Some acquaintance of mine run a gym similar to ours up in Newy.
They’ve been crushing it with their marketing. Putting out a lot of ‘content’, freshening up their podcast and expanding their team.
Lately their messaging has been the following: Don’t take time off at this time of year. Don’t get lazy. Keep consistent.
Something like, thinking of taking now until mid-Jan off the gym? If you did that with your work you wouldn’t be able to put food on the table! Don’t expect it to work in the gym.
From their point of view and I suppose ours, the messaging makes sense. You want to retain as much revenue as possible at this time of the year. A large percentage of gym memberships go on holiday hold so revenue can drop 30-40%. They are using fear to minimize this impact.
I agree, consistency is the key. You don’t have to train every day but stay in touch, keep moving.
However, here’s where our opinions differ.
Too many people already have a short-term mindset when it comes to the gym. Wanting to lose X number of Kgs but this wedding date. Thinking the no days off mentality is necessary in order to be successful. Chasing heavy weights before prepping the body to do so. etc etc
I spend most of my time not validating these beliefs but trying to unwind them. It took 30 years to put the weight on. You should be joining with the mindset you’ll be training for the rest of your life, so what’s the rush?
If we’re also genuine about health promotion, we should be advocating for time off with the family. After all, stress is linked to higher all-cause mortality risks. If the holiday helps provided that needed ‘reset’, go for it – guilt free!
Here’s the kicker – know thyself!
For me I know the longer I have off the more ‘comfortable’ I get with not training. Pulling myself back in for the first session is always hard. The longer I leave it the harder it is.
This might not be you and that’s great. But having a month off doesn’t mean you’re not moving either.
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Play with the kids
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Do the jobs around the house you haven’t had time for
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Go on a hike
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Go for walks with your wife
If you can remove yourself completely and jump right back in – do that. If you’re like me and you need to have the gym touch point to keep your lazy inner devil away – do that.
Either way, keep moving and enjoy the break stress free.
After all the REAL impact over this period comes down to what you put or don’t put in your mouth. This will tip the scales (quite literally) far mor than what you do or don’t do in the gym this season.
Happy Holidays!
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