You know the drill...up early, full day at work, ran an errand or two after work, home, dinner, laundry, dishes, homework...it is 9 pm and stuff is finally all done.

Most days I have the oomph to still go and work out for an hour or better, but I'm not sure if I have it in me tonight. I'm going to rest quietly for 20 minutes or so and see if I rebound enough to get it done. If not, I think I will assume that my body needs the rest and let it go.

Still the guilt kicks in - it'll be the first one I've missed in several weeks.

Doing something is better than doing nothing, I think. It might be on the gentler side, but at least then you've added that one extra step into forming a good habit

On one hand, it's okay to not exercise every single day. Your body needs rest here and there. I try to do 3 days on, 1 day off and cycle through that.

On the other hand, the exercise could help after a long day. I sleep so much better when I exercise, especially in the evening before bed. Usually when I've had a busy day like the one above, my mind is racing like crazy and it's hard to fall asleep. The exercise calms me down and clears my head. Then, the next day I feel soooo much better than if I had just laid down on the couch for that hour.

I like to DVR my favorite shows and then exercise to the shows - bike, treadmill, eliptical, whatever. It takes my mind off of the workout (I set speed "rules") and the time goes by so fast. The show ends and viola' - I have an hour of exercise in.

Try the 5 minute rule - put your exercise clothes on, start the workout and get 5 minutes into it. If you are still zonked and exhuasted and not there mentally (and it "could" be a rest day), go ahead and stop. So often, it's inertia that keeps us from working out. It's that s-t-r-o-n-g pull on us to keep sitting on the couch. Once we get up, we're fine. But man can it be hard to get up. And my head is soooo good at coming up with rationalizations to keep me on the couch. This is where the 5 min rule can help.

Regardless of what you decide, don't let yourself feel guilty! Guilt tends to hang around and destroy us later.

I've been trying to do gentle stretches and very low key stuff when I'm too tired. Sometimes, doing that is enough to get me to keep going and kick it up into a regular, if briefer than usual, workout. Sometimes, it's not, and I just need to concede that I am too tired and need the rest. But I figure that no matter what, a bit of stretching is always good for me and feels good too.

I lost the battle last night. Lay down with a book to chill for a few minutes before trying to do at least a minimal workout, and the next thing I knew it was morning.

Should be good for working out today - dinner is already done and I haven't any errands to run after work.

Thank you, all...I very much appreciate the moral support, even when I don't quite get where I need to be.

Well, call me a heretic, but I say if you're really tired you should go to bed.

Sometimes you just need a break!!

I did well today - plenty of cardio and a little strength - and none the worse for wear. Go figure!