Keep going - it’s easier than starting again

We are now into July and the summer holidays are well upon us.

This is a time that we all will likely have down time, time off and enjoy social activities. I think it's important to understand where you are in the year, to reflect and acknowledge what you need over the next few weeks. Is it time to take a step off the gas with your training and use this time to rest and recover both physically and mentally? Or do you need to keep going because you’ve had a busy time this year?

My answer to this question is always to think where do you want to be in 6 weeks. Do you want to come out the other end of the summer refreshed and ready for the rest of the year or are you “starting again” come the end of August?

Whatever your answers are to the first set of questions the answer to the second set should always be that you are ready to kick on for the rest of the year.

It must be mind boggling to permanently be starting again, to always feel like Monday is a reset day. This is not what I would recommend for anyone. I recommend that if you need a rest then take it. But stay active, you might cut your gym sessions from 3-4x to 2-3x but keep your steps ups.

This would probably be my biggest suggestion. If you are off on summer holidays my main recommendation would be to make sure you keep your steps high. This would be the minimum I would do but it’s certainly way better than doing nothing at all.

Personally, I really enjoy training and it's a huge part of my life. Generally when I go on holiday I'll go to the gym for 30-40 minutes 3x per week. This is always something I have done and will continue to do it. What we don't want to happen though is that you go on holiday having not really put much effort into your training, take the summer off and then try again in August. This will likely yield similar poor results. You'll be starting again come January before you know it.

Whatever your plans are for the summer make sure you think about the question, “where do you want to be at the end of the summer?” Then go about achieving that with your daily habits and consistent efforts.