The hardest days to work out on are those days when you have the whole day free.
The busier you are, it seems it’s actually more probable that you will get your workout in. You’re already in that action mindset. You are moving forward, and you have inertia on your side.
This is especially true in my case since the workouts only take 15 minutes, and I work from home AND do my workouts at home.
But to be perfectly realistic and honest, there are a % of days where you just do not feel like it. You feel very low in energy and have zero motivation.
THOSE are the days you take off!
Instead of forcing a near impossible fit, you simply use the low days as your body’s rest days. You have to take the occasional rest anyway, physiologically. So why not rest of the days your workouts would be least enjoyable?
Now it is also the case that you might have too many “low” days. You would be teetering on the edge of losing your workout consistency if you gave in completely to those days. Let me give you the solution…
You will give yourself permission for a “light” day. Instead of doing your normal workout, you are going to use less weight, or less reps. Let’s say usually your workout calls for 20 bodyweight squats. Well, on this light day you only do 10. Let’s say you can usually get 12-15 shoulder presses. On this light day, you’re just going to do 8. Or maybe 5 or 6.
The important thing is: you’re going through the motions.
Usually that phrase means something negative, but when it comes to your workout consistency it is a vital part of it. All working out is is going through the motions. You show up, you do the thing. Day after day. You’re trying to get that “small win” that can go on your calendar that tracks your workout consistency. All these small wins add up.
You can see from the above how most people fall off track and conversely how we handle those issues in this workout system.
Instead of giving up when you feel low, you simply use that as a rest day.
Instead of letting rest days get the better of you, you substitute a “light day” instead of doing nothing.
This keeps you in the game. You are NOT losing your workout consistency. You are NOT letting yourself down. You are NOT allowing your body (results) to unwind and lose your progress. No, you’re in the game. Permanently.
The number of exercise days per week you want to strive for is usually 5 or 6.
You pretty much strive for 7, but you know in advance that it might not be possible. So you’re “satisfied” with 5 or 6. And the reason we have such a high frequency of exercise on our system is because each workout is not totally fatiguing your body, and the total workload is small. Hence we can be more frequent.
You will find your own best frequency. If you are going really light, it could be 7 days per week. If you are lifting heavy enough that you feel a daily routine is too much, you accommodate when best suits you.
Think of your body as a car and your exercise as the gas pedal. You are in control with how much you throttle the engine, and can increase or decrease your exercise load and frequency as you see fit based on the terrain ahead.
Doing it this way is far superior than not knowing how hard to push, pushing it hard at all the wrong times, and burning yourself out and falling out of habit with your exercise.
