Funny thing this week. Went out to lift on Tuesday after
a day of not feeling 100% pretty much all day long. Wasn’t expecting a really good session. Kicked ass and took names. Probably had a top 5 effort on all lifts. Went out today after a totally awesome day, feeling great, Flat as hell and struggled seriously. Finished the routine, but
had to reduce volume and poundage to get there. I can’t really pinpoint any diet, sleep, or stress differences.
Not upset by it or stressed over it. Ups and downs happen but I thought it was strange to feel like crap and knock it out of the park and a couple of days later feel great and barely get it out of the infield.
Yeah, it happens. Read some of Dan John’s articles, he talks about that a lot. Seems like there is no way to know how things are going to turn out till you get under the bar.
That’s why you should never miss a scheduled workout. Sometimes people don’t feel 100% and skip working out. You should always push yourself to workout. Sometimes, just like what happened to you, you end up having a great workout.
im skipping a workout today because i tweaked my lower back doing a PR on back squats and clean pulls wednesday. it’s happened before and heals in 2 or 3 days. also my wrist is badly sprained. any i have torn calluses… and a hurty knee
[quote]drjoe wrote:
That’s why you should never miss a scheduled workout. Sometimes people don’t feel 100% and skip working out. You should always push yourself to workout. Sometimes, just like what happened to you, you end up having a great workout. [/quote]
It isn’t that simple and the guy who doesn’t ever listen to his body will end up with an injury that could sideline everything else. We have all had days like that. I still base most of my decisions as far as when to work a body part on “pain” or the level of discomfort. Obviously, this is something a newbie would have a hard time identifying. The longer you are in this, the better you understand your true limits and whether you are getting close to them regardless of energy levels.
[quote]drjoe wrote:
That’s why you should never miss a scheduled workout. Sometimes people don’t feel 100% and skip working out. You should always push yourself to workout. Sometimes, just like what happened to you, you end up having a great workout. [/quote]
Good point.
I’ve had this happen to me before…last week I had my max effort lift and didn’t think I was going to do well. I went in with a negative attitude, but ended up hitting all my goals. Yesterday, I had my repetitive upper body day and was expecting to do very well since I hit all my targets on my max lifts…so I was going in with a positive attitude…and ended up not doing as well as I hoped. I think the problem is that sometimes our expectations are too high when we’re feeling good. When you’re negative you think you won’t do anything right and then when you hit your targets it’s even that much better. However, if you feel positive and think you’ll own the gym that day you might still do relatively well, but you built your expectations so high that even a good workout ends up looking just okay.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
drjoe wrote:
That’s why you should never miss a scheduled workout. Sometimes people don’t feel 100% and skip working out. You should always push yourself to workout. Sometimes, just like what happened to you, you end up having a great workout.
It isn’t that simple and the guy who doesn’t ever listen to his body will end up with an injury that could sideline everything else. We have all had days like that. I still base most of my decisions as far as when to work a body part on “pain” or the level of discomfort. Obviously, this is something a newbie would have a hard time identifying. The longer you are in this, the better you understand your true limits and whether you are getting close to them regardless of energy levels.[/quote]
I think he was talking more “mentally”. Yeah, if you’re injured that’s another story all together.
[quote]drjoe wrote:
That’s why you should never miss a scheduled workout. Sometimes people don’t feel 100% and skip working out. You should always push yourself to workout. Sometimes, just like what happened to you, you end up having a great workout. [/quote]
I would (try to) never miss showing up for a scheduled workout, but if I just can’t seem to add any weight to the bar/reps to my sets, or if my back or wrist don’t seem up to the task (as in, I’m worried about exacerbating an injury as opposed to a little discomfort), then I’ll bounce without hesitation.
I will agree that how you feel going in and how you feel when you’re under the iron can be two completely different stories, but if I can’t go at least a little bit harder or perform a little bit better than my last workout, I figure I’m wasting my time.
I’ve had a couple days like this where I didn’t feel so hot and figured I’d back off some that day and wound up cruisin after a few cautionary sets and getting warmed up all the way. Unless I was actually sick, like with the flu or something or had a definite injury I doubt I would ever skip a workout altogether, but you do have to use your head.
It makes no sense to push yourself if for some flesh and blood human reason you’re just not up to it that day. On the other hand if you find yourself making excuses because you just don’t feel like training it won’t be long before that I don’t feel so hot day or week turns into a year.