Missing a Workout

When you spend time on any social media you will often find posts that say something along the lines of "A bad workout is one that you don't do" This is true, it's a bit more than that though, if you haven't got a good excuse and you decide to skip a workout then that's alright. It's alright to not do something for one day, maybe you just don't feel like it. The truth is that if you weren't feeling it and you went a did the workout one of two things are going to happen.

Firstly you might not put the effort in, you might half-arse your reps, rush or something that would provide the smallest of benefits. But then when you reflect on the workout you just did you might end up beating yourself up about it. You might think to yourself "I could've done one more rep here" or "Well, that was shit"

Secondly, and the more likely of the two is that you will possibly feel a bit better, it's tough when you're passionate about something to miss out on it. I guess I speak from experience where there have been times that I've not wanted to go to the gym because I was tired or just not feeling it. Then I've gone, pumped out some endorphins and gotten on with the rest of my day.

Back to the quote of "A bad workout is one you don't do" like I said, I agree with this to a point, but if you go to the gym casually if you were to miss one day, you're not going to lose all of those sweet gains you've made or vice versa. You're not suddenly going to put all that weight you lost back on. If you do rest on your laurels a bit and decide not to go one day then it's important to make sure that you go for the next time, you've spent so long building that habit of going to the gym you don't want to have to go through it all again.

There are other ways to dealing with missing a workout, the easiest one is to just not worry about it. Don't start stressing and beating yourself up - if you wake up one morning and don't feel grande then it's probably best to make that decision yourself to not go to the gym - if you think the way your feeling will be alleviated by going to the gym then feel free to go and see how you feel. But there is no shame in missing a gym session. It happens all of the time to everyone.

Overtraining is real, and very common when you're beginning at the gym, you may jump straight into 5 days a week and I've seen people do it and I've seen people crash. It's not pretty and can lead to more time missed. If you don't listen to the warning signs from your body then this could happen to you. I guess the quote should be "A bad workout is one where you don't listen to your body" It's the best communicator out there and you should be mindful of your body and how it's responding the work that you're doing.

The main point is to not feel guilty, don't beat yourself up. Listen to your body and respond accordingly - also to have fun. Enjoy what you're doing and it'll be a lot easier down the line.

#beahero