does anybody here ever feel guilty for not going to the gym?

i didn't go yet today, and it's 7:41 (i still have time...) but I realized that i feel like crap because i haven't gone yet. I went sunday and yesterday and did 70-80 min. of cardio each day, but i still feel really guilty for not going that it's put me into a really awful mood.

i'm really tired, and i just want to relax, why can't i just not go and feel okay about it??

because you know you'll feel better if you go

you can be addicted to exercise. if you feel its taking over your life and you are putting it before other impt things, it could be a problem.

why dont try talking to a counselor on campus about it? there is something called exercise bulimia as well. you can google to read more about it. i know a few people in my gym with this.

i know exactly how your feel. i didn't go to the gym yesterday b/c i worked out hard over the weekend and i had to grocery shop, so it was my planned day off. well today, due to bad weather, it took me 4 hrs to get home from work (which is only 15 mins away) so i couldn't go again tonight. i got so stressed out about the fact i was going to miss out on 2 days in a row i literally cried. but then i realized its not the end of the world, everything will be okay! there was nothing i could do about it so it wouldn't help to get myself all worked up.
i made a post like this in the past and i got a lot of great responses. in my experience if you're tired and you want to take the day off, take it. you're body needs rest and you'll actually come back stronger for it! i've forced myself through workouts and it doesn't feel half as good as being rested and getting a kick-a*s workout! relax, let your body recoup from your long workouts this weekend, and give it your all tomorrow. you will be more productive when you're not tired! i know its hard, but shut up the little voices in your head - your body needs rest as much as it needs exercise. paint your nails, read a magazine, treat yourself to something nice and enjoy the day off since they don't come very often!

nice post elicia!!!!

elicia-im in ny as well and can relate to the bad traffic/weather today!! what a nightmare!!!!! so many accidents!! did people forget how to drive in the snow?

Guilt is negative programming.

Switch it around! Don't say "I missed my workout!". Say "What can I do right now to make up for it?" Then do it! Make up a routine you can do right there in your room -- like, how many situps + pushups + jumping jacks can you do in 10 minutes? Alternate two minutes for each one and switch.

Go on Crossfit.com for more exercise ideas. Pick anything you want -- even 10 minutes of focused, intense exercise will burn that guilt away.

What else can you do right now? Commit the next 30 minutes to learning something new about nutrition, exercise, or motivation! Get through another chapter in that health or fitness book/magazine that you have lying in your must-read bookpile. Commit to writing down your lifetime, one-year, three-month, weekly, and daily fitness goals -- then print it out several copies. One for the fridge door, one for the car or your bag, one for your cubicle.

Think positive! There's always something you can do right now, if you stop to think about it.

Listen to your body and take in what it is saying. If it says 'please don't push me today, I still feel shagged from yesterday!!' then don't feel bad about resting.

Training is not about what you do in the gym, or down at the park. It is ALL about how you recover. Thats when the magic happens.

Often a real good rest is what the doctor ordered. This accounts for the mind too. They both need to be on top form when you train, and sometimes it is mental tiredness that convinces the body that it can't train today. If that is the case then find a way to relax your mind and train tomorrow.

If the problem is just procrastination, then maybe you should read my other post. There are millions of reasons why people procastinate, though it often comes down to beliefs, fears or a simple lack of morale. As long as you are there for yourself, no matter what, it is easy to overcome procrastination. If you are hard on yourself then it may not go away as quick as you'd like.

'What you resist persists'

It's here in CT now

there is a flood warning here. my school never heard of drains so it literally is a river at every crosswalk. it was 3 inches at one point... thanks college...

oh and what was supposed to be my day off yesterday.. ended up being 60 minutes of cardio... :-/

sorry dave (

I don't get angry at myself for missing the gym, I just get bored out of my mind when I take days off, especially on weekends. I've noticed that my weight trends (losing weight) continue and are sometimes even exagerrated on my days off, and taking a day or two off means more intensity when I do go back, so I get a better workout.

Believe me, the last thing you want to do is overtrain yourself because then your exercise can actually have the opposite effect you want: your body will go into a self-preservation mode and burn lean muscle and store more fat. Days off are important to avoid that. Hell, with Max-OT you're supposed to take a whole week off every 5-8 weeks!

Just try to do something positive for yourself if you have to miss the gym: read a book, practice a musical instrument, clean (lord knows there's always cleaning to do at my house)... missing one or two days won't kill your routine and won't turn you into a slob overnight unless you let it!

I hear ya Dean - sometimes even when my body is okay, my mind needs a break from the gym.


I've also noticed this too! It's amazing how the body works.

I love all these posts, some people say relax and take the day while others push to keep going. It is true your body needs rest and thats when the gains happen. You can't make yourself feel guilty for not going, even though we all go through it. If you know you worked out hard and feel you need a rest - do it! Because Clifford is right, overtraining is not good for your body either. I think the best thing we can do is become attuned (?sp) to our body and what it needs. And I think the feeling of guilt is a good thing - it means your mind is on the right track and you won't give up even though you took a day off!

Check this out.......a perfect article for this topic!

http://www.sparkpeople.com/community/ask_the_exper ts.asp?q=69

hmm, can't say I have the same problem, lol. Perhaps that is why I am so fat.

The bad weather started here (Newfoundland...came up the eastern seaboard from New york!) a couple of hours ago and boy what a lot of snow has come down in a short period of time...no fears on me missing out on my regular snow shovelling activity...thought it was supposed to have turn to rain by now.

Well guess I better go shovel before the rain starts and it freezes! Wouldn't want to miss a free workout!

I think it's a healthy addiction as long as you don't overtrain. There is also a thing called exercise anorexia that some diehards get.

There was a girl who would go to a gym I went to that had it. She was super thin, not in a good way. She would get on the treadmill and run until a puddle of sweat was behind her, one time the trainer told me she was on there for 7 hours. She was not training for a ultra marathon or anything, she was just super addicted. Her doctor called and advised the gym to only let her workout for an hour a day after that. After an hour, a trainer will tell her to go home and she will.

I think that's pretty rare though and most people are not like that, me included.

i know that i took today off, and all i did all day was think about going. i didn't really do anything else but htink about how i should go. but i was freezing in my bed, and it was pouring out, so i didn't feel like getting drenched (again). idk, i feel guilty still now, esp. since my parents took me out to dinner.

i think my exhaustion could be related to not eating enough of the right things. or in general. i am always tired and stressed out.

but i get antsy or down on myself if i don't go and burn at least 800 calories (i'm a numbers person, i know they aren't correct, i usually try to correct it on my training graphs)

It's easy to think about the calories you're burning, but that's really a poor measure of fitness and if your goal is to lose fat it's not necessarily the best thing to focus on, at least not in my opinion.

I'm a firm believer that the best way to burn fat is to build lean muscle mass; and the results from a good muscle building session are far more significant than just the number of calories you burned in that session... on top of the muscle you're building which will increase your metabolism your body will continue to burn calories after you're done working out AND while it's rebuilding the muscle (rest days).

Like I said, most people will continue their weight trends even on their off days, unless it turns into "off weeks" because that's when your body is rebuilding; in other words: you don't need to feel guilty about taking a day off because your body: deserves it; needs it; is still working. Hell, on your rest days you might even be burning close to or more than 800 calories just from the healing/rebuilding process (not a scientific fact, but if it helps you to think that it is, go for it!)

I can easily take a day off, and lots of the time, it's just plain necessary in order to recover.

More than a few days off and well--unless injured, that just doesn't happen.



This is just frightening. I wonder how many gym memberships she rotates? Or rotated, if she's even alive still.

I don't even want to think about her eating habits, or lack there of.