Today I wanted to dive in with you and dissect the question– When to Hit it and When to Quit it – in reference to when, why, and how much you’re going to the gym. 

Listen, we all know plenty of reason why TO GO to the gym. We hear about those all the time. It is constantly being reiterated to us that in order to reach our health and fitness goals, we must be disciplined and hit the gym often and hard.

But what about the times when it is better for us NOT TO GO to the gym? What if there are sometimes better ways to spend that precious allotted gym time? All obvious situations aside such as illness, injury or an urgent family matter that must attended to, what are some other things that should give us pause and consider non-traditional gym options? Let’s explore these now.  

1 When You Are No Longer Seeing Results

You’ve seen it time and again, the same gym goers hittin’ the same routines over and over, year after year. They look the same. Or worse, because they’ve justified the extra slice of pizza or cake as a reward for “working out” that day.

We all know the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Now, if you are going to the gym because you enjoy it and you don’t care about the result, please keep going. But if you are going because you think one day, something different is going to come out of the same outdated routine, please think again. 

Re-visit what your specific goals are. Write them down and think creatively: what are some other ways I could achieve these results? Brainstorm some other avenues by which to take the next steps in your fitness journey, and then run these by several trusted fitness pros to see what varied feedback you receive.

2 When You Are No Longer Having Fun

Yes Ma’am, yes Sir. This is me pandering to your inner child right now. 

My argument for ditching the gym when you are starting to despise every second you’re there is this: 

Stress is the #1 cause of all chronic illness. Also, it’s the undercover mastermind responsible for keeping us all fat. Best way to combat stress? It is so simple. Just go have some fun!!

There are only 24 hours in each day, and if you are already over-committed with work and family responsibilities, why in the world would you take the 1-2 remaining hours you have left after sleeping, showering and eating and go do something un-fun? I have seen it happen so many times, a client will stop doing the gym workouts she thought were going to yield her a specific result, and switches them out for something she actually enjoys, like riding her bike. 

What happens? 

She gets the result she has been after all along. Why? Because she has reduced the amount of stress in her life. She stopped putting pressure on herself to perform, essentially she stopped fighting her body, and instead started moving her body the way it was calling out for her to. 

Since she is now having fun while she sweats, she gets the added benefit of reducing her cortisol levels, instead of increasing them from the dread of the gym and having performance anxiety when she gets there. 

She gets to relax, and be herself in her own element, which in turn increases her self-confidence, only adding to the weight–loss/increased health/be your best self snowball effect that is quickly accumulating in her life now. 

All because of one thing: she started making her enjoymentof her chosen physical activity (or activities! You can have more than one favorite! I encourage this!) a top priority. She has emancipated herself from the drudgery of gym zombie slavery and is now running the show.

3 When You Are Chronically Exhausted

I am going to say something crazy here, so brace yourself: when it comes to weight loss, sleep is sometimes a higher priority than exercise. 

It’s true. If you do not get enough sleep, it is much more difficult to burn the fat you want to burn, build the muscle you want to build, have the youthful, glowing skin you want to have and tap into the level of energy you need to utilize, in order perform at your best, both at work, home and during your workouts. 

SO…

if you are constantly finding yourself having to choose between 8 hours of sleep and getting your workout in, something needs to change. 

The most immediate thing to do is: choose sleep. If that means a whole week goes by without a workout, I don’t care. Get those hours in. Sleep like you are getting paid to do it. If you are already super sleep–deprived, your body may feel more tired at first. That’s okay; keeping catching up anyway. The longer you have been depriving your body of the sleep it needs, the longer it will take to catch up, but eventually it will. Good sleep solves so manyof our health and weight–related issues; way more so than we realize. It is incredible. Please don’t skimp on sleep. 

Again, I would choose for you to skimp on working out instead, if there has to be a choice. 

Once you are caught up, the next thing you must do is re–work your schedule.  

You CAN do it. We all have 24 hours in a day. Be creative and resourceful, and I promise you will find a way to fit in the family priorities, the work priorities, the social priorities (that really matter) as well as daily exercise. 

And guess what? You will be better at ALL of these things, you will show up more completely, more ready to take on the day, every day, when you are well–rested. 

I am so excited for you to take this step. :) 

4 When The Sun Is Shining

At this point, it has been scientifically proven ten times over that humans need sunlight and the fresh air of the great outdoors to thrive. And you are going to the gym each day to do just that, aren’t you? Our motive to workout is, in most cases, not survival, but to thrive, and live an optimal life. 

So why don’t we compile our resources and do some exercise outside? I have never understood why people would opt to go train in an atmosphere with artificial lighting, breathing in chemical cleaners, rubber smells and other people’s sweaty aromas when they could go monkey around outdoors for a bit instead. 

Do you think in order to have an ice sculpture for a body you have to spend 100% of your exercise time in a traditional bodybuilding gym? Think again. Successful pro competitors all over the world today are mixing it up and adding lots of outdoor exercise to their routines. Even Arnold in his prime would head outside for a weekend of camping and do leg workouts with his training buddies using only logs, heavy rocks and their own bodyweight. 

If your primary goal is simply weight loss, toning and overall health, my goodness, going and playing in the sunshine is going to get you there way faster than being stuck in a sterile gym! 

Go do something you love, whether it be running, Ultimate Frisbee, surfing, circuit training at a park, rolling around in the grass with your kids, or even just a day’s worth of gardening – I am telling you, you will be sweating, smiling and unwinding in no time.

If your usual routine is to go to the gym, and instead you choose to go outside today or one day this week for a workout, I would love to hear about it! Talk about it on social media and hashtag #workgrindfly so I can see it. 

Talk to you soon love, have a great day :)

–     Lian