Not So Sweaty Saturday

Yesterday, I decided to treat myself by not going to the gym. To be honest, I didn’t really need a second rest day last week - my legs were a little sore but I could have easily survived a BodyPump class no problem. Yet after a hectic week, I was in the mood for a quiet morning and since I’d already had a pretty active week, I figured I could take the day off.

The funny thing is, I talked myself out of skipping Tuesday morning’s workout, even though I was extremely busy and stressed out, but I was cool with taking yesterday off, even though I had all the time in the world to go to the gym. I guess I just don’t like my workout schedule to be dictated by external circumstances; if I decide to miss a workout, I like it to be on my own terms based on whether or not I have the desire to exercise that day. In other words, ask me why I missed a workout, and I’ll likely say “because I didn’t feel like it” rather than “I was too busy.”

See, like I said in Tuesday’s post, I don’t really buy the “too busy” excuse. I think if you really, really want to do something, you’ll find the time to do it. On Tuesday, I really wanted to get in a workout (I had a lot of pent-up stress to release) so I set my alarm extra early to get it done. I hate early morning workouts but I knew it would be the only time I had that day, so I got my behind out of bed even though the pleasure-seeking side of my brain was begging me to sleep in.

I did the same thing on Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon – squeezed in workouts at less than convenient times because I really wanted to feel the benefits of physical activity.

Yesterday, however, the desire to exercise just wasn’t there. So instead of making up a lame excuse about why I didn’t get to the gym, I’m gonna own the fact that I just didn’t want to go. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Sometimes I have these little panic attacks, like what if I never want to go again? Is this the beginning of my descent into couch potatodom? This irrational mindset makes sense in light of my old approach to exercise - I used to force myself to go every single day unless it was a scheduled rest day. For the past couple of months, however, I’ve been taking a more laid back approach to exercise and giving myself permission to skip a workout if I really don’t want to do it. And you know what always happens? Whenever I make a conscious decision not to exercise, I’m always raring to go the next day.

Sometimes I need to remind myself that I actually like working out so there’s no need to force myself to do it all the time; in fact, it’s probably a bad idea to make myself go when I don’t want to because it will just wear me out and make me resent healthy living. If I continue to go based on when I actually want to go, I’ll still keep up a highly active lifestyle. I’ll only start to worry about it if it gets to a point where I don’t feel like going for a long stretch of time.

So even though I had a less than sweaty Saturday, I’ll still celebrate Sweat It Out Saturday (even though I’m late ) with a review of last week’s workouts:

Sunday – BodyPump Express / CXWORX
Monday – Rest
Tuesday – RPM
Wednesday – Power Sweat 60
Thursday – 5 kilometre run
Friday – Power Sweat 75
Saturday – Rest

Do you ever skip a workout because you just don’t feel like going? Do you feel guilty about it after?