I stopped trying to do it all before fall

Happy Saturday to you and 554 other subscribers! Today I'm writing to you about new studio equipment, salvaging my summer, simplifying your exercise routines, and intentionally imperfect photos.

Prepping for Year 5 of Out Fitness

I probably spend more time thinking about Out Fitness and its potential than a tiny studio should warrant. (When I thought about how much I think about this, I realized that Out Fitness may be my avocation.) Sometimes I wake up with new ideas to use every inch of our space and connect every member of our community.

In July, I had made plans to upgrade our studio, and our heroic group effort of moving a Smith machine was the largest step.

This week, I set up our brand-new Centr cable machine, which brings those plans to completion!

It wasn't easy. I was stubborn about moving all the heavy pieces by myself. And I had some angry tears about a missing piece, until my friend Mahlon found it for me.

This marks the first time we've purchased large equipment that's factory-new. Thank you to all our members for making that possible! The Centr machine still smells like its packaging.

Now all three rooms at the Out Fitness studio are set up for strength workouts. Every room has dumbbells, a cable machine, and a bike, plus they each have some specialties, too. I've listed all the equipment on our website.

This effectively triples our capacity for workouts! In fact, we're currently averaging 60 workouts per week – an impressive number, yet only 25% of our weekly capacity of 250. So you can book last-minute workouts and still find availability. (More on why that's important below.)

Our rooms are ready in time for Out Fitness to turn four years old on Oct. 16th. I could barely imagine one year of this studio in 2022, but now it's time to decide what its fourth birthday celebration should be...

Here's how my plans are looking for the start of Out Fitness' fifth year:

☑ upgrade 2 rooms with strength equipment
☑ build Strength Starter Kit
☑ renew lease
☐ launch Out Fitness app 2.0 (try it here)
☐ celebrate 4th birthday in October
☐ start membership drive to 60 members

The best way to support our Year 5 is with a membership. You could choose our virtual membership, which is $14 per month. It already has great perks, but I have some exciting stuff in the works for virtual members...

This passion project is fulfilling for me, and yet it's also fluid and inevitably imperfect. If none of those boxes get ticked, everything will be fine. Out Fitness has grown – and can shrink – according to my energy and our community's support. I am following my excitement without feeling obligation. Read on to see how I'm practicing that mindset.

"How was your summer?"

The most offensive thing you can do to me, a sun worshipper, is imply that summer has ended.

Be quiet when enjoying your pumpkin and maple lattes. Be discreet when making your Halloween plans. Be sensitive with your words in the office break room, and remember that astronomical autumn doesn't begin until September 21st.

Until then, I am enjoying summer frantically, like a kid pretending not to see his pile of new school supplies as he dashes outside to roll in the grass. Only within the last two weeks did I accomplish my two summer goals: have a beach day and go kayaking. This is despite me being among the elite 1% of Ohioans to live within walking distance of a beach and a river.

My procrastination did pay off, though, with perfect timing and weather:

If I'm being honest, my real fantasy of this summer was something like: 3 beach days, 4 kayak trips, 3 baseball games, 2 Pride all-nighters, 10 books read, 8 festivals, 12 cookouts, 40 workouts, and 100% lazy Sundays. As if there were time for it all, not to mention my own stamina.

This year, however, I didn't let my imagination run my calendar. I'm finally adopting a new script. And I'll explain its effects on my strength training.

Before taking on a future obligation, ask, would I make time for this today?

This is the intellectualized version of my 2026 mantra: If it's not a fuck yes, it's a fuck no.

It's become the primary way I protect my depressed self from my aspirational self. The result is way, way fewer plans. An emptier calendar (or one with huge blocks of "Protected Time"). Having open days for spontaneous options.

I arrived at my "fuck no" during a year-long leadership development program, which provided plenty of reflecting with a coach about my past cycles of burnout. I was saying "yes" whenever I felt I "should" do something, usually for flimsy reasons.

I've been using two books by Oliver Burkeman – Four Thousand Weeks and Meditations for Mortals – to reinforce my new mindset. To keep packing sand into its castle walls, knowing that the waves of life will erode them, but knowing also that there is endless supply of sand to rebuild again.

Burkeman recommends skipping your self-improvement and going straight for whatever makes you happy, which I cited in my 10-year reflection on weightlifting.

My favorite insights from his books, alongside my applications to strength training:

A day's distractions and problems are its default, not deviations from what's supposed to happen. Any focused time is the deviation.

So I've given up on planned "workout days," since my plans are disrupted more often than not. I try to create favorable conditions for my beloved gym sessions, like eating energizing foods and keeping workout clothes with me. This is why I recommend, in my Strength Starter Kit, that you create 4 weekly windows just to achieve 2 workouts. (And when one of those windows arrives, the Out Fitness studio is more likely to have an available room for you now!)

This summer, I'm in the gym only 50% as often as my peak in 2025, but I'm trusting that the frequency is appropriate for my life right now. I haven't obligated myself into a locked series of workouts. I'm less frustrated when my day ends with gym clothes still folded in my bag. They're there for the exceptional windows that open up.

Enjoy your present pursuit of your future goals.

This is why I believe the best exercise is the one you'll enjoy. Fitness can't be a practice of miserable slogs until you achieve some end state. No single type of workout is mandatory.

I truly love weightlifting, and I've even replaced lifts I merely tolerated (barbell squat) with lifts I relish (hack squat).

Out Fitness is meant to give people who have been excluded from strength training an opportunity to try it; I think everyone can benefit from some lifting. But if you find that you dislike it, then becoming a weightlifter was never meant to be your goal. The right fitness goal for you will be the result of an activity that makes you feel strong. If you love bocce, then practice bocce.

What would this look like if it was simple?

I make things harder for myself; we all do. And social media helps. You'll easily find "do this, not that!!" videos, where an impossibly hot person does six different glute exercises daily in a crazed state of 300mg of pre-workout caffeine. (Feel free to send me these videos for debunking.)

When I imagine the simple version of something, it often turns out to be perfectly valid. I rotate through mostly the same dozen lifts that I started 10 years ago. I only redesign my workout program every 3-4 years. When I have an injury (most recently a strained neck), I go easy on some exercises or skip them. If I'm crunched for time or feel low energy mid-workout, I trim sets off my exercises. If my favorite activities become unappealing, I rest.

Any workout that you feel motivated to do is a good workout. If you have to muster up motivation every time, then you've condemned your future self to the wrong thing. Imagine something simpler, something you'd want to try today.

...

So I couldn't have my ideal summer, because life is more problems than plans, but I'm having a great summer. I found some open windows at the end of the season for waterfront time and workouts. I did small things I enjoy – like starting this newsletter – that can lead to future goals – like being a creative writer. And when waves of complications rolled in, I let them wash my habits into simpler forms that I can fortify again.

Now let's savor these last nine official days of summer.

One more thing

My phone and I are getting back into our 2012 relationship: taking blurry photos and posting them for only four friends to see.

I'm using a combination of the Retro app and mood.camera. Retro is a tiny, photos-only social network, the way the 'gram was before it swamped itself with algorithms, ads, and AI.

I'm especially enjoying mood.camera to take those photos. Yes, it's another film emulation app – but one that's intentionally limited in its ambition.

Mood.camera skips the iPhone's automatic sharpening and brightening. Instead, it redirects your capture through some grain and tint. You can't see the result until after the photo "develops," so I find myself snapping and then pocketing my phone, instead of dropping my head to inspect every shot. I get what I get.

Sometimes the photos turn out great and feel like keepsakes.

Sometimes they're crappy.

The mix of both in my camera roll feels like real life.

Now that smartphones have conquered computational photography with "reframing," "clean-up," and "image playground," it's just fun to take flawed pictures again.

Thank you for supporting my writing, being part of Out Fitness, and working out for a better world.

Until next time, claim and enjoy your strength!