How do you treat a day where you are too exhausted to work out?

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#1

I don’t mean my typical “I don’t want to go to the gym, I want to play on my computer/watch tv/ whatever” feeling that I just have to get through. My job is physical (sometimes. Too often and not enough at the same time). Tonight I was supposed to do 45 minutes of cardio after work. I was so physically exhausted after work this evening, I had a hard time getting in and out of my car. I thought to myself, “Well, I just need some food and hydration, then I can go work out”. During dinner I felt like it was taking all my effort just to stay awake and eat.

When that happens (Meaning, I hope I am not the only one this happens to) do you count the day as a “speedbump” where you are off the wagon and need to get back on? Do you count the day as a workout? I have found that if I do that, I will be Captain Lazy-pants for the next week (Oh that day was hard too, score. Another workout completed). Do you try to “make up” the workout later? Or do you just say “well, I guess this week I only get three workout days instead of four”?

Thanks for this forum. If this has been asked before, could someone link me the thread.
Thanks
James

#2

I work out in the mornings (well, evenings, but I work 3rd shift so they’re my mornings) right before my shower. I do it every other weekday, 3 days a week.

Sometimes I’m too tired to work out, usually when I didn’t get a good night’s (day’s) sleep. This happens maybe 1-2 times a month. If I just can’t get myself to work out, I just take that “day” off and do my workout the next day - which would have been a day off anyway. I then shift whatever workouts are left for the week one day so I’m never working out two days in a row. Then come Monday, I’m back to doing my workouts M-W-F.

You do 4 workouts a week, so you don’t have that extra day on the weekends to shift into. However, you must be used to working out two days in a row once a week, so you could just do that more often until you’ve caught up.

#3

There have been a couple times when I’ve felt too tired to work out, and I don’t try and force myself. What I will do is try and go to the gym the very next day, even if it’s only for fifteen or twenty minutes and do something. Get on the elliptical, lift some light weights, or whatever. I have fallen out of the habit of going to the gym a few times, so I try and avoid that as much as possible. I figure that as long as I’m still going, even if I’m not getting in a hard workout, I can always ramp up later.