Cold Dark Winter And The Gym

Let’s talk about the cold dark winter and the gym. But before we get into that, you guys know how every year we get the “New Year’s Resolutioners” coming into the gym? These massive crowds of people who are under the mistaken impression that they will be able to get in shape for summer by dieting like crazy and taking desperate last ditch personal training sessions?

Well, the opposite effect exists as well. We’ll call them the “Winter Hibernators.” Like bears, these folks also go into a heavy hibernation period. During this time, they stay home, do not exercise, eat terribly and gain tons of weight. Any real progress that was made in regards to conditioning will be loss during this period of hibernation, and they will revert to where they started, or even worse.

You’ll start to notice that machines are now more available, group exercise classes are all of sudden more roomy, and though not as noticeable, you’ll even be able to finally get on that squat rack without a long wait!

As it starts to get darker earlier, and the weather gets colder, the numbers start to dwindle. It happens every year. Mind you, the same happens during the warmer months when you get a little rain. This is the time when you need to train, now is when the actual changes for that “summer body” happen. It doesn’t happen right before summer, it happens during these winter months. You need time to get to your goals, and now is when you can actually train and prepare that summer body. Therefore avoiding that dreaded “Summer trap.”

Once the holidays are over, and the New Year rolls around, many will freak out and in a frenzy become the “resolutioners” again. Others will wait till around March or so, and at that point decide that they need to get summer ready.

These folks will approach me and others like me at the gym, and they will ask us, “How can we do what you did to be ready for summer?” My answer will be, “Well, you’ll need about two years, cause that’s how long its taken me. Even so, I’m still not done with this journey. So there’s that.”

Folks, this is my message to you, you have to continue training. So what if it gets dark earlier! So what if it’s cold! So what if it’s snowing! You still live right? You still go to work right? So why can’t you get your butt to the gym? You can’t stop this aspect of your life and expect things to keep happening for you. Use this quiet time at the gym to blast toward your goals!

I know it sucks, we all want to stay home and relax when it’s dark out. Trust me, as I waited for the bus yesterday to go and teach at Crunch, I thought the same thing, “Man, this sucks, I should give up these classes!” However, I also thought about how this is the time that we have to be even more focused and committed to our goals! Not only for ourselves, but in my case, there are members who depend on my energy to reach their goals as well! So quitting is not an option for me. I had to zero in, focus, and continue pushing forward. If you really want to succeed, you’ll have to do the same thing, and do it now!

Stay focused, stay the course, this moment, right now, this is the time you can make things happen! So who are you going to be?