What are your personal indicators to NOT hit the gym?

[ensea12]

I have a bad habit of trying to push myself when maybe I shouldn’t, and am trying to get better about skipping the gym when my bodies telling me I need an extra rest day, but it’s hard to separate that feeling from regular old laziness

How do y’all tell the difference?

 

[terasee]

@ensea12 Really poor sleep

 

[piecebypeace]

@terasee This and a weak grip.

 

[earthwatcher]

@terasee Racing heart rate at night is my indicator of overtraining

 

[dbakerman76]

@earthwatcher 100%. I know I'm over trained if my HR is 10ish BPM above my usual resting and doesnt dip low through sleep.

 

[hakoa]

@terasee Same if you know you're not going to get enough sleep after the workout. Late night/early morning/having a few drinks, don't lift, you won't recover the same way.

 

[imnotjokingwellnotmostly]

@ensea12 I mean if you’re feeling really run down, lethargic, aches not just DOMs you probably need a day. Are there days where you’re going to have to drag yourself to the gym yea maybe, but there’s a difference between shit I don’t want to get out of bed and fuck I can’t get out of bed lol

 

[ktores]

@imnotjokingwellnotmostly Yeah you need a day

A leg day

Fucking do it, don't let your dreams be dreams

But in all seriousness you can work through doms, capacity to recover and work capacity increase with training. If you're injured keep the work light but let's be honest nobody is getting proper injured and unsure of it

 

[ensea12]

@ktores Cant spell Legendary without Leg da y

but yeah, it’s less about doms and more about I don’t want to push myself through a routine just to feel like shit the rest of the day and then feel like I’m playing catch up the rest of the week. Or hurt my wrist again. That shit sucked lol

 

[alex31]

@ktores This is such dangerous incorrect advice. (Aside from the obvious, that people rearly are injured and unaware fairly often). Tweaks that genuinely are not injuries at first, become them when they aren't given time to heal. When the same workouts that push those tweaks into something bigger would have been fine after an extra day of rest to let your body handle the issue.

I would argue Most injuries are the result of an accumulation of events not a single event. There may be a single noticeable mistep or day of pushing too hard that stabds out, but injuries are usually happening because of already weakened or poorly rested tendons and ligaments.

 

[dawn16]

@alex31 I just love grammar

 

[ktores]

@dawn16 our boys got an injury

a brain injury

 

[ilovejesus123]

@imnotjokingwellnotmostly This is a great answer. If I’m not really feeling it, I’ll force myself to go and at least try my stretch routine. There have been times where my workout is absolutely amazing right afterwards, but there have also been times where I get two minutes into stretching and go, “nope” because I just am physically unable that day.

 

[imnotjokingwellnotmostly]

@ilovejesus123 Stretching it out and seeing how you feel is a great way to go about it

 

[danielcraigsuper]

@ensea12 Pain, I try not to skip a workout because the hardest part for me is getting into the gym but if I start feeling any pain that isn’t that burning feeling or muscle stretching I’ll stop the workout and do cardio or go home

 

[copticlife112]

@danielcraigsuper This happened to me yesterday. Push day. I started with a warm up on DB bench and half way through the warm up with 70 lbs. the tendon in my front shoulder I injured a couple years back started acting up. I just did all isolation moves and some cardio and went home.

 

[jeandemetz]

@ensea12 When I start to get sick of being at the gym and dread my workouts, I know it’s usually time to take a deload

In general just not recovering and feeling excessive DOMS that doesn’t resolve by the next time I have to use the same muscle group

 

[faithvision]

@ensea12 Man if my body is just telling me after work to take a nap instead of lifting I just listen to my body these days. A day ain’t making a difference once every month or so

 

[copticlife112]

@faithvision Exactly, but pushing yourself and getting injured can set you back months.

 

[pinetowntree]

@ensea12 I plan out recovery and rest times that work for me ahead of time.

If I’m feeling crappy, I go to the gym and adjust the load/reps/volume as needed. Often I feel crappy before the gym and I’m fine once I warm up.