Why You Shouldn’t Ditch the Gym Over the Summer

By Coach Keller

We know it was a dark, long winter. As the sunshine emerges and daylight lingers late into the evenings, it’s easier to get out for your runs and rides after work. At Evergreen, we support you playing outside as much as possible! But we’d be remiss if we didn’t remind you that you still need to make time for the gym. The variety of movements paired with strength training simply cannot be replaced by your outdoor activities. This is the whole reason we train: to be stronger and better at all of our favorite sports. All that’s required is a little commitment and dedication to maintaining your fitness!

Even if you’re outside sending it, continuing to get to class will maintain the progress you made over the winter, build 360’ strength, and increase your resilience to injuries. And if that’s not enough, check out our summer sale coming up in May! Commit to 3 months of membership and get a whopping 20% off a 2x/week membership.

Still not convinced? Here are a few more reasons to stay committed to your fitness over the summer: 

Muscle Balance and Strength:

While summer sports like swimming, running, and biking target specific muscle groups, they may not provide a balanced full-body workout. Incorporating gym sessions allows you to target muscle groups that may be underutilized during outdoor activities. Strength training exercises such as squats, deadlifts, and bench presses help build overall strength and muscle mass, contributing to better athletic performance.

Cross-Training and Injury Prevention: 

Engaging in a variety of activities, including gym workouts, promotes cross-training, which can help prevent overuse injuries commonly associated with repetitive motions in summer sports. Gym exercises that focus on core stability, flexibility, and mobility improve overall athleticism and reduce the risk of strains, sprains, and imbalances. Basically, you want to make sure you are strengthening the opposite and complementary muscles of those you are overusing. (If your quads are driving your pedals, you want to target your hamstrings, inner thigh muscles, and lower back in your workouts). 

Additionally, strengthening supporting muscles and moving your joints through full ranges of motion can enhance joint stability and resilience, minimizing the likelihood of injury during activities.

Cardiovascular Fitness:

While many of our outdoor activities provide excellent cardiovascular exercise, incorporating cardio workouts at the gym offers variety and challenges different energy systems. Our metcons are quick and effective ways to boost cardiovascular fitness, improve your lactate threshold and VO2 max (meaning you are able to work harder for longer and be less sore!), and burn more calories in less time. By alternating between outdoor and indoor cardio workouts, you can achieve optimal cardiovascular health and performance.

Focus and Mind-Body Connection: 

The gym also offers a dedicated space for focused, distraction-free workouts, allowing you to tune into your body and concentrate on form, technique, and progression. Often our sports outside of the gym are more about having fun and playing outside than thinking about the activation and engagement of specific muscle groups. The gym provides a place to be aware of how your body is moving, especially with the help of a coach, and be present with your workout. This mindful connection makes a massive difference in your performance, both inside and outside of the gym. Improving mind-body connection means you can choose better bike lines, shave time off your mile, and engage more muscle groups as you hike. 

Overall, we want you to stay strong, healthy, and injury-free. We know you are traveling, adventuring, and soaking up these precious sunny days. Just don’t forget to pop into a class when you can. Or consider using Evergreen On Demand for workouts on the road!

Make sure to snag that 20% discount on memberships and commit to your fitness this summer! Otherwise we might cry and be so sad and miss you so much. 

See you in class soon!