Well, I had a good workout yesterday -- FBWO plus cardio. Two hours of challenging activity.
Today I planned to do a LBWO, then a spinning class, then a yoga class. That's what I did last Sunday and it was great. But... now I'm thinking I'll skip the strength training... and maybe just do some time on the elliptical instead of the spinning class... but definitely do yoga.
It sounds like you might be overdoing it. 2 hours of working out one day, followed by the routine you described (weights AND spinning AND yoga) ... that's a lot. Really a lot.
The thing is, the benefit to working out comes from when your body HEALS itself from the small muscle tears and stresses you've put on it, not from the actual work you do. If you work out really hard one day, you NEED to let your body rest and rebuild itself. You're not doing yourself any good to build damage upon damage. So if you do a hard workout on Saturday, why not just do a yoga class on Sunday and give your body some time to rebuild itself.
If you keep pushing yourself to do hours and hours a day, you will burn out.
The other thing is that you'll notice that most of the successful exercisers/losers here will tell you that it's not about "motivation". Motivation is fleeting - it takes commitment. It takes going when you're not motivated or when you don't want to. Just like paying bills or doing laundry or whatever ... I don't want to pay the bills, but I do cause I have to. Same with exercising. I don't always want to. I'm not always motivated. But I do it anyway - just because I have to.
Rest days scare me too... But I think Photochick is right about letting the muscles rebuild between workouts. But everytime I do a rest day, I fear losing motivation and getting "stuck on the couch," so to speak.
Back in 2002 I got motivated to work out by taking the Body For Life challenge. They promised me that if I worked out hard for twelve weeks, I'd look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Eventually, I did. But what they didn't tell me is that I'd be the sixty-year old edition.
Actually, I did pretty well for the first six weeks but leveled out. I'm positive my undoing was the "rest days". Every program has them. I understand them. PhotoChick is right. But I am not the type of person who does well with a day off. They all too easily lead to two days off, then three...
Don't believe me? I took a day off in November 2002.
I was planning to go to a 1/2 hr core class this morning, and then do free weights. I, too, had thoughts "maybe I can skip ...just today .... I have so much to do" (I am working on a translation that has to be handed in tomorrow morning and I really procrastinaced yesterday ... plus laundry .... cooking .... etc.).
Then I reminded myself that if I don't go, I will skip not only the core class but also the free weights, kicked myself in the behind and went.
If I didn't go, I would have spent the 'saved' time by reading - because when I have a book on the go, I cannot peel myself off.
But I did go and I am glad I did. Sometimes, one just has to really push oneself to do what needs to be done.
Today, I am taking a rest day. It wasn't necessarily planned, but since I'm in Texas for the summer and just started working out again after being on vacation for a week and a half, paired with the fact that I'm using different cardio equipment that puts stress on different muscle groups than the machines I'd been using at home, I need to take off more often. However, the reason I'm taking off is NOT because I don't want to go. It's because my calves/quads/glutes/hamstrings will barely allow me to go up the stairs today without groaning like a seventy year old man. I need a rest day. So, I look at it like this. I schedule exercise in my calendar for five times a week, when I'm in a normal routine. I make sure that I take off two days per week, but once those two days are over, I go back. If I have to take an extra day off because my body wasn't able to do the regularly scheduled programming because I'd upped the intensity/weight/etc., then that's fine. I just make sure that once I am physically able (not necessarily 100% unsore), I go back.
I think a lot of the taking one rest day and then not going back to the gym for ten thousand years after that is because of a perfectionist type mentality that comes from overworking yourself. I know that's the way it was for me... when I first started going to the gym in February of 2007, I walked an hour on the treadmill and did another hour of weights (alternating upper and lower body on different days). 5x a week. At 370 lbs. Then something, like spring break, came up, and I ended up not making it back for a month or two. Whoops. What had happened was that I *hated* working out because I was overdoing it and it seemed like such a daunting task (2 hours of my day! That's a big deal for someone who isn't a workout junkie!) and once I had taken a week off for spring break, I kept saying "Well, I've already taken a week off... a couple more days won't hurt." It's the same deal as the people who eat a piece of cake one day that was off plan and decide that the whole day is shot, might as well eat another piece, and another, and another... and before you know it, they gain everything back.
Last edited by LindseyLouWho; 06-08-2008 at 04:01 PM.
I'm doing alternating LBWO and UBWOs that the trainer gave me, and he also gave me 7 days of cardio. I was doing great at getting daily exercise before I met with the trainer, but now that I have work assigned... it's not as much fun! I know that's crazy. I paid for his expertise!
I think one thing that's boondoggling me is that, being used to cardio, I'm accustomed to leaving an exercise class or a session on the treadmill all tired out and soaking wet. I haven't yet wrapped my mind around the fact that lifting weights or doing body weight exercises is real work. I'm tired and sweaty after strength workouts, but not like after running or spinning.
I'm glad I took it easy today. Tomorrow, I will be ready for a good workout and will get more out of it.
I went to the beach today, because it was around 95 degrees. Anyway, despite the heat, the water was too cold to swim in (I'm in NYC... it was in the 70's-80's until Saturday). So all I did was lie on the sand all day and yet I am feeling SOOOOOO tired. And sweaty. And I just want to bathe and cool and not feel so gross anymore. I pushed and bullied myself into doing a 20-min. session of 30 Day Shred and I WANT to do some cardio, but it is SO hot and I'm exhausted. ... I actually napped a bit before doing the SHred, and I *NEVER* nap. I hate this feeling over lagging motivation! I think I am going to go shower because I cant tolerate feeling this sweaty and uncomfortable anymore. Now I start convincing myself to wake up at 6 tomorrow and work out like crazy before work.
Today's Motivation Dwindling
