Episode 59Apr 15, 2026· 7:12

Stop Making Excuses and Start Making Appointments With Yourself

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About this episode

Ashley Grant shares her personal shift from chronic gym avoidance — excuses like wrong outfit, waking up late, eating too big a breakfast — to scheduling Zumba, Tabata, and low-impact cardio classes into her calendar every week for the entire year. She runs her own business and structures her work hours around her gym schedule, blocking morning slots so clients can't book her during class time. The episode centers…

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Who this episode is for

This episode may resonate with you if:

You keep telling yourself you'll start going to the gym, but when the time comes you find a reason — the outfit isn't right, you slept in a little, you had too big a breakfast — and you skip it again.

You want to move your body more but your workouts are the first thing to get bumped when life gets busy, because they're not written down anywhere as a real commitment.

You're getting older and starting to feel like your body needs more attention than you've been giving it — not for looks, but just to keep it working.

You used to be someone who avoided exercise and you're a little embarrassed by it — but you're also quietly hoping something will finally click and make you the kind of person who actually shows up for themselves.

You schedule everything else in your life — meetings, appointments, errands — but somehow your own health never makes it onto the calendar.

What you’ll learn

Block your workouts in your calendar the same way you'd book any appointment

Use the oil change analogy to stop giving yourself an out

Structure other obligations around your workout schedule, not the other way around

Questions this episode wrestles with

Why do I keep finding reasons not to work out even when I want to?

answered

Ashley describes her own past pattern as inventing 'any excuse under the sun' — wrong outfit, woke up late, too big a breakfast — and says the shift happened when she started treating gym time as appointments she actually keeps, not optional slots.

"literally come up with any excuse under the sun"

Does blocking time in your calendar actually make you follow through, or is it just wishful thinking?

answered

Ashley's experience is that the calendar block works because it removes the out — she compares it to an oil change appointment: you don't skip it because you made the commitment and you know you need it.

"with yourself that's when you'll actually show up whenever you make these appointments with yourself that's when you won't give yourself"

Can you really treat yourself the same way you treat work commitments?

answered

Ashley says yes — she literally blocks gym classes in her booking calendar so clients can't schedule over them, treating those slots the same way she'd treat any professional appointment.

"the gym, I add it to the calendar. And it makes it so that when people are trying to book appointments with me, they can't book me on the days that I have gym classes because I want to make sure that I keep these appointments with myself. Now,"

Is it realistic to protect gym time when other people's needs keep overriding it?

open question

Ashley acknowledges the tension without fully resolving it — she admits exceptions happen and that her flexibility as a business owner isn't available to everyone, while still insisting the commitment has to be made.

"at all. I understand that a lot of people can't do what I do in terms of working out their schedules."

Setting expectations: This episode is not about workout programming, fitness science, or structured habit-building frameworks. It's Ashley reflecting on her own shift from inventing excuses to skip the gym — wrong outfit, woke up late, too big a breakfast — to now blocking every Zumba, Tabata, and cardio class into her calendar so clients literally can't book her during those times.

Tone & style

Ashley opens by laughing at her past self — wrong outfit, woke up late, too big a breakfast — as reasons to skip the gym, then walks through how she flipped entirely: blocking Zumba, Tabata, and cardio classes into her calendar for the whole year, and eventually structuring her business hours around her gym schedule rather than the other way around. The episode resolves on a settled identity shift — 'I'm not that person anymore' — with the oil change analogy offered as the method she'd hand to listeners.

Personal experience and conviction. Ashley shares what worked for her own transformation — not research-backed fitness or scheduling advice.

toneWarm & motivational

focusAshley contrasts her old habit of inventing excuses to skip the gym with her current practice of blocking every gym class into her calendar as a non-negotiable appointment with herself.

stylesolo_monologue

energymedium_high

complexitybeginner

pressure Levelmedium

emotional Texturewarm, self-amused, encouraging, conviction-driven

Notable quotes

"If you keep making excuses, you will continue being the same person you are now, if not worse,"

— Famous Ashley Grant

"I used to give the dumbest excuses as to why I couldn't go to the gym. And now I'm amused that I'm generally looking for excuses. to go"

— Famous Ashley Grant

"didn't have the outfit I wanted to wear today."

— Famous Ashley Grant

Episode transcript

Organized into 3 chapters — open any part to read the full text.

0:001. From Making Excuses to Seeking Them OutAshley reflects on how she used to invent any excuse to skip the gym — wrong outfit, woke up late, too big a breakfast — and contrasts that with how she now blocks her entire weekly gym schedule in her calendar.1:452. Building a Schedule Around the GymAshley describes running her own business and structuring her work hours around her gym classes, and recounts a client noticing she had no morning availability because those slots are all gym time.4:123. Making Appointments With YourselfAshley makes the case that treating workouts like a booked appointment — using the oil change analogy — is what stops you from giving yourself an out, and urges listeners to add movement to their calendars as a commitment to themselves.

Open full transcript

Mentioned in this episode

personFamous Ashley Grant

The host of More Movement Please, who shares her personal shift from making excuses to skip the gym to blocking her entire weekly workout schedule in her calendar.

organizationMore Movement Please

The podcast hosted by Famous Ashley Grant, described as a show aimed at inspiring listeners to move their bodies more.

Key themes

Excuses she used to make

Ashley lists the specific excuses she used to give for skipping the gym — wrong outfit, woke up a few minutes late, too big a breakfast — and describes finding them dumb in retrospect.

Flipping from avoiding the gym to seeking it out

Ashley contrasts her past self, who invented reasons not to go, with her current self, who moves heaven and earth to get there and tells people she's unavailable during gym hours.

Blocking the calendar as a commitment

Ashley describes entering every gym class — Zumba, low impact cardio, Tabata — into her calendar for the entire year so that clients literally cannot book her during those slots.

Running a business around the gym schedule

Ashley notes that she runs her own business and has structured her work hours around her gym classes, which she acknowledges is a privilege not everyone has.

The oil change analogy

Ashley compares skipping a booked workout to skipping a scheduled oil change — arguing you wouldn't cancel the oil change because you made the appointment and know your car needs it.

Aging as motivation to keep moving

Ashley mentions that getting older has made her more aware of how critical it is to keep her body moving and 'keep the engine oiled.'

Excuses blocking results

Ashley states directly that continuing to make excuses means no inches lost, no scale movement, and ending up the same person or worse as you age.

Connected episodes

Shared experience

Calendar blocking to protect workouts

#55Three Things That Will Make You Less Likely to Skip Your Workout

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Maximizing gym attendance vs. pulling back

#67Less Movement, Please? Wait, WHAT?!?

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