Good And Bad Workout Days

Do you ever notice that some days you fly through a workout, while on others muscles ache, breathing is laboured, and it feels like you're about to keel over after a 2 minute warm up? Exercise can be much easier on some days then others - but it's all for a good reason, because your body knows best!

Listen to your body

WELL DONE for recognising changes in your body's performance, this awareness is a crucial skill that will protect you from sustaining injuries in the long-term.

This occurrence is heightened when someone is trying to create a calorie deficit to lose weight, so it can happen very easily and just needs to be recognised.

Each day your body is influenced by so many factors that can impair or heighten your exercise performance. These include

• quality and amount of sleep
• quality of your nutrition
• hydration levels
• amount of caffeine consumed
• stress
• exercise done over the past week or previous day
• menstrual cycle

All of these things affect energy levels and each should be equally considered when interpreting a change in your workout.

Keep note

It is worth monitoring your workouts and general levels of fatigue. Keep a log with simple picture faces or marks out of 5 for energy levels and exercise performance. (You can do this using the Notes section in your Food Diary).

This process is very effective and ensures you listen to your body effectively, allowing you to find patterns that can be changed - i.e. if you aren't consuming enough calories for your exercise requirements you can start to eat a little bit more.

Through this process, you will be more informed about whether there is anything you should be concerned about. The likelihood is that your body is going through ups and downs in terms of energy levels because of a combination of the afore mentioned factors.

Balance

So, make sure your nutrition is balanced and to support your exercise regime and look at your sleep and stress levels around the days your workouts struggle. When you do experience such a day then just have an easier workout or do something completely different from the usual. It could be that your body would benefit from doing slightly different exercises on consecutive days, as muscles groups require 24-48 hours to fully recover.

Stretch

Flexibility can impact on fatigue levels and if your legs sometimes feel 'like lead', make sure you are effectively stretching your lower leg muscle groups post-workout and during the day. The more stretching the better!