Do you actually listen to your body?

[Alex Burden]

I was wondering how many of you actually listen to your body!

For example will you change your programming the day after if you are tired?
Will you take it easy if you had a tough day yesterday and are a little muscle fatigued in some spots today?
If you don't feel 100% focused will you change things?

Where do you not listen and are you ready to adjust your programming or will you just grind through whatever you have planned and hope for the best?

[Jason A Smith]

Rarely will i change stuff. For example, this morning i had to do 10 sets of rowing sprints. It was one of those things that I for sure did not feel like doing, but did it anyways and then it was done.

I think most of the time people are doing that (90%+) they are looking for a mental escape from the grinds of training and may or may not have an end goal in sight. Now, if you legitimately get hurt then that is a different story. I believe working around an actual injury is something that should be done. But just minor soreness.....no. I am very careful about my low back though and always er on the side of caution when squatting and deadlifting. I will also belt up pretty regularly.

If you have someone programming for you or you are following a program (a good one) there are adaptations your body will only make based on doing things as prescribed. I would venture to say that people who cannot keep up with what is being prescribed likely are doing somehting they are not ready for or are not committed to. You will see this a lot on various blogs (Invictus and Comp Train come to mind) where people are following that necessarily (based on a number of factors) would be better off with less intensity/volume/load/difficulty in movements but still choose to do it.

[Ludovic Deguy]

How you feel outside of the gym is often a poor indication of what you will be able to do on a given day.
For a day when I feel very sore, I always wait until after my warm-up to decide if I need to back off or not. And most of the time at the end of my warm-up I feel totally fine to train hard.

Is is not rare for me to beat PRs whereas I was feeling very low energy all day long before my training.

As long as you are not injured and your performances keep improving on the long run, backing off your training intensity or volume is often just being lazy.

[Shawn M Wilson]

I think the importance of keeping a log book helps here also if you document more than just reps and weight.

Nothing better than looking back and seeing a day with PRs started off feeling like junk and ended in a great gym day

That said as I've mentioned in other posts, when the weight is on the bar and my body just can't seem to move it as fast or as much I'll back off weight or switch movements.

Yesterday one of the girls at my box was cherry picking with me and she was doing squats and not having a good day. She was frustrated and upset at how she couldn't move weight she normally could.

I showed her the day last month for me when I got buried multiple times at 365 and 385 vs hitting my usual 445. I also could then point the other days I hit that 425, 435 and the PR days on my front squat.

I reminded her we have bad days, to move weight anyways and not to get to caught up on them.

As far as metcons I'll cut them short when my HR and body crash. Some days I just hit the cap and that is all there is.

[Richard Colon]

Originally Posted by Ludovic Deguy

As long as you are not injured and your performances keep improving on the long run, backing off your training intensity or volume is often just being lazy.

In my opinion, this right here could completely end all talk/discussion about rest, recovery, off days, deloads, overtraining, undereating, under sleeping, over stressing, lack of motivation, no longer inspired, changing goals, grass is greener, switching programs, determination, focus, discipline, etc.

Extremely well said and 100% true. Period.

[Robert D Taylor Jr]

Originally Posted by Ludovic Deguy

How you feel outside of the gym is often a poor indication of what you will be able to do on a given day.
For a day when I feel very sore, I always wait until after my warm-up to decide if I need to back off or not. And most of the time at the end of my warm-up I feel totally fine to train hard.

Is is not rare for me to beat PRs whereas I was feeling very low energy all day long before my training.

As long as you are not injured and your performances keep improving on the long run, backing off your training intensity or volume is often just being lazy.

Horse puckey.

[Alex Burden]

Originally Posted by Richard Colon

In my opinion, this right here could completely end all talk/discussion about rest, recovery, off days, deloads, overtraining, undereating, under sleeping, over stressing, lack of motivation, no longer inspired, changing goals, grass is greener, switching programs, determination, focus, discipline, etc.

Extremely well said and 100% true. Period.

Originally Posted by Ludovic Deguy

How you feel outside of the gym is often a poor indication of what you will be able to do on a given day.
For a day when I feel very sore, I always wait until after my warm-up to decide if I need to back off or not. And most of the time at the end of my warm-up I feel totally fine to train hard.

Is is not rare for me to beat PRs whereas I was feeling very low energy all day long before my training.

As long as you are not injured and your performances keep improving on the long run, backing off your training intensity or volume is often just being lazy.

CF or normal working out is not just about intensity and volume and i feel that these statements are only a very small part of the whole thing.

You can get just as tired using very low weights and low intensity because your focus is on techique for example. When you work purely on technique in different movements and you need to nail things you have never done before can take it's toll.

This is just one of the things i meant when taking about changing your focus or plan. Things can be just as mentally and physically tough depending on what you are doing.

[Ben Kissam]

Like others have said, I think it's important to go into your workout with a plan. It takes some time as a trainee, but you gain an intuitive sense as to what NEEDS to be changed or stopped. The majority of the time, it's mental. It's a series of justifications that get us out of developing to our true potential.

I've found that having solid programming in place prior to showing up prevents me from tinkering, which prevents me from getting injured, which eventually, prevents me from feeling like anything needs to be changed.

[William Dovale]

I guess I try to listen but I rarely do. Some of my biggest PRs have come on days where I have no want to be in the gym and feel smoked.

I do try to make a distinction between feeling hurt, tired, or injured. If I'm tired I'll start my programming and go from there. If I'm hurting, I'll do the same. If I'm injured I'll take it easy.

It's really hard for me to listen to my body because of the time I spent in the military and the mind moves the body mindset.