Lifting on a "weak" day

[Reef]

You go to the gym and by your 2nd exercise you can already tell you're having a "weak day". Your body and mind are not into it.

[StaticShock]

Ugh. Lately I've been grinding it out on those days. I think sometimes it's best to just bag the workout and rest though. That's a fine line learned through experience. You obviously don't want to get into the habit of quitting, but sometimes you'll do your body more good by just taking a day off to rest.

Edit: I think the unplanned days you take off to rest should be because you've been hitting it hard in the gym, the trail, the bike, or whatever. NOT because you went out and got drunk last night.

[Thremp]

I do both. Some days it just seems my body is telling me that I need a day off. Other times I grind. Sometimes I stop for a moment and ponder my recovery situation and see if I need to. (More stress, less sleep etc.)

[Unoriginalname]

For these situations you have to know your own body. For me personally, when I go to the gym I almost always really get into it and enjoy it. Therefore, when I have one of those rare days where I just simply CAN'T get into the workout at all, I just give myself the rest of the day off.

If you're constantly feeling weak at the gym, try to figure out why first. Your diet might suck, might be overtraining, might not be getting enough sleep. If all that stuff is in check and you know you're not sick, you might need to just suck it up and grind.

[zer0]

[ QUOTE ]
For these situations you have to know your own body. For me personally, when I go to the gym I almost always really get into it and enjoy it. Therefore, when I have one of those rare days where I just simply CAN'T get into the workout at all, I just give myself the rest of the day off.


[/ QUOTE ]

i agree, but i think you have to reach the level of enjoying it first. the 1-1.5 hours at the gym is probably my favorite time of my everyday life.

if your goal is to be more active and lose weight or whatever, you can't get home from school/work/whatever and sit on the couch for an hour and then say "[censored] it, i'm kind of tired today"

you should know your own body, i guess. don't kill yourself, but work through it until you're in a set routine.

[guids]

I grind it out, I think its key not to go home if you feel weak. There is a difference between just feeling weak, and being sore/overtrained etc obv.

[aflaba]

I generally immediately lower the bar because I don't want my workout to be mentally painful. So for the rest of the day I lift 20% less or something like that. If I'm really really having a bad day then I go hme, but that is very seldom.

[guids]

[ QUOTE ]
I generally immediately lower the bar because I don't want my workout to be mentally painful. So for the rest of the day I lift 20% less or something like that. If I'm really really having a bad day then I go hme, but that is very seldom.

[/ QUOTE ]


mentally painful? c'mon, what a joke.

[skunkworks]

These are the days where you find out about your character and determination. These are also the days where you learn to listen to your body and avoid mental/physical burnout.

A lot of it depends on how I feel. Some days I know I'm just being lazy and that I can push through it, and other days I know that I'm tired, fatigued, and mentally burned out from all the work. If taking a light day will help you avoid flaming out spectacularly and aborting your workout regimen, go for it; otherwise, these "light days" can end up turning into a light week or into a "let's just skip the next workout and eat pies instead".

[Thremp]

I think guids and skunk are right on about the part about a fine line between injury/overtraining etc and just having to man up sometimes.