10 Effortless Summer Habits
Joely summed it up perfectly: “I love my habits. I love my gym life. I love my workouts. But I just need everything to go “off” for a while… I need a summer break.”
We understand. Winter is long and we just want summer days, water, a little bit of sand and a fire pit. Many of our people thrive on their fitness practices, and also enjoy the consistency of their food and movement habits and so summer can also feel like they are being de-railed in their progress.
Here are Joely and Kim’s Top 10 Effortless Summer Habits to sustain your strength practice while also having a the rest and time away your heart is longing for… These 10 things can easily replace your 4-6x a week training schedule while you’re enjoying the summer.
Add them in consistently, and you’ll see little to no backsliding or derailing of your strength, fitness and health practice.
10) Shut off your phone notifications and put your phone down.
Let’s make social media a ‘winter sport’. Summer should be the time when you don’t even want to look at your phone. Who gives a crap about ‘hawk tueh” and TikTok when the sun is shining and you’re surrounded by lapping waves, shimmering leaves and the crackle of a fire. Summer is your time to decompress the nervous system - and there is no better way to do this right now than by shutting off your phone notifications or leaving it in the beach bag on “silent” mode.
If you need your phone to take photos, or listen to your favourite beach playlist, but you could make it really easy to rest and recharge by deleting your app icons for the duration of your break away.
9) See more sunrises and sunsets.
There are some terrific conversations and great science being shared right now about the importance of seeing the sun rise and set in relation to strengthening Circadian Rhythm and supporting hormones, sleep and metabolism. We are blue light toxic (thanks to our epidemic of all-day screen use) and seeing the sunrise, waking naturally with the sunrise, tying your meals to wake times and light and seeing the sun rise provides a healing spectrum of light that supports RADIANT health.
If you have every struggled with sleep disruption, shift work, insulin and leptin resistance, and dysregulated hunger, seeing the sun rise and set can be very nourishing for your brain and body clock.
8) Laughter and people connection.
Human connection is good heart juju. (medicine) If you don’t have a large circle of people you can laugh with until you wanna pee a little, find some funny things to watch. Right up there with laughter, is vulnerable, real, honest, deep and occasionally meaningless, judgemental, or pointless conversation. Part of great health is having people you like, love and trust to share your life with.
7) Solitude and silence.
On the other side of the spectrum, you also need to have some quiet time to refill the cup. In a world that insists that we are all traumatized and in need of nervous system regulation, one of the easiest (and totally free) ways to settle the system is through grounding, listening to the birds and finding time to be still in the sunshine.
Not everyone likes solitude; some people spend a lot of time alone, but like the old saying goes - there is a difference between loneliness and being alone. One is a feeling that comes with feeling separated from others, nature or spirit, and the other is about using quiet time to reconnect to nature, self or spirit. Two very different things. Solitude can also be powerful heart juju.
6) Decide how much - or what - in advance, and stick to it.
Summer culturally tends to be a bit of a free-for-all. Ice filled drinks, chips and candies, ice cream trips and snacks by the fire add up both in calories and in water retention and inflammation. If you have concerns about your eating habits over the summer months, or you feel like the permissiveness of vacation eating and drinking isn’t working for you, remember: YOU’VE GOT THE POWER. You can decide how you want to do anything.
One of the greatest tips for food management and habits is to decide in advance - what the treats are, where the limits are (if there are any) and where you will draw the line.
Its not never. And it doesn’t have to be EVERY DAY. There is a slippery slope with food. Being overly permissive can really get in the way of how you WANT to feel.
You can always CHOOSE a new way to show up for yourself, anytime you want.
5) Sun, sleep, sex, sand, siesta - the 5 “s” words sum up the word “vacation”.
These five S words represent a HEALING and restorative state for the human body. You need adequate sleep or rest, including naps! Sunshine is how your body makes Vitamin D which is how your body reaches it’s most optimal healing state, boosts your immune system and makes you harder to kill. We have to find a way to be in the sun safely!
The dMinder app was created to help you to get safe sun exposure, (download the dMinder app on Apple or android) and use it to dose your Vitamin D safely each day! The ‘sex’ S-word just works well with building good health, feeling connected and alive and vibrant. Sleep, sun, sand and skin to skin contact all go hand in hand to create an exceptional state of good health.
4) Functional movement, play and walking for the win.
Mini golf or regular golf. Swimming. Paddleboarding. Hiking. Waterskiing. Bocci ball. Ax throwing. Blueberry picking. Sand-castle making. Evening walks on the beach. Beach volleyball. Bike riding. Horseback riding. Cold water dunks. Waterfull and mountain hikes. Walking around the campground, or neighbourhood or lake.
Just because you’re not in the gym during the week, doesn’t mean that you aren’t being active enough. Never underestimate the power of unplanned, unstructured movement and play.
It’s also great leadership and inclusion for children, friends, family and even as ‘alone’ time.
3) Switch up your training time slot.
If during the winter, you prefer to train at 6am Monday to Friday, you can totally encourage metabolic adaptation by training for a couple of months at a new time slot. Hit the 9am class after coffee on the deck or sign in for the 5pm class and notice the change in your energy, strength, power and … results.
2) Set a minimum baseline goal.
Our Summer Sweat Challenge (an in-house accountability summer program for members) is all about setting a DOABLE goal to maintain your efforts during the summer months. You don’t have to train 5 days a week. Maybe you’re going to be away for two weeks and won’t be able to train with any real intention during the time away. So keep that in mind and set a minimum baseline goal, for example: I will train 2x a week MINIMUM for the duration of the summer. Or, I will train 4 days week through the summer except for the week(s) of… (insert date here) while I am away on family vacation.
Minimum baseline is about learning how to maintain your effort without being locked in or inconvenienced or feeling pushed to achieve - and without “quitting on yourself” for the duration of the summer. You also don’t have to enter the season of “f&%k it” season where all bets are off and you pay the price for ‘falling off the wagon’ in September.
1) Prioritize protein at every meal.
Our number one tip for EFFORTLESS Summer Habits that sustain your progress, fitness and physique is to eat animal protein with every single meal. Start with 30-50grams with breakfast - it will change your day!
30-50g of protein at breakfast stimulate protein muscle synthesis, keeps you feeling fuller, has a thermogenic and blood sugar stabilizing effect to support you from having cravings later in the day.
Protein at every meal, means you’re less likely to have room to binge on low quality and high calorie food. Eating enough protein keeps you from seeking junky options that feed dopamine but don’t fill you up or satisfy your body’s needs for nutrition.
Options for summer protein are: leftover burgers and dogs, chicken or steak slices, deli meat, hard boiled eggs or protein powder in a shake. Eat enough protein first, and you’ll have much more control when the gummy worms and graham cookies come out later on.
BONUS: ‘tis the season of farmer’s markets, fresh produce and berries. Partner lean animal protein with the freshest fruits and vegetables (versus junk food) and watch your summer maintenance become effortless!
Find these tips helpful? Share them with someone who you think will love them.