Ahhh, summertime. Ironically, that is when we here in Michigan are actually able to put on bathing suits and march around outside showing off our totally fit bodies, yet this is the same time when some of us (especially me) are in the worst shape of the year.
I might not be able to apply my theories to everybody, but I definitely have some I can share with you. So why am I so relatively out of shape during the time of year when I’m outside the most. There are few forces at work here.
Force #1: scheduling During the school year, my life is quite scheduled. I get up, get the kids’ lunches made, leave for work, do soccer practice, the homework, then get stuff prepared for the next morning. Weekends are full of Fall and Spring chores and soccer games. What? Allergy shots? Ok, fine, we’ll fit that in. The more hectic the schedule becomes, the more my wife and I seem to plan things accordingly. Everything gets charted out, including when we exercise. Because we are so busy, we write it down and therefore, we do it. The calendar might be full, but it is organized and we check things off each day (including our workouts during the week). But Summertime has no schedule. The kids are home, so getting group workouts together is more difficult. We seem to travel more and are therefore gone on weekends and unable to fit in workouts. Essentially, we barely write anything down, so we don’t seem to get in the workouts. Force #2: weather We might complain a lot here in Michigan about our cold winters, but then you can hear us actually complain 6 months later about it being too hot in July and August. Whether we are the pansies of the Midwest or not, Michiganders do get too hot to do anything. This includes exercising. Heck, we had a few days over 100 this year, not including the heat index!! Arizonians might be like “whatever, we have like half the year at over 100.” We simply aren’t built for that up here. Force #3: caloric intake This last one is probably the biggest culprit of my “out of shapeness” in the summer. My caloric intake is directly proportionate to my attitude. In the summer, I am all “hey it’s vacation time,” even though I’m not really on vacation. This attitude directly impacts what I put in my mouth, such as larger dinners, eating out more, extra beers/wine, and snacks. Oh, pool party at the neighbors? I guess I’m shoving my face full of cookies and wheat beers today. Oh, having friends over Saturday night? We better buy some extra snacks. Pizza again? Sure why not. I think you get the idea. This brings me to the point of this post, which is it is time to re-commit to our fitness. If you are remotely like me, the summer is over folks! It is time to schedule it and do it! Maybe start out the fall by choosing one of our 12 week Functional Fitness programs such as K-Fit or K-Basic. Set your goals, pick a program (or prepare your favorite archived workouts), and SCHEDULE IT!