Is there a reason some days exercise is physically so much harder?

caffeinatedcami

I know of course exercise gets easier with practice but after practicing a certain exercise for a long time (running in my case) there are days when I haven't changed anything about my routine but exercising takes so much more effort (as if I am suddenly out of shape that day). Other days it is a breeze. It very well could be in my head but it feels physical. Does this happen to anyone else?

yudue

I have had similar days. My big problem was I was either pushing my body faster than it could adapt to a routine, I wasn't eating enough, or I was not allowing my body to be fully rested.

A couple months ago I had to stop going on my daily two mile hikes because I was pushing myself too hard. I had just got a new job and it was very physically demanding. When I would be out on my workout, and would be halfway done and feel like I was dying (leg cramping included). I decided to give myself some time to adjust and slowly work up to being able to get physical outside of work. I can now on easy work days go out and really enjoy my hikes without side effects. I try to listen to my body. If it tells me I am doing too much, I try to listen.

I don't know how much of this applies to you, bit it's a thought.

DavPul

1. Sleep
2. Food
3. Weather
4. Other stuff

wheatfats

this happens to me all the time! Sorry not very helpful lol but I have no idea why. It seems like it happens at random, and I haven't been able to notice any correlation to my calorie intake or sleep level. I have noticed that it's always a lot easier after a rest day or two, but that seems obvious. Also on these "hard" days, I actually take longer to run the same distance that I run faster on "easy" days. It literally feels like my fitness level fluctuates.

The only thing I have noticed that definitely impacts this is the weather, but other than that I'm stumped and in the same boat.

caffeinatedcami

Thanks. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has experienced this. Sometimes I do push myself too much. I probably just need to alternate workouts so my muscles don't get too fatigued.

Sleep is also something I didn't think about. I do have insomnia pretty often. I should definitely get my sleep in check.

sistrsprkl

This happens to me and I think it's usually do to stress or hormones (time of month). It's normal so listen to your body. I remember when I was training for half marathons, I would go through times where I just felt like I was slogging along. It was horrible.

piperdown44

My gut feeling, when the weights or anything feel abnormally heavy, that the physicists around the world have been messing with the gravity setting

Honestly it could be a number of things, lack of quality sleep, too low food, stress, dehydration, sickness coming on, lack of adequate recovery, etc.
I chalk it up to just "being one of those days" and make sure I'm doing what I can to improve for the next workout.

KittensMaster

Mood

Sleep

Stress

Home frustration or not

barbecuesauce

For me personally?

Not enough carbs the day before
Day before/first day of period--I am very weak and fatigued
Not enough sleep
Stress
Worked out too much in the days beforehand--it sometimes feels like it catches up with me at once

lithezebra

I've noticed that my off days consistently occur after a peak performance, or several days of feeling strong. Therefore, I take every 4th day as a day of active rest.

mbaker566

idk either but it happens with me and running
one day i'll do 30 min and 3 miles and the next day I can barely run 10 min

no clue why though

jstika

Yeah, I agree with much of the above. I get this when I haven't had enough sleep or carbs. Sometimes the weather affects my mood and energy. I ride bikes so if it's hot and humid out, I probably won't have as much energy as I would if it's nice. My mood makes a difference. If I'm really itching to ride, then I usually ride pretty strong and fast. If I don't feel like riding, I usually feel sluggish.

tkphotogirl

With me it's hormones, sleep, and overdoing it a couple of days earlier.

JoRocka

camillemilton1 wrote: »

I know of course exercise gets easier with practice but after practicing a certain exercise for a long time (running in my case) there are days when I haven't changed anything about my routine but exercising takes so much more effort (as if I am suddenly out of shape that day). Other days it is a breeze. It very well could be in my head but it feels physical. Does this happen to anyone else?

it happens to everyone- not every day and every workout will be awesome.

That being said - I'd be leary of saying something gets "easier" perhaps you're more efficient- or you are now in a habit- but ultimately it shouldn't just across the board get easier- you should always in some way be striving for growth- and that's uncomfortable. just a small aside/thought.

bellesb169

With me I think it comes from fatigue and just my overall mood for the day. Some days I look forward to my workout other days I wake up in the morning dreading the fact that I have to go to the gym today.

colors_fade

I've read Brett Contreras say that "for every four workouts you do, you'll have one great one, one bad one, and two average ones." Anecdotally speaking, I've observed this phenomena.

Don't worry about it. Just give your best effort every time, and take what nature gives you.

stealthq

In addition to what everyone's already said: sleep, stress, weather, diet ...

Often on the days where exercise feels 'easy', you push yourself even if it doesn't feel like it. Unless you compensate for the extra work, it's likely that in the next couple of workouts you'll get a 'hard' one simply because you've not recovered as well as usual.

Asher_Ethan

Food is the biggest contributor to that feeling for me. One weekend I my good friend unexpectantly died then my dog unexpectantly died so I let myself have a, "free day," where I could eat whatever I want and I ate 3000 calories... the next day I did a 5 mile run and my time was one of the best times I've ever had because I was completely properly fueled from my freebee day before.

I just have to figure out how to be in a deficit and properly fuel my body for my running at the same time.

mbaker566

Asher_Ethan wrote: »

I just have to figure out how to be in a deficit and properly fuel my body for my running at the same time.

and that really does seem to be the trick doesn't it?
bother, so hard to tune in the diet sometimes

LAT1963

sleep, hydration, carbohydrate levels in the liver, allergies or asthma + air quality, virus you fight off before/without developing other symptoms, previous day over-training, previous-day training while dehydrated, menstrual cycle phase, heat index...

As a person with a thyroid disorder I know this good body-day/bad body-day can also mean an undiagnosed endocrine or autoimmune problem, but with all the other, ordinary, common causes, it's easy to understand why such medical problems take a long time to get recognized. If you start seeing the same effect on activities of daily living (rising from bed, dressing, toileting, having breakfast, and then collapsing into bed from exhaustion) then you know it's a medical problem. Otherwise its the myriad random environmental stuff I & everyone else have been listing.

We are exceedingly complicated machines that took 15 billion years for the universe to invent (and believers can re-calculate that in Dog, er, God days...). With all the chaos we run into continually, all those little chemical pathways in our body don't always run in complete synchronization.

Are you using target heart-rate to adjust your work-out intensity? I suggest it because it is self-adjusting to bad body days--it will take less exertion to get your heart rate up, so if you aerobics at a pace in your target heart rate range you will adjust your speed down to your body's level on that particular day.

If I am out of breath before reaching target heart rate then I know I'm having an insidious asthma attack, and taking albuterol will improve or fix the problem. If you have days where you get out of breath at a below-range heart-rate (and are otherwise healthy), then consider getting evaluated for asthma; air pollution has made it fairly common and it can start at any age. And it can be managed*, so there's no need to let it have impact on your training.


*a rare few asthma sufferers have difficult-to-manage asthma that is very life-limiting--don't want to minimize their situation. The majority of asthmatics have manageable minor symptoms.

beemerphile1

Your body is not a machine. For all the above reasons there are good days and bad days.

One of the fascinating things is when you go for a run, feel terrible and slow, and at the end discover you have run a faster time than ever before.