What to do when you have a weekend away

Hey friends,

For most people, the summer months include more travel on the weekends and more time spent with friends and family.

Sometimes, this can make sticking to your fitness goals tougher.

This week I want to talk about a couple strategies you can use to modify your fitness routine to stay on track even when you are away from home.

Weekly Action Point

The 4th of July is usually not a weekend where people are great about their eating and workouts (myself included).

However, beating yourself up afterwards doesn’t help anything. So this week, before you get out of bed, I want you to take two minutes to think about three things that you are good at or do well. 

Many people have a default negative voice in their head.

I’m not this, I can’t do that, I’m not good enough to accomplish xyz.

This week, we are going to intentionally override that default, and think about things that you are good at or are doing well.

Again, this shouldn’t take any longer than 2 minutes, but I want you to actually say three things out loud that you do well. 

It might sound cheesy, but this positive reinforcement creates a ripple effect, and makes being consistent with your eating and your workouts much easier because you believe in yourself more.

Planning ahead for a weekend away

For many people, weekends get crazy during the summer.

All sorts of different things to do, places to go, and people to see. 

Sometimes this makes it difficult for people to get into a good groove with their fitness goals, and they kind of get put on the back burner.

But, in my opinion, the last thing you should be doing is telling yourself “screw it, I’ll get back on track after the summer is over.”

Not paying attention to your fitness goals for a month or two can erase months of progress and hard work.

So how can you stay on track with your fitness goals while still participating in the summer fun?

1. Eat slightly less during the week

If you know you will be having a weekend away where you might be eating more than you should, just modify your food intake and eat slightly less during the week.

I’m not saying starve yourself during the week.

But you can prioritize high protein foods and cut back on some of the carbs and fats. Maybe if you know you are having a weekend away, you can skip your sweet treat after dinner during the week, saving yourself 300 calories each day. 

2. Don’t cheat during the week

If you know you are having a weekend away, try to be as consistent as possible during the week in preparation for it. 

Stay on a rigid plan, cut down on some of the mindless snacking, don’t eat out at all,  maybe don’t participate when someone brings food to work, etc. In short: no ‘cheat meals’ during the week.

Being really good about your eating during the week allows you to enjoy your weekend guilt free, and still move in the right direction towards your fitness goals. 

3. Modify your workout schedule

Instead of skipping a bunch of workouts due to being busy on the weekend, is there a way you could modify your schedule?

For example, I usually have a separate push and pull day that I do on Thursday and Saturday. Knowing that I was going to be out of town with no gym access, I instead did a total upper body workout on Thursday morning, essentially blending the days into one. My leg day that is usually on Friday I moved to Wednesday morning, which is usually my rest day. 

The result? I got pretty much the same volume of sets per muscle group that I would usually get even though I skipped the gym Fri-Sun. 

4. Remind yourself that maintenance is a win

The fact of the matter is that if you completely go off the rails every weekend with your eating (and drinking), you probably aren’t going to be moving forward towards your fitness goals. You probably won’t be building a ton of muscle or losing fat and getting lean. Sorry, that’s just the way it is.

However, if you are ultra consistent during the week, it probably balances out to a point where you will maintain where you are currently at, which is also a win in my opinion.

Having 4-5 “good” days per week and 2-3 “bad” days per week will probably result in maintenance, speaking from my own experience. If you frame it that way mentally, maybe you can be alright with maintenance until summer is over and then start moving forward again.

Totally different from saying “screw it, I’ll focus on my fitness goals again in the fall”. Because then you just have 2-3 months where you are actively going backwards. 

5. Focus on playing the long term game

Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Hopefully we will be actively pursuing fitness goals for decades to come.

In the grand scheme of things, having a couple weekends over the summer where you aren’t great about your eating/drinking habits isn’t that big of a deal. 

So get over it, enjoy your weekends, and try your hardest to get back on track during the week.

If you play the long game and never give up, you’ll be in a better spot in a year or five or ten than where you are at now.

Ben’s Best

I have people ask me all the time what types of things I eat. I pretty much have eaten the same breakfast every morning for 5 years, so thought I’d share.

150g of liquid egg whites
2 whole eggs
big handful of spinach

40g oats
16g of peanut butter
11g of honey

This meal is high in protein, gives some awesome healthy fats from the whole eggs and peanut butter, whole grain carbs from the oats, and fast digesting simple carbs from the honey. Plus you get all sorts of micronutrients from leafy greens such as spinach. Give it a try :)

That’s all I have for you guys this week.

As a reminder: if you ever have any fitness related questions or topics you’d like me to talk about in the newsletter, shoot me a message!

Always trying to support you the best I can.

Have an awesome week!

Ben