Episode 102Jul 20, 2026· 5:15

When Every Rep Feels Wrong: Showing Up on Your Worst Gym Day

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About this episode

Ashley Grant records a short solo episode immediately after a bad gym session — exhausted, sore, zero sleep, ongoing health issues, struggling through Zumba and weights, called out by the instructor. She reflects on her first Zumba class in August 2023 when she had to leave after 15 minutes, contrasting it with today's decision to step into the hallway and come back. The episode covers returning to exercise after…

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Who this episode is for

This episode may resonate with you if:

You woke up exhausted, your body feels off, and you're lying in bed negotiating with yourself about whether skipping today would really be that bad.

You went to the gym and it was genuinely bad — you felt off, nothing clicked, and you're wondering if it even counted.

You've been sedentary for a long time and you're in the early, humbling phase of bringing movement back into your life — and some days feel like proof you don't belong there.

You've noticed a pattern in yourself where one skipped workout quietly becomes two, then a week, then you've just... stopped going again.

You're dealing with health issues or sleep problems that keep interfering with your workouts, and you're not sure how much grace to give yourself versus how much to push through.

Questions this episode wrestles with

When does skipping the gym go from a one-off to a habit of not going?

answered

Ashley describes it as a brain-training problem — each skipped day tells your brain the gym doesn't matter, and that compounds into a pattern of just stopping, which she lived herself for two decades.

"days that you give yourself to skip the gym, the more you're telling your brain, it doesn't matter. You don't need to go. And then you set yourself in this pattern where you just stop"

Does a workout where nothing goes right still do anything for you?

answered

Ashley's experience is that it still adds up — even a rough workout keeps the forward momentum going and keeps training your brain that working out matters.

"it's not a great workout, it still adds up. It still has that forward momentum. It's still training your brain that I matter and I have to work out."

Is forcing yourself to go to the gym when you feel awful actually good for you?

open question

Ashley doesn't fully resolve this — she came in dragging, had a bad workout, stepped into the hallway to regroup, and is still sitting with whether it was worth it, landing only on "I'm still glad I did it" without claiming it felt good.

"power through. I did stick around. I did take about a couple minutes to kind of regroup in the hallway and get my mind right, I guess, as"

Setting expectations: This episode is not a workout guide, a Zumba tutorial, or a structured plan for building gym consistency. It's Ashley recording herself right after a bad workout — exhausted, sore, called out by her instructor — and thinking out loud about why she showed up anyway.

Tone & style

Ashley starts the episode exhausted, sore, and honest about not wanting to be there at all — then recounts a visibly bad workout where even the instructor called her out. Stepping into the hallway to regroup, she flashes back to her first Zumba class in August 2023 when she had to walk out within 15 minutes, which reframes today's struggle as progress rather than failure, and she ends feeling better for having shown up.

Personal experience and opinion shared in the moment. Not fitness instruction or medical guidance.

toneCandid & motivational

focusAshley records from the gym right after a rough workout she almost didn't show up for, using her own bad day as a case for why showing up anyway still counts.

stylepersonal_confession

energymedium

complexitybeginner

pressure Levelmedium

emotional Texturehonest, tired but determined, self-aware

Notable quotes

"Because like Rhonda says, I'd rather be sore from working my body than sore from lack of movement."

— Famous Ashley Grant

"my workout sucked like bad. But I'm still glad"

— Famous Ashley Grant

"days that you give yourself to skip the gym, the more you're telling your brain, it doesn't matter. You don't need to go. And then you set yourself in this pattern where you just stop"

— Famous Ashley Grant

"I tried that first Zumba class and I had to walk out within 15 minutes. There were moments today"

— Famous Ashley Grant

"started, I mean, whenever I first brought movement back into my life after two decades of being sedentary. So I'm really glad that I'm doing"

— Famous Ashley Grant

Episode transcript

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

0:001. Dragging to the Gym AnywayAshley opens by admitting she's exhausted, sore, and didn't want to come to the gym today — but came anyway. She describes having a rough workout: missing Zumba moves, struggling with weights, and even getting called out by the instructor.1:452. Flashback to That First Zumba ClassAshley connects today's struggle to her first Zumba class in August 2023, when she had to walk out within 15 minutes. She reflects on how far she's come since returning to movement after two decades of being sedentary.3:363. Why Skipping Becomes a PatternAshley shares her view that every skipped workout tells your brain the gym doesn't matter, making it easier and easier to just stop going altogether — something she says she used to do herself.

Open full transcript

Mentioned in this episode

personFamous Ashley Grant

The host of More Movement Please — sharing her personal experience of having a rough gym day while still showing up after two decades of being sedentary.

personRhonda

Someone Ashley quotes approvingly: 'I'd rather be sore from working my body than sore from lack of movement.'

Key themes

Showing up when you don't want to

Ashley came to the gym exhausted, sore, and dragging, and describes having a genuinely bad workout — missing Zumba moves, struggling with weights, getting called out by the instructor — but stayed anyway.

A bad workout is still a workout

Ashley openly admits her workout sucked — 'like bad' — but frames finishing it as something worth being glad about, not as a success story.

Returning to movement after two decades sedentary

Ashley situates today's struggle in the context of bringing movement back into her life after twenty years of being sedentary, starting in August 2023.

That first Zumba class she had to walk out of

Ashley flashes back to her very first Zumba class in August 2023, when she had to leave within 15 minutes because she couldn't breathe, and notes she felt the urge to walk out again today.

Skipping trains your brain to stop going

Ashley argues that every skipped workout is a message to your brain that the gym doesn't matter, and that this is how people — including her past self — fall into a pattern of just stopping altogether.

Working out while dealing with health issues and no sleep

Ashley mentions getting zero sleep the night before and ongoing health issues as likely reasons her workout was so rough, without elaborating on what those issues are.

Small movement still counts

Ashley's position is that even a little bit of movement — not a great workout, just something — still adds up and keeps forward momentum going.

Only you can put in the work

Ashley returns to a recurring point from her podcast — that no pill or machine can do this for you, and that showing up is something only the individual can do for themselves.