Beating the summer slump: How to stay on top of your fitness this summer season
Your fitness journey doesn't have to take a backseat to summer
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With the warm weather approaching and outdoor activities on the horizon, many people may be starting to plan how they want to spend the sunniest days of the year. Vacations, kids off from school, and regular routine shake-ups are all a part of the summer season, and for the most part, those changes are more than welcome.
In some cases, though, that change of pace can put a damper on your fitness because it’s much harder to stick to a schedule when there’s no longer one in place.
Renee S., Orangetheory Fitness Head Coach, mother, and nutrition coach, believes that the summertime is a “beautiful paradox” in the sense that all the changes of the season are typically positive, but it makes staying on task with fitness isn’t always easy, even if you’re for the most part dedicated.
“You have more freedom. There’s less routine. There are vacations and barbecues, and all kinds of things that start to happen. Kids are out of school,” she said. “I think that it just creates this illusion that fitness has to take a backseat.”
But just because you want to have fun in the sun doesn’t mean you have to abandon your fitness goals altogether. There are ways to keep up with them; you just have to tackle it a little differently.
Remember your ‘why’
When you start a healthy living journey, there’s typically a reason behind it. Perhaps you want to improve your cardiovascular health or increase longevity, or maybe your goal is to reach or maintain a healthy weight. Whatever the reason, though, it’s vital to remember that why when you’re starting to forget how prioritized fitness is in your life.
“That evolution of understanding your reason, your purpose, is really valid because one, if it gets hard for you, you just think of your why,” Renee said. “I always say that your why should make you cry. It should move you. You should sit in it, and it should be overwhelmingly powerful that it could bring you to tears.”
She notes that, for her, being able to stay mobile, play with her kids, and maintain vitality and energy as she gets older is her ‘why’. But they are so personal that when you find yours, it will motivate you simply because it’s what you want, deep down in your soul.
“Whatever your why is, that’s the very, very top of the list. It’s always going to be the most important thing.”
See things differently
When a routine gets shifted to make way for the seasonal changes, it’s essential to look at your overall fitness goals a bit differently. You don’t have to stick to a set-in-stone regimen to reap physical benefits. What’s most important is remembering the positive aspects of exercise that got you started in the first place.
“How can it fit differently? Because what it brings you is so important, how it energizes you, and it keeps you focused, and it puts you in a better mood,” said Renee. “So, the benefit of fitness never changes.”
So, what can you do differently in the summer to keep moving? Renee suggests building “layers of healthy living” in all the areas of your life so that even if you aren’t doing the same exercise classes every week, you’re still out there moving.
“Get outside more,” she said. “This is a very short season, and we want to take full advantage of it. So, what are the things you can do outside? You can’t underestimate taking care of your garden, for example. You’re pulling weeds, you’re pushing wheelbarrows. You’re cutting down limbs of trees that have overgrown. You’re holding a squat trying to plant something.”
Essentially, you don’t have to be in the gym to get a good workout, and when the weather is nice, being outside and doing anything that requires movement can be enough to keep up with your fitness.
“You don’t need to say I can’t,” said Renee. “One day gardening, and maybe next week you’re outside with your kids and you have a really great weekend and you’re camping, you’re at the beach, or you take a day trip, and you’re moving.”
Let go of perfection
The summer is a time for relaxation, and feeling any sort of shame, guilt, or a desire to be absolutely perfect in your fitness journey isn’t going to help you stick to your planned goals. The opposite is actually true. When you can let go of perfection and give yourself the space to show up when you can and take a step back when something else will fuel you better, it will make the exercises you engage in that much more worthwhile.
“Take away that perfectionism idea and understand that it’s going to change in the summer. I think when you realize that it’s not going to be as perfect as maybe it’s been in the structured part of your world, and that summer changes, people are a lot more open and less critical of themselves, so they can really move forward into something,” said Renee.
Feeling inward pressure may also lead to a mental disconnect, which can push you further away from staying on track.
“When you disconnect mentally, (that’s) where you really start to slide, I would just encourage people to remember how it makes them feel and think less about what you should do or what you have to do and how it feels,” said Renee.
She mentions that the mental aspect of sticking to a routine is crucial, and when a person feels mentally well, they are much more able to give their body what it needs and vice versa. Remembering how much help exercise can be in terms of mental well-being is another way to let go of perfection when it comes to the actual workouts.
For example, if you’re not feeling it on one day but know that you feel better afterwards, hit the gym or the fitness class anyway and tell yourself it’s for your mental health today. That will allow you to cut your efforts down without feeling guilty about it.
“There’s a conversation that I have with people because what happens is, the crossover between the physical and the mental is real, and sometimes it’s not for the physical, it’s really just for the mental release,” said Renee.
Keep it simple
Lastly, keeping things simple is an excellent way to ensure that you have your summer cake and get to eat it, too, so to speak.
You can spend your entire summer doing all the things you can’t do during the regular, colder months, but that doesn’t mean that you have to abandon your fitness altogether. All you have to do is make it as easy as possible to get some movement in, and you’re set.
This could mean finding movement you enjoy, tapping into your community at the gym or workout class you usually attend to find that motivation, or even switching up which forms of movement you do for the summer season. Find what works for you and make it as easy as possible to commit to.
“Make it simple so that it’s not a chore that you have to do and something you actually want to do,” said Renee. “I think that you’ll find that your summer will be amazing, and you will move, and you’ll feel better than ever.”
