Hi. It's Laura.
There are at least two schools of thought on missing workouts.
The first is that you should try to make up the session. The second is that your body needs some rest and you can come back stronger from a rest. I happen to agree with both and having missed my Monday workout, I am now struggling with where to fit it in.
You may have heard that I am training for my first Triathlon and for reasons I will not discuss here, I missed my Monday swim. Now I have to figure out where to stick my 2.5 hour bike ride that was supposed to happen today but did not because I swam today. I need to stick it somewhere else. Oh what to do?
Normally this would not be a big deal but the weather forecast is not cooperating either. I still have a 75 minute run and at least 1 strength training session to squeeze in before Thursday. Why Thursday? Because this is the real list is of workouts this week:
· 1300 meter swim
· 135 minute bike ride
· 75 minute run
· 2 strength training sessions
· 900 meter swim
· 30 minute run
· A brick.
Ugh. Not to mention all the other things that goes on in life: social obligations, work, sleep...
As soon as I can find some space in my schedule, I will get them in. With less than a month to go, I cannot afford to miss any of them.
But what to do if you miss a workout and you’re not training for an event?
According to a UK study, if you skip a gym session this week, the likelihood of you skipping one next week as well is 61%. You may want to think about that the next time you want to skip your daily workout.
If the guilt is killing you, you can do a double session. Cardio in the morning and strength in the evening. But I bet your schedule really doesn't allow for that. If you a regular morning exerciser your evenings are probably already full. If you are an evening exerciser, I bet you are not a morning person and a morning workout might kill you. (It won't but this is not that blog.) However, you already have a full evening scheduled of course.
Personally, I am not a fan of the double session. I work out hard and I know that if I have to do a double session then I will intentionally drop the intensity of both workouts. So although I have done double sessions, I am not getting the same benefit had I not skipped a workout.
Again if you are a regular exerciser, a day of rest will probably do you good. I know after a rest from any activity I come back stronger. My swim today was great. I had not stopped working out; I have just been changing things everyday so I am not swimming every single day.
If you find that you are skipping workouts regularly, you need to make a plan to get them in.
The AHA recommends at least 30 minutes a day of cardio most days of the week.
First things first. Look at your calendar and pick three days & times that you absolutely know that you can get in a half hour of cardio every single week. Schedule it, like you would schedule a doctor's appointment or a meeting. It does not have to be the same time during the week. Example Monday's 5pm, Wednesday lunch time, Friday 6:30 am.
I have a client that has a crazy schedule. I know, with her commute, she does not have the time to go to the gym in the morning during the week. So we devised a plan. Before she gets in the shower in the morning, she owes herself 10 minutes of jumping rope or jumping jacks or a combo of both. Her job requires her to walk a lot during the day. We count that towards her cardio. Then at night, when she gets home and starts her evening "stuff", she owes 10 more minutes of the same morning cardio. Two days a week, she owes a10 minute strength training session and it is her choice to do in the morning or the evening. It must get done and only two times per week.
Finding the time to get in your exercise is not as difficult as you think. You just need to be committed to getting in and stop making excuses for not doing it. Just because you don't like to go to the gym at a certain time of day is not a good enough excuse for not getting it done.
Play hard!
Laura
No comments:
Post a Comment