I don’t want to work out today.
I’m tired. My head hurts. My legs are sore.
Plus, I’m not sure I can get my full workout in before taking my kids to school (I workout in the mornings and I have a home weight room). I’m slated to do a heavy upper body workout, including my deadlifts.
I’m serious, I should just bag it.
Have you ever said these things to yourself? I know you have. It happens to all of us. Some other comments you might say to yourself:
• “I didn’t sleep well.”
• “I have a big project due at work.”
• “I’ve got a sniffle – I wonder if I’m getting sick?”
• “I’ve been (pretty much) sticking to my schedule, so I deserve a day off.”
Days like this really test your motivation. Are you working out for the right reasons? Are you dedicated to getting healthier and looking better and feeling great?
Sure, there are some legitimate reasons to skip a planned workout:
• You are really sick (like vomiting, or a high fever; sniffles don’t count!)
• You are injured
• An opportunity to spend some really excellent time with your kids or spouse that really is a sudden opportunity you can’t replicate (side note-always take the time to play with your kids and workout later; if playing with them means your 45 minute workout can’t happen, then skip your TV show later and workout then)
• A family emergency
• The muscle group you are going to work today is still sore from your last workout
And remember, if you must skip a workout, try your best to do SOMETHING instead – 15 min of bodyweight exercises, 15 minutes of sprints, etc. Something.
But other than something on the same scale as these (I’m sure there are more), you need to stick to your routine.
This is where my (your) workout schedule comes into play. If I skip today, it throws off the rest of the week’s workout schedules.
Ask yourself if you’ve ever felt worse when you did exercise on days even after you tried to convince yourself not to. I bet you’ve never regretted workout out anyway.
And the inverse of that question is, “Now think back to the days that your skipped your exercise after mentally debating if you should or you shouldn’t. Have you ever felt worse?” My guess is that when you’ve skipped, you felt worse (emotionally and physically).
No matter how bad you feel, you must put 100% into your workout.
There’s so much science that shows how critical intensity is to building lean muscle. Don’t think you can do a half-way effort and get half the results. No, it doesn’t work that way. A 100% effort gets your maximum results. But a 50% effort, not really trying too hard, going through the motions, etc. only gets you about 25% of the results. If you’re going to go, go big.
So back to today…
I got myself downstairs.
I got my protein shake and a small bite to eat.
I did my dynamic stretches and warm-ups.
And after the first set, something amazing happened.
My head stopped hurting.
I started getting into it. I mean really into it. I did a personal record with my deadlifts. Serious.
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April 6th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Congrats on making it to your workout. It’s always difficult to stay motivated in the morning, especially when you have to run a mile to the gym during the middle of a Chicago winter… ughhhhhhh. It’s always nice to have another person motivating you to go. I need to find a new workout partner.
April 7th, 2009 at 4:41 am
Nice, informative and motivating article. Keep up the good work !!
April 8th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Great post! Yup, we’ve all been there and had those days! But it does feel so great when you actually get through a workout on those sluggish days! You feel almost Superhuman! ;)Shauna
April 15th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
I read this several days ago and was going to comment, but just didn’t have the motivation. You can just imagine how hard it is for me to get on the elliptical trainer at 5.30 in the morning before things get popping around here.
Today, I managed five minutes. Tomorrow, I’m going for a full thirty.
Thanks for the motivational article. I think all of us need those kinds of reminders every so often. Some of us more often than others, I admit!
April 16th, 2009 at 6:18 am
@Gene – I laughed out loud at the irony in your first sentence, given the content of the article itself… But in terms of your workout, if the article helps motivate you to give every workout your all, then I’m happy. Whether you do a 5 minute workout or 30 minutes, just make it count. Push yourself. So if you are just doing 5 minutes, make it sprint intervals (after a warm up of course). And don’t forget the weights! Man can not live by treadmill alone…!
D
February 17th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
UGH….. I am in the middle of losing 130 pounds. I have lost 80 so far and am kind of stagnating because I dont get enough work outs in and have begun to eat things not designated in my diet. Im very tired, missing a lot of very needed sleep, I have terrible insomnia and the conventional methods are not working to correct it. So, today, right now, I am super tired and have a headache. My boyfriend is harrassing me about how it doesnt matter if I feel crappy because I need to just do it like the stupid nike model “JUST DO IT”. I want to punch him in the mouth because he is trying very hard to rush my weight loss and has been for this entire year. I am on disability for mental illness issues and it has taken and extreme amount of effort to change the many things about my life and coping skills necessary in order to successfully lose this weight. It has taken me roughly 7 months to lose this 80 pounds and he wont quit! Im tired! My head kills!! GRRR!! I have to go work out in an hour (because he said so). It sucks. I love the changes it has made to my health both mentally and physically, my energy, and my looks. I want to lose this weight very badly, but being sleep deprived and feeling sick from the lack of sleep makes me want to stay home and sleep my life away. If I do that I would lose my boyfriend. Aside from this one thing, hes everything I want in a man, and I love him very much and he loves me too. Hes just shallow and ignorant to how his demands make me feel sometimes. Anyhow, he seems to be the anti-motivation when hes supposed to be my primary motivation. I want to defy him and say “Yeah, ok, you win, Im going for a run…be back in an hour!” and just run myself to the donut shop and have a hot chocolate with a donut and read my favorite book and just feel comforted. BAH. Working out is hard work, I love it dont get me wrong, but when I feel crappy I really just want to be comforted, not forced to preform like some sort of arobic monkey. ):
February 18th, 2010 at 9:37 am
@Sharice – thanks for sharing your situation. Certainly I wish you the best. Based on only the above paragraph, I think the most important thing for you to work on is sleep. Poor sleep has so many detriments I can’t possibly list them all here, but one you should pay attention to is that poor sleep increases appetite and reduces willpower. Keep doing your best in the gym and with your eating, but your #1 priority right now should be to sort out better sleeping habits.
February 18th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
Thanks Darrin, I actually did better at the gym yesterday than I have been lately. I walked there and back (2.2km). I walked at a speed of 3.2 on the tread mill and every 4 minutes I ran at a speed of 5.0. I did that for 25 minutes and my last run cycle I actually lasted for 3 minutes which for me is a new record. I got pretty tired and had arrived at the gym late so I went straight to weights rather than doing a full hour of cardio. I increased my upper body free weights from 5 to 8lbs, and my bicepts/tricepts increased from 12 to 15lbs. I did 3 sets of 10 for all those exercises, then followed up with 20 squats (I just started them so theyre super hard and made my legs shake after). I moved onto using the slanted bench thingy for crunchs but could only do 13 in total before I ran out of steam. The bench kind of hurts considering that I am as overweight as I am. I went back and did another 10 squats before I realized that I was in no shape to continue as I couldnt walk normally from all the shaking. haha. I had a protien bar and walked home, and got 8.5hrs sleep. Drank 3 liters or water in total. Not bad eh?
I watched myself while I ran and saw myself all fat and unattractive. It reminded me what my motivation was, I want to be pretty again. I want to run for more than 2-3 minutes at a time. I want to bike ride and dance and wear amazing clothing. I want to live long. I felt a change in myself yesterday, I feel like I can do this again.
Thanks for letting me vent and responding to me, it really helped!
(: