Thursday. Thursdays are always difficult workout days because the week is coming to a close, but it hasn't yet closed. One who exercises regularly will have started to feel the weight of a week's worth of exercises. The "eye of the tiger" starts to get droopy with fatigue, so to speak.
There are really two ways to approach this problem: capitulate, or double-down.
Capitulate
Many of us cannot help but capitulate when our inner voices reach a critical level of shrillness. At that point, the goal of one's workout is what we might call a "controlled fall."
Ask any stuntman how it is that he can fall down the stairs without suffering any kind of injury, and he will tell you all about the techniques required for a controlled fall. If one manages to relax one's body the right way and plan the fall so as to avoid the most dangerous aspects of falling down a staircase, one can easily fall down the stairs without suffering any injury at all.
When we work out, we can apply the same principle to days during which we would simply rather not get out there. An "uncontrolled fall" would be a situation in which you get home and just say, "Screw it. I'm not working out today." Then you crack open a beer and a bag of chips and float the rest of the day away.
But a controlled fall is when you accept the fact that you are not going to get a great workout in today, no matter how hard you try, and thus plan your workout accordingly. You might not break any personal records today, but as long as you do something, you will have done your body some good.
Thus, for you capitulators out there, your workout is as follows:
That's it. Don't push it, just accept defeat. Anyone can do 30 minutes of easy exercise, so just get your 30 minutes in, and then go home to your beer.
Double-Down
If you decide that the best way to overcome the voices in your head that are telling you take a day off is to hit your workout twice as hard and teach them a lesson of mind-over-matter, then you are a very brave soul, indeed.
For you hard-core double-downers, I have devised a special bonus Workout Of The Day:
There are really two ways to approach this problem: capitulate, or double-down.
Capitulate
Many of us cannot help but capitulate when our inner voices reach a critical level of shrillness. At that point, the goal of one's workout is what we might call a "controlled fall."
Ask any stuntman how it is that he can fall down the stairs without suffering any kind of injury, and he will tell you all about the techniques required for a controlled fall. If one manages to relax one's body the right way and plan the fall so as to avoid the most dangerous aspects of falling down a staircase, one can easily fall down the stairs without suffering any injury at all.
When we work out, we can apply the same principle to days during which we would simply rather not get out there. An "uncontrolled fall" would be a situation in which you get home and just say, "Screw it. I'm not working out today." Then you crack open a beer and a bag of chips and float the rest of the day away.
But a controlled fall is when you accept the fact that you are not going to get a great workout in today, no matter how hard you try, and thus plan your workout accordingly. You might not break any personal records today, but as long as you do something, you will have done your body some good.
Thus, for you capitulators out there, your workout is as follows:
- 30 minute easy run
That's it. Don't push it, just accept defeat. Anyone can do 30 minutes of easy exercise, so just get your 30 minutes in, and then go home to your beer.
Double-Down
If you decide that the best way to overcome the voices in your head that are telling you take a day off is to hit your workout twice as hard and teach them a lesson of mind-over-matter, then you are a very brave soul, indeed.
For you hard-core double-downers, I have devised a special bonus Workout Of The Day:
- 10 minute warm-up
- 10 x 400m hills
- 3-mile cool-down
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