Train Often:
You can workout every day — you just can’t go hard and heavy 5-7 days per week (like some do) and expect to make progress. If you do want to train daily, vary the volume (how much you do) and the intensity (percentage of your max). If you’re going for heavy lifts, do less. If you’re gong to be in the gym for a couple of hours (some do), lower the intensity. Aside: There are freaks out there (I mean that in the most respectful way) that can handle way more than others. Some folks are so messed up that a low amount of volume and intensity will push them over the edge.
When your body is put under stress, its first priority is always to recover.
Train Fresh:
It’s more than time spent training. You may be going through stress at home, at work or school, or a number of other things that put you in that “over-stressed” zone. That’s an ugly place, and if life has you there, know it for what it is and dial down the workout, make sure you’re eating enough, drinking plenty of water, and try to get enough sleep. Many times it’s all this “life stuff” that cause “overtraining”– sometimes we call it “over-living.” Even when we get to that point of total exhaustion, don’t stop moving! Go for a walk. Get to the gym and pick a few exercises, cut your normal workload in half — you’ll feel better just doing knowing you did something. Go to the park and climb on the playground…yep, just like the kids. Play is a good thing, a distraction from “real” work and responsibilities, says Stuart Brown, MD. He also says how Play is fun, and is anything but trivial. It is a basic biological drive as integral to our health as sleep or nutrition.
The time out doors, in the gym moving, lifting, and doing what you do to improve health, should do just that. Check yourself, your life, your training and make sure your goals and life are in alignment. Are you feeling fresh and ready for your next workout? Are you continuing to make progress? If you’re not, maybe a small tweak will get you back on track — let us know how we can help.
If you’ve experienced “over-living” and can share some of the tools that helped bring you back to living, thriving and enjoying life, let us know.
Have a Great Week!
JT
One Comment
I’ve been “over-living” a lot lately, as we are rolling out our huge 2-year project to another round of clients every week. Last week, that meant being up for 28 hours straight. Same thing again next week until July brings a close to it. I felt just horrible all week from that, including numbness from my lower back through both legs. Short little walks with my daughter left me feeling better. Three nights after the long day, a short 15 minute workout of swiing kettlebells, squats with the KB, and some push-ups left me feeling worlds better. Life makes incredible and unhealthy demands sometimes, and, for me, the workout should be a healing, life-giving thing–not one more ruthless taskmaster.
Totally agree that it is important to do some moving every day, and not give into the feeling that you don’t want to move. at. all. I find the key to that is reminding myself that a 15 minute walk will not drain me further, but only heal. And to remind myself that the Perfect is the Enemy of the Good.