Snow Days

This past week here in Kentucky, just like the majority of the United States, he have been experiencing a decent amount of snow. Here in Kentucky however, life stops if so much as a single snow flake hits the ground. Schools are cancelled, stores are closed, and people raid the groceries like its the last chance they will ever have to get food. Needless to say, the gym has been a little lacking on visits this past week. One of my clients brought up an observation he made and it made sense. He asked me if I noticed how with the decreased population of people in the gym during the snow week, the percentage of "in shape and attractive" people sky rocketed compared to normal. With this being true I took it a step further and commented on not the level of fitness, but the level of commitment. Normally in the gym you will see a large number of people there but not doing much exercise. Instead these people are joking with friends, watching the TVs, walking the track at the pace of a snail, and in all cases, never breaking a sweat. These are the people who come to the gym so that they can tell their friends and family, "I'm trying to lose this weight and I go to the gym but my weight isn't budging. It's just my genetics." FALSE. It's called a lack of effort.





Well this group of genetically deprived people are nowhere to be found when there is any type of excuse available, and that's exactly what the snow is. So back to the conversation with my client. As I explained this thought about effort versus fitness we looked around and everyone in the gym at that time was working hard. We didn't see the talk shows. We saw people pushing themselves and their friends. We saw sweat. We saw EFFORT. The difference between the normal gym-goers and those in the gym during a blizzard has nothing to do with their fitness level but has everything to do with their level of dedication. The reason that there are more "in-shape" people in the gym is because of this dedication. They have just been at it longer. Those who are at the gym during times others aren't will be reaching their goals and will be looked at as the high fitness group as well.



Now before a lot of you get all pissy with me and start attacking me with things like, "My kids are out of school so I have to stay home with them", "I couldn't get out of my neighborhood", or "I'm allergic to snow" I have some advice for you all as well. Besides the fact that I could combat just about every excuse you make, let me throw out some ideas for you to still work towards your goals. Work out at home. You don't need any weights or equipment to get in a good workout. Try a bodyweight circuit where you create a group of exercises and do them back to back without rest. Trust me, you can get the heart rate up pretty quickly. Try something like this:



Squats x15

Pushups x15

Dynamic Plank x15

Burpees x15

Lunges x15

Mountain Climbers x15

Squat Jumps x15



Do this 3-10 rounds, depending on your level of ability, and I'm sure you will be cussing me out. But hey, you will be getting a great workout even though you can't make it to the gym because of the snow. Another option? Go shovel the snow off your driveway, maybe even a couple neighbors. See...you will be getting a workout in AND doing a couple good deeds. Double whammy!



Just understand that there are a million opportunities for excuses every single day, whether it's snowing or we are in southern California. You can either grab these excuses and throw them around like a NFL player at a strip club, or you can avoid them and take another step towards your goals. Let's move foreward shall we?