Last night I struggled with making the decision whether or not I should get some sleep (I was totally beat and sore from a week's worth of hard workouts) or push through what I knew would be a slow and low-key indoor bike training session. I have my race coming up a week from today, yet would a low-quality spin on the bike really do anything to help my chances next week? On the other hand, am I just being lazy or will I set up a pattern of allowing myself to skip workouts when I just don;t feel like doing them?
This isn't an uncommon situation for anyone that is dedicated to their workout program and Physical Wellness. I always promise my personal training clients that eventually, after sticking with a program for 60 to 90 days, they will actually feel worse for missing a workout than they do during an after a workout! That's a very hard concept to grasp initially when you're just trying to make it through a workout after years of sedentary living. From my own personal experience, I encounter every emotion from anger to sadness when I don't get a chance to exercise on a daily basis and I also battle with anxiety and depression on those days. Let's just say I am addicted to the endorphin release that exercise brings!
But, there is always a but........ Whenever we work out, the body needs time to recover. That's no secret. It's also no secret that it is actually during the recovery phase that the body's muscles grow and become stronger. If you don't allow the body to recover guess what? The muscles don't grow, your fitness levels don't increase and the risk of injury increases exponentially. Without adequate recovery, there is also an increased risk of overtraining which is a pretty nasty condition that leaves you feel fatigued and all around horrible. Overtraining is just as it sounds, you've trained too hard and too often, and the result is the body hasn't been able to recover from the physical demands you've place on it and now it is beginning to shut down in order to get you to stop putting it under the physical pressure you've been putting the body under. Also, whenever people's training loads are too high (myself included here as I have experienced this) you'll typically see a dramatic increase in illnesses due to a weakened immune system. If my training volume in the winter is high, like it was this year as I prepared for an Ironman distance triathlon, I can pretty much expect to battle with head colds, chest congestion and other nagging sicknesses that can sideline your fitness and training goals of you aren't careful. Taking the conversation to the weight room, too high of a training volume with weigh lifting can lead to muscle tears and other injuries which can leave you in a world of pain, or even worse under the knife of a surgeon.
So the long-and-short of it is this: if you're somewhat tired and feeling a little lazy it's one thing. In this case, push through it, dig deep and find the motivation to get in your workouts. On the other hand, if you're having a hard time staying awake, you feel sick or you're experiencing a lot of soreness in the joints and muscles from earlier workouts (a big indicator that you've not recovered from those previous workouts) take a rest day and allow your body to catch up. You'll actually get more benefit from resting than you will from pushing through a sub-par effort. Think quality over quantity! Also to avoid overtraining, make sure that your nutrition is just as well thought out and you put as much effort into it as you do your training. This is where most people miss the mark and 4 time Mr. Olympia Champion Jay Cutler once said that it is impossible to overtrain if you're eating enough food to support the level of training you're doing. I don't know if I can literally buy into that statement, but I do agree with where he is coming from. Nutrition plays a pivotal role in our ability to train at a high level. Simple things like taking a multi-vitamin on a daily basis and making certain you're consuming close to a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight are good places to start. Adding in varieties of fresh fruits and veggies each day will flood the body with micronutrients needed and antioxidants that can help reduce environmental damage to our bodies and muscles. Also, drink at least 2 liters of water per day, as dehydration can increase the likelihood of overtraining! In addition to that, LISTEN to your body! If it's telling you to back off, then maybe it's time to do so. Whether because you rest up willingly, or due to an injury or sickness, you're going to have to rest up if you're training volume gets to high and you aren't adequately recovering from your workouts!
Stay Focused and Happy Training Y'all!!!!!
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