listening to my body

[kyle64]

Today I just did not feel like working out, I felt guilty but my body just did not feel up to it so I did what a lot of the top body builders and power lifters advise and listened to my body.
There has been many occasions since I started working out again that I just had to workout regardless how I felt. 3 months ago I was down with the flu and I still workedout but I think it is taking the fun out of it, after all for me it is about toning my body and not about winning any titles at anything nor is it a job, it has to be fun.
How do others feel about listening to their bodies and just simply not working out on such days?

 

[MyK]

YouTube Video

 

[Scarface30]

Listening to your body is the best thing you can do. It knows when you shouldn't be stressing yourself out... it knows.

 

[kyle64]

YouTube Video

YouTube Video

 

[MyK]

YouTube Video

lmao!!!

 

[sassy69]

Its your body telling you it needs a break. Sometimes I just know its better if I get to the gym, suck it up and work thru it, but other times I've just packed up & gone home because I knew something was going to get injured or I was going to be overtraining.

 

[ceazur]

Me, being a hard headed young man, think I'm being lazy if I don't get out there and lift for a measly 45 Minutes. I too get those days, where I just don't want to lift ,but I figure it's laziness so I make myself lift for 1:15 in hopes that the next time my bodies knows better then to try to bitch up.

 

[kyle64]

It is not so much laziness in my case but more of my body hurting from the day before and feeling lethargic, yesterday I had a feeling I would injure myself if I worked out.
Today I am ready to do a solid workout and it will be fun!

 

[Phineas]

Good for you for listening to your body and deciding to fight another day. It's always a wise decision.

Even if you were okay to workout it's better to be safe than sorry. The muscle and weights will be there 2 days later.

Though it's dissappointing to miss a workout, especially when you went all the way to the gym and then during warmup decided to cut loose, I see it as a very positive experience for the psychological side of BB'ing. BB'ing is very addicting, and many lifters, serious and casual, are unable to say no and leave the gym. I think being able to take a step back and look at yourself objective (which is crucial in the sport, anyway) says a lot about your future in the sport.

And, like you just said in your previous post, you come back hungrier than ever and feeling very fresh.

 

[ceazur]

It is not so much laziness in my case but more of my body hurting from the day before and feeling lethargic, yesterday I had a feeling I would injure myself if I worked out.
Today I am ready to do a solid workout and it will be fun!

And in NO way was I calling you lazy. I was referring to myself thinking it was laziness making me think I didn't need to lift.

 

[CaptainNapalm]

Today I just did not feel like working out, I felt guilty but my body just did not feel up to it so I did what a lot of the top body builders and power lifters advise and listened to my body.
There has been many occasions since I started working out again that I just had to workout regardless how I felt. 3 months ago I was down with the flu and I still workedout but I think it is taking the fun out of it, after all for me it is about toning my body and not about winning any titles at anything nor is it a job, it has to be fun.
How do others feel about listening to their bodies and just simply not working out on such days?

Listening to your body is great, but be careful not to misinterpret a lazy mind with a lazy body. A mind is a powerful tool and can trick you to believe that you really shouldn't be working out by sending lazy signals to your body. Ultimately, you can fall into a habit of cutting yourself short on your workout goals by skipping workouts that you otherwise would be able to execute with ease.

To give you a practical example, about 6 months ago I went through a 2 month phase where I truly believed that my body was telling me not to work out on certain random days. As a result, I started missing workouts and eventually I was skipping nearly every second workout. So one day I opposed "listening to my body" and started forcing myself to do these workouts and turns out that once I got to the gym I really had a fantastic workout and it was laziness kicking in rather. I think my mind was tricking my body to believe that I can't workout because I was plainly put being lazy. Not saying this is the case with you but just for your thought and consideration

 

[kyle64]

Overall I am a very motivated person, running my own business makes me as such. I can see your point about the mind playing tricks, it tries to do that to me when we have whiteouts and I have to drive to one of my stores that are over 100 miles away but I still put my big boy shorts on and go for it. With lifting weights I am doing my best not to get injured again. When I was 29 I injured the muscles in my upper pectoral major near my deltoids and it pretty much put me out to pasture for a long time which in turn caused me to become fat. Since returning to weight lifting 4 months ago I have not had any pains at all in that area and due to my age I am being extra careful so I feel listening to my body is extremely important to avoid further upsets.