Fitness Sabbatical

[Saucicus]

Hey there Rebels,

 

my work is very flexible and has the availabilities of what is essentially a Sabbatical (take time off of work voluntarily to do whatever needs to be done). I was considering taking a full month off to focus on fitness and nutrition but wanted to have a plan beforehand so I don't sit on the couch eating potato chip while watching fitness videos as my plan. With that said if you could set up a month long fitness journey where fitness and nutrition is your only focus what kind of things would you focus on? Ideas that I had include the following.

 

Hire a trainer to plan everything and hit it hard in the Gym under their instruction.

Skip the trainer but hire a nutritionist for that half and then join a martial arts studio.

Same as above but instead of martial arts head for the hills and hike everyday all day.

I also chuckled at the idea of looking to see if there are any reality shows to join that could work on these things (I am not overweight enough to go on something like Biggest Loser but I would need several of these months before I could do something like Ninja Warrior)

Skip the nutritionist and trainer entirely and just learn a new sport/skill and train in it till you feel like passing out

 

Even if it's not my cup of tea what kind of dreams would you have if you could skip out of work for a month just to have an amazing fitness journey?

[Isaac Robertson]

I've been here before- and my strongest feeling is to do what feels right for you. Part of having a fitness journey is to figure out which things work best for your lifestyle, goals, etc. Make a plan that makes sense for you-- and don't be afraid to change it if something doesn't feel right! So, if you feel the need to hire a trainer then why not?

I don't think you'll know what will work for you unless you try it. I'm sure your first week will be spent by figuring it all out. 😃

[Sylvaa]

On 7/24/2021 at 2:33 PM, Saucicus said:

Even if it's not my cup of tea what kind of dreams would you have if you could skip out of work for a month just to have an amazing fitness journey?

 

I wouldn't do what you are describing. The problem I see with taking a month off work to just focus on fitness and nutrition is that the momentum you would have probably wouldn't be sustainable. As soon as you would go back to work, you would have to re-learn to balance all of the things you just spent the month doing and that can be very hard for a lot of people. 

 

What I would do is start incorporating some of your ideas into your life now. Start doing hikes on the weekends (or your days off), join a martial arts studio and take classes before or after work. Join a gym and make it part of your routine. 

 

If I had a month long Sabbatical and wanted to do something fitness related on it, I would absolutely to a thru-hike. But it would be something that I would have to first work up to fitness wise, then do.

[Saucicus]

I actually considered the thru-hike as well but I am not gonna leave my kids behind to do it at this point. I definitely understand the momentum that you are describing and it's a valid point. There are tons of articles about the Biggest Loser contestants who put the weight right back on because they couldn't keep that momentum. At the same time I just find the idea nice to have a month where the only thing I really need to worry about is taking care of my body. I just don't know if I have the creativity to actually have a plan in place. (P.S. on the momentum thing I have joined a CrossFit studio so I will have something to kick my butt on the regular)

[Waldo]

Fitness and nutrition is a way of life, but it does require a bit of effort and focus to keep it that way, and from time to time new jolts of energy are needed.

 

To me taking a month off to focus on fitness would be injury in 3, 2, ......

 

My wife and I both make time for exercise every day; we both have our times that that's what we do, 6 days a week (we take Sunday off for recovery).

[Alanna]

Oh that's a fun question. I've kind of done a few fitness sabbaticals when I was younger and I had more time and opportunities. First, I spent a few summers in high school as a volunteer or working student at a stable, which involved taking horseback riding lessons, going on trail rides, and taking care of the horses. Then, in university, my school offered a month-long term where you could work on whatever project you wanted, and I chose to take introductory aikido lessons 6 hrs a day, 5 days/week (a couple hours before lunch, a couple hours in the afternoon, and then another optional evening class). 

 

I agree with Sylvaa's and Waldo's concerns about sustainability and injury, but I think the way to work around that is to

1. Figure out what you can learn during your month that you can carry forward afterwards (e.g., that could be how to cook easy, healthy meals; what suitable portion sizes for you look like; how to do a certain type of exercise, such as yoga or barbell squats, that you want to practice regularly afterwards)
2. Schedule in rest days and/or alternate harder and easier activities
3. Focus on learning a more skill-based fitness activity that you've really wanted to try, as you'll be going slower while you learn and therefore have less cardiovascular and strength demands compared to other activities, allowing you to train for longer and more frequently. That's not to say these types of activities are physically easy - I was suuuuper sore after my first intensive week of aikido - but I think they work better in this format compared to hitting the gym really hard every day, especially since the high training frequency becomes very useful for learning skills. I also think hiring an instructor or going to classes would ensure you are training the right things and (if the instructor is good) not overtraining. 

If I were to do a sabbatical now and had no money/class availability restrictions, I'd probably take dance classes  (probably swing dancing/lindy hop), do another horse-focused sabbatical, and/or go more of a druid route by spending a lot of time outside walking/hiking and focusing on mental health (e.g, meditating). There are also other things that I want to learn or enjoy doing, but wouldn't benefit from this sabbatical approach. 

 

edited to add: I just realised you posted this several months ago - I'm interested to hear if you did a fitness sabbatical and, if so, how it went!