You know those days when you plan to exercise but feel totally exhausted?
Of course you do. It’s a common dilemma these days.
So, what do you do?
Should you flex a bit of willpower and train? Or listen to your body and rest?
Listen or ignore?
We’re told to listen to our body, especially when it comes to exercise. If it’s telling you something’s not quite right then heed its advice, sort of thing.
But what about when you’re just plain old tired? Do you exercise or not?
It’s an important question to answer because many of us ask it frequently. We’re always tired. So, if we avoid exercise whenever we’re feeling tired then we’re unlikely to get our recommended quota.
The answer isn’t a simple, black and white one.
Sometimes it’s perfectly acceptable to ignore that fatigue and do some exercise. In fact, a dose of physical activity can be the perfect antidote. We can become energised and refreshed by a bit of movement.
Other times that fatigue is our body crying out for help and it’s best to avoid the strain of additional exercise. Ignoring it can lead to deeper exhaustion, illness or injury.
Given it’s a bit of a grey area, here are some strategies to help deal with this common dilemma.
Interpret your fatigue.
Nobody else can decide whether or not you’re too tired to train. Only you know how you feel.
But that’s not to say we’re all that good at knowing how we feel. We tend to just take tiredness at face value rather than being a little more discerning about it.
Is your tired, aching body caused by sitting in a chair all day, staring at a computer screen under fluorescent lights while breathing recycled air and using your brain furiously? Or is it the product of having already done more than enough exercise recently? Or having been sick? Or a major imbalance between work and rest?
Understanding the distinction between the different types of fatigue can help us make better decisions around exercise. We can also open up a dialogue with our body to help with this understanding.
We don’t have to just listen to our body. We can throw back a question in response. Through a combination of following its advice and ignoring it, we can learn to better interpret what it’s telling us.
You can’t figure it out on the couch.
In most cases, you won’t know the correct answer until you actually make a start.
When we’re in the midst of making the decision to train or pike, we’re doing it from a place of inactivity and fatigue. And this clouds our perspective and our decision. It can make exercise seem impossible and certain to leave us feeling much worse than when we started.
But how many times has the idea of exercising seemed like a physical impossibility but then you find the energy you need once you get going? And left you basking in the afterglow for the rest of the day?
To make a fairer decision, we also need to consider the chance that we’ll quickly leave that fatigue behind once we start exercising. And that you might feel a million times better.
If we just give it a go, there’s a good chance your body will rise to the occasion. And if it doesn’t, you won’t be left to wonder whether you made the right decision or regret not having tried.
Start and start small.
If you’re having one of those days where you’re feeling a little apathetic and lethargic then it’s more important than ever to start at a level that reflects this.
Firstly, planning to start off with something that’s doable will go a long way in getting you off the couch and out the door. Secondly, it invites the opportunity to test the waters and see where it goes. It’s the only way you can get a clearer picture to make a better decision.
If this modest workload proves too much, then maybe you are too tired to train. If it’s tolerable then you can carry on or even raise the bar a little.
Attempting to burst out of the blocks will only result in greater discomfort, cause you to discontinue and lead you to avoid even starting when confronted with the same situation in the future.
Be flexible.
I’m not talking about being a yogi with stretchy limbs. What we need is a flexible approach.
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. It’s not a decision between I’m tired and should go back to bed or I’m tired but have to suck it up and run a half marathon. There’s a whole lot of space in between.
We can compromise by getting creative.
So, you might have planned to do some specific workout that now seems like a stretch. Then do something different and less strenuous. Or modify it to reduce the workload. Walk instead of run. Train for 30 minutes rather than 60. If you’ve already pushed yourself to make start as planned but soon realise you’ve been a bit gung-ho then simply back it off a little. Try to compromise rather than quit.
But if all of that fails and you find you’re genuinely too tired to exercise, then there’s the answer – it’s time to stop. This is also flexibility.
Rest and recover.
You know how you can make that decision really easy? Get rid of the “am I too tired to train?” aspect by getting enough rest. Simple.
Of course, getting enough rest isn’t so simple. Feeling rested is a rare commodity these days. If that describes you, don’t feel guilty about skipping a session to find out if your body needs rest more than exercise.
As discussed previously, rest is an investment for your health and performance. You not only feel like avoiding exercise when you’re tired, you also don’t exercise as effectively.
So, in order to maintain a healthy exercise habit, you need to ensure you get enough sleep, eat well, stay hydrated and manage stress (both physical and mental) so that you have the energy to exercise.
