Does Anyone Else Have This Issue?

Myhaloslipped

I normally do 40-60 minutes of cardio 7 days per week plus strength training on some days. I am so exhausted today and just feel like taking a day off. I know this sounds crazy, but I feel lazy and guilty about it. Does anyone else ever have this problem? If so, how do you keep it from bothering you?

JustJennie1

That was me on Friday. Thursday evening I made the executive decision to have a rest day on Friday and while it felt great to sleep in I was mentally kicking myself for it.

Unless I am really exhausted and just can't get up I go to the gym and yes, I feel guilty about it because once I am in the groove and that mind set I really don't want to stop.

ChristinaR720

Take the day off. Rest days are good for you. Nothing to feel guilty about whatsoever!

Alwayssohungry

That was me Saturday. I took it as my body telling me something since I don't normally feel like that. I took the day off, felt guilty for a bit, felt much better Sunday.

ilovedeadlifts

lots of people struggle with doing too much and feeling like more=more progress.


dial it back a bit. you don't need to do daily cardio unless you're training for something like a marathon or a sport.

kelly101386

You need at least one rest day for your muscles to recover. If your body doesn't have time then it can actually weaken you, so make one day off a priority. Maybe still do some cardio like walking but nothing too strenuous. You shouldn't feel guilty for it

tuckerrj

I take off one day, at least every-other-week. So I get 2 or 3 days a month to rest and recharge. It's perfectly alright!

AnsiStar

Worse haha. I go to the gym 3x a week with a touch of cardio but mostly weight training, My dad came into my room yesterday and asked what time I was going to the gym (I usually go once on a weekend cause I run out of time in the week but had managed to get all 3 after work this week). I said I wasn't going and I felt so awful that I went!

I love the gym but I'm in recovery of an ED and I'm not meant to exercise TOO much while I get used to eating more. Guilt is a horrible thing to feel over things like this

cmeiron

I have at least one planned rest day a week, and take more if I find my workouts are not going well or I'm otherwise feeling too sore or overtired. Rests are absolutely essential for recovery and repair. You are actually doing your body a disservice if you don't take them <-- that's how I don't feel bad about it. Also, the positive effects felt afterwards (renewed energy and strength) are wonderful.

majica8

I feel guilty if I take a rest day, even if I know I need it. I usually end up doing some form of exercise even if it's just a quick 20 min walk. I've been forced into resting this weekend and probably today thanks to a bad leg cramp I got on Sat morning, leg still hurts from it.
I just try to be extra good with my food if/when I take a day off and keep telling myself I need a rest sometimes. 1 or 2 days of no exercise isn't going to make the last 6+ months (or however long it is) of progress vanish overnight

shoneybabes

Where is your rest day? I have learnt that resting is as important as training. You can make yourself sick, exhausted, overtraining syndrome etc etc. You should have at least 1 day of rest. Look at the professionals they have at least one.

Learn to accept that it will actually make you a stronger fitter person if you rest.

nettasue35

yes, I feel like this sometimes. Most of the time I just exercise anyway and when I'm finished I feel better and glad I did it. The times I don't I'm usually not feeling well, so it's easy not to feel to guilty about it.

DawnieB1977

Yeah, I feel guilty for not exercising sometimes, but I think a rest day does do you good.

I get plenty of exercise on rest days anyway running after my 2 kids! Plus when I'm at work I'm on my feet all day.

Sometimes after work I come home and laze about drinking coffee until I have to collect my kids from nursery. Going from work, to gym, to collecting a 2 and 4 year old, bathing them etc before I get to sit down is a bit much. My husband does shift work so one week in two I am doing it all on my own.

sjp_511

dial it back a bit. you don't need to do daily cardio unless you're training for something like a marathon or a sport.

I strongly disagree. Rest days are very important, even for people training for a marathon. Don't do cardio 7 days a week - you will get burned out. And if it is the same cardio exercise, you may even get overuse injuries. Scale your cardio back to 5 days per week. If you feel guilty about taking a rest day, do yoga or some incredibly low impact cardio - a lesurely bike ride or a nice walk.

LivingtheLeanDream

I know that feeling...but we DO need a rest day I have gotten used to taking off Sundays and the guilt has left me...mostly! but I still do it :-D

ItsCasey

lots of people struggle with doing too much and feeling like more=more progress.


dial it back a bit. you don't need to do daily cardio unless you're training for something like a marathon or a sport.

This. You're doing too much. Your central nervous system is flipping out on you. Imagine you live in a very hot climate, and you have your central A/C set to keep your home at 74 degrees. But it's so hot outside that the temp inside your home is never 74 degrees, so your A/C never shuts off. That's what you're doing to your CNS. And I haven't even touched on the possibility of overuse injuries.

Take some time off, eat and sleep a lot, and adjust your ideas about how much exercise is enough.

strongmindstrongbody

Sundays are my planned rest days, but I do feel a little guilty about it. I think, there are plenty of people who work 7 days a week in physically demanding jobs, so why should I take a day off? But I am injury prone when I don't take a rest day and that motivates me to rest.

JustJennie1

lots of people struggle with doing too much and feeling like more=more progress.


dial it back a bit. you don't need to do daily cardio unless you're training for something like a marathon or a sport.

This. You're doing too much. Your central nervous system is flipping out on you. Imagine you live in a very hot climate, and you have your central A/C set to keep your home at 74 degrees. But it's so hot outside that the temp inside your home is never 74 degrees, so your A/C never shuts off. That's what you're doing to your CNS. And I haven't even touched on the possibility of overuse injuries.

Take some time off, eat and sleep a lot, and adjust your ideas about how much exercise is enough.

What??

Sorry but I disagree with you. While I agree that one should listen to their body and take a rest day if they feel they need to it's not necessary. And the OP isn't doing "too much" exercise. She states that she does cardio 40-60 min. a day and lifts "some days". That's far from too much. She may want to cut down the cardio to 30 min a day and lift every day focusing on a different muscle group per day but I see no need to dial back what she is doing.

If a person likes to do daily cardio then let them do it. I do 30 min. of cardio every day before I lift and have no problems nor do I feel like I need to "dial it back" a bit. If I am tired then I take a rest day. If not then I go to the gym. There is no hard and fast rule on rest days.

jonnythan

lots of people struggle with doing too much and feeling like more=more progress.


dial it back a bit. you don't need to do daily cardio unless you're training for something like a marathon or a sport.

This. You're doing too much. Your central nervous system is flipping out on you. Imagine you live in a very hot climate, and you have your central A/C set to keep your home at 74 degrees. But it's so hot outside that the temp inside your home is never 74 degrees, so your A/C never shuts off. That's what you're doing to your CNS. And I haven't even touched on the possibility of overuse injuries.

Take some time off, eat and sleep a lot, and adjust your ideas about how much exercise is enough.

What??

Sorry but I disagree with you. While I agree that one should listen to their body and take a rest day if they feel they need to it's not necessary. And the OP isn't doing "too much" exercise. She states that she does cardio 40-60 min. a day and lifts "some days". That's far from too much. She may want to cut down the cardio to 30 min a day and lift every day focusing on a different muscle group per day but I see no need to dial back what she is doing.

If a person likes to do daily cardio then let them do it. I do 30 min. of cardio every day before I lift and have no problems nor do I feel like I need to "dial it back" a bit. If I am tired then I take a rest day. If not then I go to the gym. There is no hard and fast rule on rest days.

The OP is feeling guilty about having a rest day because she feels like crap.

That is not healthy. That is classic compulsive behavior. She needs rest and she needs to be OK with rest.

MyJourney1960

dial it back a bit. you don't need to do daily cardio unless you're training for something like a marathon or a sport.

I strongly disagree. Rest days are very important, even for people training for a marathon. Don't do cardio 7 days a week - you will get burned out. And if it is the same cardio exercise, you may even get overuse injuries. Scale your cardio back to 5 days per week. If you feel guilty about taking a rest day, do yoga or some incredibly low impact cardio - a lesurely bike ride or a nice walk.

is this actualy true?

Just talking about the cardio - I would assume that our bodies are able to withstand daily walks, climbing stairs, lifting babies, cleaning, running errands - why is it a MUST to take a day off from the treadmill? I am not being snarky, I really am wondering about this.

I work out daily - I do 45-60 minutes of cardio (usually the elliptical) and weights on 3 days a week (not consecutive). I added swimming once a week.THere are days that i just don't get up (usually once or twice a month) but i don't "on purpose" skip a day.

ItsCasey

lots of people struggle with doing too much and feeling like more=more progress.


dial it back a bit. you don't need to do daily cardio unless you're training for something like a marathon or a sport.

This. You're doing too much. Your central nervous system is flipping out on you. Imagine you live in a very hot climate, and you have your central A/C set to keep your home at 74 degrees. But it's so hot outside that the temp inside your home is never 74 degrees, so your A/C never shuts off. That's what you're doing to your CNS. And I haven't even touched on the possibility of overuse injuries.

Take some time off, eat and sleep a lot, and adjust your ideas about how much exercise is enough.

What??

Sorry but I disagree with you. While I agree that one should listen to their body and take a rest day if they feel they need to it's not necessary. And the OP isn't doing "too much" exercise. She states that she does cardio 40-60 min. a day and lifts "some days". That's far from too much. She may want to cut down the cardio to 30 min a day and lift every day focusing on a different muscle group per day but I see no need to dial back what she is doing.

If a person likes to do daily cardio then let them do it. I do 30 min. of cardio every day before I lift and have no problems nor do I feel like I need to "dial it back" a bit. If I am tired then I take a rest day. If not then I go to the gym. There is no hard and fast rule on rest days.

The fact that she feels like garbage and is agonizing over whether or not to take a rest day is a clear sign that she is doing too much and needs recovery. If you can't see that, you probably shouldn't be offering advice to people. I won't even bother with the fact that you're doing cardio BEFORE you lift.