The Day I Considered Working From the Gym
When intention matters more than execution, and why your movement menu needs a weatherproof option.
London Heatwave: Floating Steel Oven Edition
London is in a full-blown heatwave.
Not a “summer’s finally here” kind of heatwave. A “someone left the oven door open and we’re all slowly roasting” kind of heatwave.
My floating steel home, a charming old Dutch sailing barge, has become an actual easy-bake oven. And me? Well, I think I’m the biscuit.
In winter, she’s picturesque. Rustic. A little draughty in a romantic, two jumpers are required kind of way. But in July, with the mercury hitting 33°C and barely a breath of wind on the river, she turns into a sun-baked pressure cooker. The walls are hot to the touch.
Normally, I’d escape my home office on the boat for a brisk lunchtime walk along the river side. A mini reset. A chance to stretch, breathe, and refresh my brain for the afternoon.
However, this is the sort of heat that melts your brain and your body, taking productivity with it. You don’t so much work as wilt. I’ve been sat at my computer, full of good intentions and have found myself staring into space, wondering whether it’s possible to get sunstroke indoors.
I’m craving a walk, but the air outside feels like it’s been preheated to fan-assisted despair. So, for today, lunchtime walks are cancelled. Postponed until further notice. This biscuit is staying in the tin. Maybe.
Conflict: The Walk is Cancelled, Routine Disrupted
Normally, I ringfence my lunchtime walks, it’s a non-negotiable part of my workday.
It’s not about step counts or calorie burn. It’s about sanity. A reset button in the middle of the workday. I go for a walk beside the river, twenty minutes out, twenty minutes back. Just enough time to shake off the morning fog, hatch ideas for the afternoon, and mentally reassemble myself into someone who can has the confidence to conquer my inbox.
My lunchtime walk is one of those routines that anchors my whole day.
Except now, it’s 33°C. The river path is shimmering menacingly, like a scene from a survival documentary. A walk today would be less “active recovery” and more “let’s fry some eggs on the pavement”.
So, the walk is cancelled.
But without my walk, time feels slower. My focus slides away from every task like oil on Teflon. I open tabs and forget why.
My usual rhythm is gone, and with it, I’m restless. My thoughts are jumpy. I can feel the familiar twitch of afternoon fidgeting creeping in. I wonder, maybe I’ll just do a few stretches, but the boat is already a sauna and the idea of downward dog in 33°C heat seems less “yoga” and more “grilled hamstring.”
So, I fidget.
It’s a strange sort of conflict: knowing exactly what you need, movement, fresh air, a mental refresh, and also knowing that your default route to get it is blocked. What used to be a reliable loop of movement and mood regulation has been sabotaged by a hot sun and a steel boat that’s doing a convincing impression of a slow cooker.
This is the point I start to wonder about Plan B.
Turning Point: Enter the Movement Menu
Plan B is the behavioural equivalent of knowing what’s in the freezer when your dinner plans go sideways. No drama. No overthinking. Just pre-selected options to choose from.
Because when routines fall apart because the riverside walk has become a concrete hot plate, you need a backup. A shortlist of pre-approved alternatives that you can cherry pick from without having to invent a whole new plan while overheated and mildly irritable.
Because let’s be honest, I’m already hot, bothered and mildly irritable, the chances of brainstorming an alternative active break strategy are probably slim.
This is where having a list of movement strategies that have already been pre-vetted and shortlisted comes into the spotlight.
I’ve been building a movement menu, slowly, over time. It’s a list that sits in the background and I can use it in emergencies because it doesn’t rely on willpower.
If the only thing standing between you and movement is “deciding what to do,” the movement menu makes that step obsolete. It’s a small-but-mighty strategy to outwit decision fatigue and a list of doable alternatives you’ve already selected.
This is your active break contingency plan, because your wellbeing shouldn’t be sacrificed just because your brain feels like it’s being fried inside your head and your Plan A isn’t possible today.
You need a Plan B that works in heatwaves and low-mood days. A Plan B for busy, tired, underwhelmed, or "just-can't-even" moments.
That’s what the movement menu is for.
Action: The Air-Conditioned Refuge
For me, Plan B is the gym and today is the day to put that under-used membership to good use.
After hours slowly stewing inside my floating steel biscuit tin, I wrestled my sweaty swollen body into some activewear and headed to the gym.
Never have I been so happy to see fluorescent lighting and feel industrial air-conditioning. As I stepped through the door, a wave of relief washed over me. The moment the cool air hit my face, I wanted to set up camp in the reception area. Plug my laptop into the nearest sock and work from there for the rest of the day.
Walking was my goal today, nothing fancy, just a straight swap for my usual riverside loop, minus the risk of possible heatstroke. The movement was relaxing, almost meditative. And with the added bonus of cool, conditioned air, it was … enjoyable.
And once I was there, I kind of wanted to stay. There was something reassuring about the simplicity of it. One foot, then the other. The treadmill keeping the pace for me. A rhythm I didn’t have to think about.
It turned out to be exactly what I needed: a quiet, steady rhythm in a cool, calm space. No pressure, no perfection, just movement. It reminded me that consistency doesn’t always mean doing things the same way. Sometimes, it’s just about keeping the habit alive in whatever form the day allows.
When Routine Melts, Reach for Your Movement Menu
It’s easy to believe that our routines only count if we execute them exactly as intended. That if we don’t complete the full loop, follow the ideal plan, or hit the step count, we’ve somehow failed. But perfection is a terrible coach.
Here’s what actually keeps habits alive when life is unpredictable:
1. A clear reason
Know why you're doing it. When your goal has meaning, it's easier to keep showing up. You're choosing a direction, not chasing perfection.
2. Less thinking, more doing
Decision fatigue kills momentum. The more automatic the action feels, thanks to pre-planning or routines, the more likely it is to happen.
3. Something you’ll actually do
It doesn’t have to be ideal. It must be doable. If it’s too hard or you hate every minute, you won’t stick with it.
4. Flexibility built in
Consistency isn’t about doing the same thing every time. It’s about having options that fit real life. Rigid plans break; flexible ones bend.
5. A backup plan
The most consistent people aren’t the most motivated. They’re just ready for things to go wrong and have a plan B in place for what to do when it does.
Because some days just don’t go to plan. Sometimes your riverside walk is cancelled by a heatwave. Sometimes the meeting overruns, the rain lashes sideways, or your energy vanishes halfway through the morning. Waiting for ideal conditions is how new fitness resolutions get postponed indefinitely.
I didn’t lift heavy things or power through circuits or reimagine my entire training strategy. I walked. On a treadmill. And I left feeling better than when I arrived.
The success was in the fact that I did a thing that supported my goal. A movement break at lunchtime to give my body and brain the refresh and refuel it needed. A physical reset to help me finish the workday without melting into a puddle of unfocused nonsense.
And that’s what matters.
A pre-selected list of active break strategies can help cut through that all-or-nothing mindset. It acts like a preloaded decision aid, a behavioural shortcut that protects your progress when the environment turns hostile (read: heatwave, chaos, toddler-level sleep, or surprise deadline).
Because yes, our environments influence our behaviours. My boat turned into a metal biscuit tin and ruined my walking routine. But it didn’t have to derail the promise to myself that I would go for a lunchtime walk and give my brain a chance to reset and my body a chance to stretch and move. That’s behavioural flexibility.
We can’t always control our surroundings, but we can plan our response to them.
That’s why I think of my active break movement menu like a behavioural insurance policy: a little protection against the unexpected, the heatwaves, and predictable, the biscuit cravings.
Design A Routine That Can Weather Anything
So, here’s your reminder: if you’ve been struggling to stick with a routine, maybe it’s not you. Maybe your routine just needs a little more flexibility built in.
It’s easy to feel like we’re failing when we don’t follow the plan. The walk gets cancelled. The meeting overruns. The heatwave hits, and suddenly your “wellness routine” feels like another item on the list you didn’t tick off.
But here’s the thing: you don’t need a perfect plan.
Because when it comes to building habits, the biggest wins don’t come from grand gestures. They come from showing up in small ways, consistently, and designing just enough flexibility to keep your habits alive when life doesn’t play along.
Pre-select a few backup moves. Keep them simple, short, and temperature-proof. Not because you’re lazy or disorganised, but because you’re human. Habits that work are habits with options.
For me, that looked like swapping a riverside walk for a treadmill in the gym. It wasn’t what I planned. It wasn’t particularly exciting. But it worked. It gave me exactly what I needed: a mental refresh, a physical reset, and a way to hold onto the habit without wrestling the weather.
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