Between Reps and Reality: Why Agile Living Beats Perfect Fitness

Training, family, flying, and intentional living in real life

By Johnny Legg

Last week didn’t look impressive on paper.

There were missed workouts. Comfort food made repeat appearances. A few days blurred together without a neatly logged training session. If I were chasing streaks, macros, or online validation, I would’ve been tempted to call it a “bad week.”

Instead, it was one of the most accurate weeks I’ve had in a long time.

Because life doesn’t move in straight lines — and pretending it does is how balance quietly collapses.

The Problem With Rigid Consistency

Fitness culture has a branding issue, and not a realistic one either, especially for family life. Brutal rigidity has no place when you have 3 kids.

Somewhere along the way, consistency stopped meaning “showing up over time” and started meaning “never deviating, ever, under any circumstances.”

That model works great if:

• You’re single

• You have no kids

• Your sleep is predictable

• Your schedule doesn’t change

• You don’t live overseas

• You don’t fly airplanes

• And your knees still think you’re 25

For everyone else, it’s a fast track to burnout or self-criticism. Look, i have been consistently hitting the gym for over 20 years.

What actually works — especially when you’re balancing fitness, family, work, and aviation — is agility.

The same principle that keeps airplanes safe, businesses alive, and families functioning also keeps training sustainable:

Adapt quickly. Don’t overcorrect. Keep moving forward.

What Last Week Really Looked Like

Here’s the honest breakdown.

Training

I had one strong, dense full-body session for the week, not one day, but a session:

• Front squats with a heavy ladder and progressive reloads

• Romanian deadlifts

• Incline barbell bench

• Lat pulldowns supersetted with ab rollers

• A long indoor run

It was focused, effective, and appropriately hard.

And then… I didn’t train for a few days.

Not because of laziness.

Not because of lack of discipline.

But because recovery, family, flying, and mental bandwidth mattered more in that moment.

Also, because my kids have been home from school and daycare for 2 weeks.

Family & Life

Instead of forcing workouts:

• I took my kids sledding

• I went to Leo’s HopLop

• I spent time being present instead of productive

Dragging sleds uphill in winter boots isn’t CrossFit, but it’s still work. And more importantly, it’s time you don’t get back.

Flying

I flew during the week — which quietly changes everything. I also gave my daughter her first flight, which she called boring. I call that a win because she trusted me and wasn't scared at any point during the flight.

Flying demands presence. You don’t bring guilt, fatigue, or mental clutter into the cockpit. There’s no room for replaying yesterday’s missed workout at 3,000 feet.

That mindset tends to follow you back to the ground — if you let it.

Food

It wasn’t a “clean eating” week, and that’s fine.

I ate:

• Coffee and Huel shakes on busy mornings

• Leftover crockpot pizza (German egg noodles, ground beef, cheese, pepperoni — layered twice, because of course it was)

• Karelian pies, eggs, spinach pancakes

• Salads with chicken when my body asked for something lighter

Nothing dramatic happened.

No spiral.

No shame.

No “starting over Monday” nonsense.

Just eating like a human with a full life and paying attention to what I needed rather than what I wanted.

Why Agile Living Beats Perfect Plans

Here’s the key lesson from last week:

The plan didn’t fail. The plan got adapted.

Agility doesn’t mean abandoning structure.

It means letting structure bend instead of break.

An agile approach to fitness and intentional living looks like this:

• Training hard when recovery allows

• Pulling back when life stacks up

• Shifting sessions instead of skipping the whole week

• Choosing family or flying without guilt

• Returning calmly instead of dramatically

Rigid plans don’t survive real life.

Flexible ones do.

Intentional Living Isn’t About Doing Everything

Intentional living gets marketed as optimization.

Morning routines. Ice baths. Journals. Perfect macros. Perfect weeks.

Real intentional living is quieter — and far less aesthetic.

It looks like:

• Knowing when not to train

• Eating convenience food without attaching morality to it

• Letting a week be “good enough” instead of perfect

• Making decisions based on values, not streaks

Intentional living isn’t doing everything.

It’s choosing what matters this week, not some idealized version of yourself that doesn’t have kids, commitments, or weather.

Flying Taught Me This Faster Than Fitness Ever Did

Aviation has no tolerance for rigidity.

Weather changes. Plans change. Conditions evolve.

Good pilots don’t panic or force the plan — they adapt.

Fitness is no different.

Forcing a workout when sleep is poor, recovery is lagging, or family needs are higher doesn’t make you disciplined. It makes you stubborn.

Agility keeps you training for decades, not just seasons.

Why This Matters Long-Term

I’m not trying to win January.

I’m trying to:

• Stay strong into my 50s and beyond

• Be present for my kids

• Keep flying safely

• Avoid the boom-and-bust cycles that come from all-or-nothing thinking

That requires adaptability.

Some weeks will be training-heavy.

Some weeks will be family-heavy.

Some weeks will be flight-heavy.

All of them can still be intentional.

The Real Definition of Balance

Balance isn’t equal time.

Balance is appropriate response.

Last week:

• I trained when it made sense

• I rested when it mattered

• I showed up for my kids

• I flew

• I didn’t spiral when plans shifted

That’s not failure.

That’s alignment.

Final Thought

If you’re trying to balance fitness, family, work, and a life that refuses to stay predictable, here’s the truth:

You don’t need stricter rules.

You need better judgment.

Agility isn’t weakness.

Adaptation isn’t failure.

And a flexible plan executed calmly will beat a perfect plan you can’t sustain.

That’s the mindset I’m building.

That’s the rhythm I’m keeping.

That’s the Leggacy.