What do you do when you miss a workout?

[mdhess]

Just wondering what people typically do, and if there is a recommended way of doing this... if you are doing a program that has different workouts depending on days of the week, and miss days, do you continue on to the next workout? Try to catch up the following weeks?

Example scenario: I'm doing PHUL where Monday is my day 1, something like:

normal schedule

Let's say I go out of town on Friday, and absolutely can't make it to the gym until the following Tuesday:

out of town

On Tuesday do I:

- Skip the missed workouts (lower hypertrophy last week and upper power this week). Continue with normal schedule (Day 2 lower power)

skip 2 workouts

- Do my missed day 5 workout on Tuesday. Rest 2 days and Friday is now my new day 1

Friday is day 1 now

- Do my missed day 5 workout on Tuesday, then rest the remaining days this week, to make the following Monday day 1 again.

Treat as deload?

Does any of this make sense? For the most part when I miss days it's usually 1 day, and I can catch up by shuffling around rest days, but just wondering what others have done.

 

[jkeati4]

@mdhess In this scenario I would just do Tuesdays workout, and then continue on as normal. Basically skip the 2 I missed and don’t look back.

If I miss just one day, I’ll just move a rest day and adjust for that week. This happens to me a lot with work. But if I miss half a week, I just resume in where I would normally be.

 

[calvinabume]

@mdhess Don't over complicate it. Your not a pro athlete. Miss one and move on with the next. Your not training for the Olympics you'll be just fine.

 

[hugosilva]

@mdhess If I miss days I just pick up where I left off.

If I miss weeks, I usually do a week of lower intensity but more volume to rebuild work capacity and go through the usual DOMs and then taper volume down to where I must resume (while increasing the intensity).

 

[matt007]

@mdhess I face this pretty often and I don’t think there is a bad way to go about it. When do you program your deload?

 

[mdhess]

@matt007 I did one in week 6, where I reduced weights by ~50% for upper body days, and actually ended up skipping both lower body days that week. I could be wrong but it seems PHUL doesn't have built-in deload weeks, and week 6 just felt right based on how I was feeling that week.

 

[kapjsp]

@mdhess dont sweat it it and over think it. doing any form of fitness and as often as you are able is better than doing nothing. miss a day? just pick up where you left off.

 

[mdhess]

@kapjsp haha I agree I'm probably overthinking this... I just wanted to see what other people do in these situations.

 

[alanstranger1]

@mdhess Remember I'm not a bodybuilder or fitness professional so I'll just go with the scheduled routine

 

[believerwithquestions]

@mdhess I just throw away the concept of week time frames and just do the next day when I get to it. So not a missed workout but a delayed one.

 

[toolforwhat]

@mdhess If I'm using a plan or app then the missed days just get missed. The next time back in the gym I just do the workout for that day and move on with life. Don't overthink, just get back on the path.

 

[swordland]

@mdhess I’m an every other day lifter, so I’ll just pick up where I left off. If you’re in a program that has predetermined percentages of your 1rm, I’d probably do the previous week again, or just rest until the weekday I missed (with some additional cardio days thrown in… maybe some speed work on barbell exercises).

 

[luis729]

@mdhess I keep my workout schedule kind of simple, so if something comes up, I can skip it or do it the next day, no worries. I am not a professional athlete so there is no real need to pretend I will lose my job if I miss a workout or have to combine the big lifts from two into one workout.

 

[elishiva]

@mdhess Recommend numbering or lettering your workouts (A, B, C, etc.) makes tracking more simple.

Mine are structured 1-6, an upper/lower split broke out by barbells and dumbbells days across three phases. The program itself is maps split. I’ve also done 5/3/1, bill star 5x5, and others. The phases are broke out by their rep schemes (strength, mass, hypertrophy)

I track this via a spreadsheet where I’ve made formulas for my set intervals and tonnage calculations. Essentially it’s just raw estimates for my working sets. I don’t count warmup sets. Actually the 5x5 spreadsheet served as the template for mine with some minor adjustments.

If I miss a day, I just do the number I missed. If it’s a couple days I may re start on the heavy barbell day vice the dumbbell day as I’m fully rested. If i take an extended break, it’s restart slowly, re determine my maxes that, redetermine my estimates.

It’s a constant lift and reevaluate cycle.

 

[itjesus]

@mdhess For me I will decide if I want one or two days of rest on how I am feeling. Feeling well just next day starts day 1. Not the best next day is just the next workout, personally.

 

[theodorus700]

@mdhess It depends. If something comes up, I'll try to swap my workout day with a rest day. (Ex. If something comes up on Friday when I'd normally workout, I'll try to do that workout on Sat or Sun instead.)

However, if skipping the workout is completely unavoidable, I'll just take the ego hit, miss it, and move on with my training plan as per usual - as if it had been completed.

I just finished a 3 month marathon training cycle. And while the days when I had no choice but to miss a workout felt catastrophic, when I take a look at it from a high level - I only missed around 4/78 workouts from those 3 months. Those 4 days clearly did not make or break my performance lol.

 

[dowthut]

@mdhess Pick up where I left off. Missing 1-2 days isn't a big deal, it's when you get lazy and let it spiral into 3-4 or a week. You can also try to just do some random stuff while you're out of town to mimic some of your workout. People think I'm weird, but I always throw a couple bands and my push up handles in my travel bag when I go on vacation, lol.

 

[urbanredneck]

@mdhess Do an Adidas one or play COD online and exercise during the breaks.

 

[pansantamiko]

@mdhess I usually like to stretch the one missed workout into a whole week and then struggle to get back on schedule for a month or so.

But that's just me, you gotta do what works for you

 

[dawn16]

@mdhess Just skip it. It’s not gonna make any difference. I would skip it because it’s easier than messing up your whole future schedule.

I only have two different workouts and I do them on random days haha so I never have this issue, I just go back & forth between the two. But, You could also add the missed workout to the next one, or do it on the rest day.