Episode 42Feb 23, 2026· 9:47

Want to Quit Mid-Workout? Me Too. Here's What Keeps Me Going

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About this episode

Ashley Grant answers three listener questions about her fitness journey: wanting to quit mid-workout (including walking out of a class during a difficult personal period), what keeps her going (post-workout feeling, group fitness community, music), distinguishing bad gym days from bad weeks (11 days away from the gym as her worst stretch, bad days from poor sleep or being menstrual), and when fitness shifted from…

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Who this episode is for

This episode may resonate with you if:

You've been wanting to quit mid-workout and feel guilty about it, wondering if people who are 'really' into fitness ever feel that way too.

You're going through something personally hard and your emotions are spilling into your workouts — you showed up but you couldn't stay.

You've been sedentary for a long time and you're not sure if fitness can ever feel like something that's actually yours, not just something you're trying.

You're in a rough patch — bad sleep, sick, or just off — and you're trying to figure out whether to push through or give yourself a pass.

You're somewhere in the early weeks of a new fitness routine and you're wondering if the craving and the identity shift that other people talk about will ever actually happen for you.

Questions this episode wrestles with

Is it normal to want to quit in the middle of a workout?

answered

Ashley says yes, absolutely — she's had moments where she walked out of a class mid-way because of personal stuff going on in her life, and frames it as just being human, not failure.

"my life that I literally just walked out of the class and could not come back. I had to have someone else put my stuff away and bring bring my stuff to me. my gym bag to me because I just I couldn't handle it and that is going to happen sometimes right I mean we're human We're humans."

Does wanting to walk out of the gym mean I'm not cut out for this?

answered

Ashley shares that what keeps her going 99% of the time is knowing how good she'll feel after finishing — and when that's not enough, she leans on the other people in the room or just focuses on the music.

"walk away. But what keeps me going most of the time, I'd say 99 % of the time, is knowing how good I'll feel after I complete the workout. Even when it hurts, even whenever the pain gets really real and I feel... feel so weak. Just if I keep moving, I know that by the end of it, I'm going to feel better. And the other thing"

How do I know if I'm just having a bad gym day or actually burning out?

answered

Ashley draws the line at the whole week feeling off — a bad day is things like bad sleep, not eating right, or a headache, while a bad week is when you're not feeling it at all across the week, which for her has really only happened when she couldn't get to the gym at all.

"is when you're not feeling it the entire week. And I haven't really had that happen. I can honestly say that the only time that I feel like I had a bad week was whenever I couldn't get to the"

Is pushing through when you feel awful actually helping or just stubbornness?

open question

Ashley doesn't claim pushing through fixes everything — she says you'll still have to face whatever put you in a bad mood, but you'll have better mental clarity to handle it. She sits with the tension rather than resolving it cleanly.

"a beautiful, wonderful day. No, sometimes whenever you get out of the gym, you still have to face life, right? You still have to face whatever it was that put you in a bad mood in the first place, but you will feel better and you'll have better mental clarity to be able to handle whatever it was that life threw at you that day. And I"

How do you know if fitness has actually become part of your identity or if you're just going through the motions?

answered

Ashley traces it to around day 100 — that's when she started craving the gym, could feel the days she didn't go as hard, and people on Instagram were DMing her asking where she was if she didn't post.

"think that my best answer to this was when I hit the hundred days. Whenever I hit the hundred days, it felt like at that point, it was truly a habit. It was truly ingrained in me. And it was truly the time that I could feel the days where I didn't go as hard. I could feel the days"

When does working out stop feeling like something you're forcing yourself to do?

answered

Ashley says she still sometimes feels like 'a girl that's playing fitness Barbie' even past 200 days in, but the craving kicked in around week two and the identity shift really landed around day 100.

"I still feel like a girl that's playing, you know, fitness Barbie, only because I'm not as strong as I want to be yet. And I'm not. quite where I want to be fitness goals wise. But I think that my best answer to this was when I"

Setting expectations: This episode is not a workout tips guide or a motivational framework for pushing through hard training sessions. It's Ashley answering listener questions by sharing personal moments — like the day she was so emotional from personal stuff that she walked out of class mid-workout and had someone else bring her gym bag to her — and tracing how she went from sedentary for almost two decades to craving the gym by week two.

Tensions inside this episode

Moments where Famous Ashley Grant names something — and contradicts it inside the same episode. Both quotes are verbatim from the transcript.

Fitness is fully her identity now

She declares fitness is her identity and she cannot imagine a day without movement, yet in the same episode admits she still sometimes feels like 'a girl that's playing fitness Barbie' because she's not as strong or as far along as she wants to be.

Claim

"identity. Fitness is my thing. It is the thing that I am obsessed with now. And, you know, it's"

but

Contradiction

"I still feel like a girl that's playing, you know, fitness Barbie, only because I'm not as"

Tone & style

Ashley starts by admitting she still sometimes feels like she's 'playing fitness Barbie' — not fully owning the identity. Through the episode she traces how that shifted: craving the gym by week two, feeling it truly ingrained by day 100, and now over 200 days in, unable to imagine life without movement after nearly two decades of being sedentary.

Personal experience and opinion drawn entirely from Ashley's own fitness journey. Not advice or instruction.

toneCandid & warm

focusAshley answers three listener questions about wanting to quit mid-workout, what a bad day versus a bad week looks like, and when fitness stopped being something she was trying and became part of who she is.

stylesolo_monologue

energymedium

complexitybeginner

pressure Levellow

emotional Texturehonest, warm, self-aware, grateful

Notable quotes

"it was the day that I said I only did half of a class because I was so emotional that day from from some personal stuff that was going on in my life that I literally just walked out of the class and could not come back. I had to have someone else put my stuff away and bring bring"

— Famous Ashley Grant

"and sugarcoat things and tell you that, oh, if you just work out, you're just going to have a beautiful, wonderful day. No, sometimes whenever you get out of the gym, you still have to face"

— Famous Ashley Grant

"I still feel like a girl that's playing, you know, fitness Barbie, only because I'm not as"

— Famous Ashley Grant

"again. I was sedentary for almost two decades and I don't ever want to go back. I'm loving"

— Famous Ashley Grant

Episode transcript

Organized into 5 chapters — open any part to read the full text.

0:001. Intro and Wanting to Quit Mid-WorkoutAshley confirms she has wanted to quit mid-workout, including one day she was so emotional from personal stuff that she walked out of class and couldn't go back, needing someone else to bring her gym bag to her.1:562. What Keeps Her Going 99% of the TimeAshley describes three things that keep her going: knowing she'll feel better after finishing, seeing other people in group fitness classes struggling too, and focusing on the music when she's not feeling the workout.2:323. Bad Day vs. Bad Week at the GymAshley distinguishes a bad day from a bad week — her worst stretch was 11 days away from the gym, while bad days (poor sleep, headache, being menstrual) still got better once she kept going, though she's clear that working out doesn't erase whatever life threw at you.4:164. When Fitness Became Part of Her IdentityAshley traces the shift from trying fitness to owning it as her identity — craving the gym by week two, feeling it ingrained by day 100, and now over 200 days in, unable to imagine life without movement after being sedentary for almost two decades.8:345. Outro and Listener Questions InvitationAshley wraps up, invites listeners to send questions via Facebook DM or voice note at famousashleygrant.com/fitness, and expresses that she wants the podcast to be a community and a movement of movement.

Open full transcript

Mentioned in this episode

personFamous Ashley Grant

The host of the podcast, sharing personal experiences of wanting to quit mid-workout and her journey from being sedentary for almost two decades to fitness becoming her identity after 200+ days.

websitefamousashleygrant.com/fitness

Ashley's website where listeners can drop voice notes — one option for fitness pros and another for general listeners wanting to share their journey or ask questions.

websiteFacebook

Platform where Ashley invites listeners to find her at 'Famous Ashley Grant' and DM questions or comment on posts.

websiteInstagram

Platform where Ashley was doing accountability posts, which prompted followers to DM her asking if she had worked out whenever she didn't post.

Key themes

Wanting to quit mid-workout

Ashley admits she has walked out of a class mid-session because personal stuff made her so emotional she couldn't go back and had to have someone else bring her gym bag to her.

Bad mental health days and exercise

Ashley connects wanting to quit specifically to days when she's feeling weak or having a bad mental health day, framing these as real obstacles rather than excuses.

What keeps her going 99% of the time

Ashley names three specific things that pull her through: knowing she'll feel better after finishing, seeing other people in the room struggling too, and locking onto the music when she's not feeling the workout.

Group fitness as mental support

Ashley says seeing other people in the room struggling is what makes group fitness classes so valuable to her — it removes the feeling of being alone in the difficulty.

Bad day vs. bad week at the gym

Ashley distinguishes the two by pointing to her worst stretch — 11 days away from the gym — as a bad week, while bad days (poor sleep, headache, being menstrual) are things she still pushed through.

Working out doesn't erase what life threw at you

Ashley explicitly refuses to sugarcoat it — she says when you leave the gym you still have to face whatever put you in a bad mood, but you'll have better mental clarity to handle it.

Fitness becoming her identity

Ashley traces the shift to day 100, when she started craving the gym, people on Instagram were DMing her if she didn't post, and it stopped feeling like something she was trying and became who she is.

Going from sedentary for almost two decades to obsessed

Ashley frames her current relationship with movement against nearly twenty years of not moving, saying she cannot imagine a single day without it and never wants to go back.

Instagram accountability posts as external pull

Ashley describes how posting daily workout accountability on Instagram meant followers would DM her if she went quiet, and that external expectation made her want to go harder.

Connected episodes

Shared experience

Group fitness reduces feeling alone

#76What Happens After Day 365? My Plan to Keep Moving

Contrast

Does the gym fix your mental state?

#40I'm Losing Weight But I Still Don't Love My Body (Here's What I'm Doing About It)

Contrast

Temporary challenge vs. permanent identity shift

#36400 Classes and 26 Pounds Lost - A Lot of Fitness Influencers Are Selling You Crap