Happy Monday! 

I got something to level up your fitness game today! 

After recently adjusting to jet lag here and the time zone difference here in Southeast Asia, I’ve had to navigate the challenges of maintaining a fitness lifestyle while traveling. Being in vacation mode, with my previous work/life routine erased, I’m faced with a blank canvas, relying solely on my own will and discipline to paint the picture of how I want my training to look within a routine that’s now completely self-constructed as well. 

The freedom of such an experience is liberating for sure, but it’s also humbling and difficult. 

So I thought it’d be a good idea to talk about some tips that I use to embrace the big picture and stay positive when facing massive hits to my physical abilities and dramatic shifts to my routines. 

Here Are Three Tips That Help Me Maintain A Sustainable Fitness Lifestyle And Stay Ready For Anything.

Expect The Unexpected. 

If you think you’ll always know what to expect and that everything will go according to plan with your fitness lifestyle and routine, I suggest you humble yourself before you get humbled. The only thing you should be certain of is that you will work out and take care of your recovery. The specifics of when and where are always subject to change, especially if you’re traveling or experiencing major life changes.

You might plan to work out three days a week, but life isn’t always fair. You may have to adjust your schedule. You might aim to hit a new PR, but sometimes you can’t even match your previous weight. Life happens, but you can’t let it stop you from showing up and trying again. Constantly adapt your fitness routine to your circumstances. Remember, fitness is a process, not an event. Always be ready for the unexpected and use it as a chance to learn more about how fitness works best for YOU. 

You Can Always Make Good Choices When It Comes To What You Eat And Drink.

You might not always make it to the gym, and sometimes you’ll be too exhausted to do anything. Work might have kicked your ass, or you just got off a crazy long flight like I did, but you can almost always choose to nurture your body with good food and drinks. I’m not talking about only eating a bunch of “healthy” food either, because that isn’t always available. Just avoid eating and drinking junk. If you’re exhausted, stay away from sugary drinks or alcohol, as they’ll only make you feel worse and ruin your sleep. 

Don’t let yourself settle for a dinner of potato chips and soda. You’re better than that. If you have to, spend a little extra money to get something with decent carbs and protein. This is almost always possible, and there’s rarely an excuse to let it slide for more than a day or so. By taking care of your body this way, you’ll be more likely to feel better and get back on track as soon as you have access to a gym again.

Great Workouts Are Rarer Than You Think 

As gym goers, we often see our workouts as sacred events that provide euphoria and give us a chance to outdo ourselves in a way that’s rejuvenating and inspiring. That’s a big part of what fitness is all about.

However, we often don’t realize that those 10/10 workouts are not always going to happen. In fact, 80% of the time, you’ll feel like you just need to get through them and wonder why you don’t feel like an invincible weightlifting machine.

The truth is, that the human body is susceptible to countless external and internal influences. Every day, we face innumerable odds that we are not even conscious of, just to work out at our best. Sometimes, everything clicks, and we set some of the biggest PRs of our lives. But most days, we’re just trying to check the workout off our list so we don’t feel like little babies. 

It’s a good idea to manage your expectations and view working out as the habit that it is—something you do without overthinking or having unreasonably high expectations. That way, when you do have those big workout days, they really rock. But when you don’t, that’s fine too. Being consistent is the real win over the long term.

Conclusion:

Fitness is often idealized and over-dramatized in the media, leading many of us to be too hard on ourselves when we don’t meet the expectations we set. We blame ourselves, thinking we’re doing something wrong and that’s why we don’t deserve the latest PR or the physique we want. In these moments, we forget all the work we’ve put in and how it has paid off. We overlook how much worse our lives could be if we weren’t active at all. 

Remember, fitness is about the long game, not just one single workout. As long as you keep getting off the couch and trying your best, you’re ahead of 80% of the world just by that action alone.

Hope these tips help put fitness into perspective so you can keep leveling up long-term! 

Weekly Wisdom - "We are inexorably drawn to marry the individual who is, of all potential partners, the very one most likely to trigger in us the most painful and confusing of implicit memories—as well as the warmest, happiest ones." (Gabor Maté, Scattered Minds)

Physical Fun Fact - You Shed 600,000 Particles of Skin Every Hour: Humans shed around 600,000 particles of skin every hour. By age 70, the average person will have lost about 105 pounds of skin.

Be Exceptional,

Leon