I agree with Gopal. I personally will look for any excuse to skip the gym. When the alarm goes off at 3:20 in the morning, I lay there and ask myself if I really want to go or just sleep in. I know my own laziness. “Get up, Greg – just get up and you’ll begin to feel better.” I eat, warm-up, walk to the gym and before I know it, I’m going strong. You should not work-out if your heart just isn’t in it, but make sure it’s your heart talking and not your brain trying to get your body to stay home.
Okay, so here’s the deal. Yesterday I went to the gym and before I even had the chance to mix my workout drink, I was out the door.
Why? Simple: I straight up didn’t want to be there, so I left.
You see, every so often I’ll go through a period of time when my motivation to exercise is severely lacking. I’m sure you’ve experienced it, too−despite generally looking forward to your workouts, you get to the gym and just loathe the thought of going through with the next 30-60 minutes.
My advice: leave.
Now, before getting into a more “scientific” explanation for my recommendation, let’s first examine what’s most practical.
Question: If you ever felt that way (and I’m sure you have; we all have), but then decided to “push through” and workout anyway, just how productive and effective was that workout?
Simply put, I’m willing to bet that that workout absolutely sucked and did nothing to progress you toward your goals whatsoever (in fact, as you’ll see in a minute, it probably actually took you further away from your goals), so you would have been better off leaving instead of literally wasting the time altogether.
But even beyond that, here’s something very important to consider next time you experience this type of thing:
When it comes to your body’s state of stress, there’s no more powerful assessment than assessing motivation. Everyone’s body responds differently to different exercise protocols, and because of that, certain individuals will fair better with different types of workouts.
For me, I need my workouts to be short and sweet. I just can’t do an hour plus in the gym; a couple of days of that and I already start to loathe the thought of having to workout. So, I up the intensity of my workouts to follow suit and most days I’m in and out in 35 minutes tops.
Despite this, I’ll still hit a wall every once in a while and when I do, not only do I terminate the current session (or as I did yesterday, leave before it even started), but I also take some planned time off.
And that’s my decision: I’m taking the next week off from any type of planned exercise.
Perhaps I’ll go for a walk or a moderate jog to clear my mind and de-stress at some point, but other than that, nada.
You know, we hear the term “overtraining” so much in the exercise world, and quite frankly it bothers me how often it’s misused.
There is only one real way (that matters) to determine overtraining or over-stressing, and that’s motivation (not some specific number of sets and reps that some “guru” says you can’t go over in a single session).
Your body will TELL you when you’re overtraining, and when you are, you’ll know it. You’re motivation will decrease, and you’ll stop looking forward to your workouts, plain and simple.
When this happens−when you lose your motivation to train−then you know you’re over-stressing and you need to give your body a break.
Two great ways to do this:
1) Like me, you can just take some time off. If it’s been a while since you’ve had a real “week” off from exercise, then this is the best route (for me, I don’t even know how long it’s been, so the time off will be much deserved).
OR
2) Go the “active recovery” route by dropping any and all “programs” for a week or so, and instead, just go have some fun with your workouts. Instead of having a set plan, try deciding what you’re going to do after you get to the gym. No rules, all fun. This works wonders for bringing the enjoyment back into exercise again, especially if it’s been missing from your training.
However you choose to deal with over-stressing, the take home message is this: if your desire to exercise is on the decline, pushing harder is the last thing you want to do.
Ultimately, your workouts should be fun and you should be looking forward to them; if you’re not, make the necessary adjustments to start enjoying exercise again.
Enjoy this post? Have your own way of dealing with “over-stressing”? Give me at least 150 comments and I’ll be back early next week with new VIP content!
To YOUR success,
Joel
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69 comments - add yours
So glad to hear that others so committed to working out take time off. I have clients that suddenly quit and then hide because they are feeling guilty. I would rather meet them on the street somewhere looking happy and glowing while talking about having done something really fun! I will be sure to stress this important issue about rest when I notice their waning enthousiasm next time.
I would of never connected the fact that our body is “too” stressed-out or over trained with the feeling of not wanting to workout. Awesome info! Please keep it coming.
A lot of times people go through the training blogs trying to find the motivation to go to the gym and train hard.
But in this post you have done just the opposite. Now at least eight people have found an EXCUSE to skip training.
Guys, don’t get me wrong. But I think you SHOULD feel guilty every time you skip a workout.
Only hard work, consistency and perseverance will give the results you’re after.
Overtraining exists. But it’s so much more far away than what you think…
Joel,
I agree with this, to a degree. I think we all need to know and understand our own bodies and how we feel. Have I had days like you describe? Yes. But, I have also had those days where I didn’t feel up to it, went through the warm up and then had a great workout.
I like using the 10 minute rule. Get in the gym and stay there for 10 minutes, going through your warm up, etc. If after that time you still don’t feel like staying, leave. But, if things start feeling good, stick around and do it. So far, it has worked for me.
What I do is that I have the same base on my workouts when following a program, and I vary it listening to my body. Some days I may be non-stop for two hours, while others I feel like crap. I hate taking time off, that’s why I always do a minimum of the basic stuff, again, listening to my body.
Ex. Let’s say I start with some bench press. My normal repetition number for that first exercise is from 6 to 8 reps. If I feel that I’m goin’ through a crappy day I increase the rep number, giving more rest to my CNS while still feeling the muscle (say in the 12-15 rep range).
This is so true! Thank you Joel for putting that one out! That issue and what to do about it really needed clarification. Like you said, pushing through it does nothing but make you less motivated. Some people just quit after that one.
Thanks again!
You are so right Joel….Life should be fun and not filled with should dos and have to dos. Sometimes they mask the real reason you started something in the first place. Taking a break or moving away from a strict schedule or routine is sometimes just enough to put the “play” back into our work.
Thanks alot for the advice Joel. Its strange cos i decided to use this week as my break week so as from monday i did not train at all. well today is thurs and i feel like crap cos of the day i missed but never the less it has been a much needed break, and i know that come next week and i start again , its gonna do my body a world of good.
I too will take a short break from time to time. However, most times if I overcome the mental inertia and just get going, these workouts end up being among the best because I bore down and focused more intensely.
The truth is it is an individual matter.
Myself, there are times when I feel tired and do think about skipping my workout, but I push myself to go to the gym anyway. 95% of the time after a few minutes into the workout I am re-energized and have a good workout. That energy also caries over after the workout which is a plus.
The 5% of the time that I don’t feel re-energized within 10 minutes I will skip the workout as I agree working out half assed is counter productive.
I do take a week off after each 12 week training cycle though. That keeps me out of the overtraining zone.
There are other things I have learned not to do to stay out of the overtraining zone. For example:
Using perfect form on each set and stopping the set as soon as my form starts to break down. That is true training to failure.
Sometimes on certain exercises I will cheat slightly on the last set for one 1-2 reps to add intensity. Doing that on a regular basic will lead to overtraining and injury.
Changing the workout in some way approximately every 4 weeks or so (depending on if or when my progression has stopped). Either the exercises, , number of sets, reps, rest, etc.
I am 68 years old and still stick to this
I totally agree, a week off, or maybe even two from a strict routine does me wonders, it seems like I’m even stronger afterward. I went to the gym the other day, had no set routine in mind, and just picked up weights and did whatever came to mind, one of the most enjoyable workouts I’ve had in months.
I can’t even motivate myself to work out in the first place, does that mean I should never start? I’m under constant stress at work and in life, and am too exhausted to even think about working out most days. When I do work out, I’m hating every minute. Needless to say I look like I feel…
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...