when you exercise regularly... (please view and reply with your own views)

When you are a regular exerciser, 4 to 6 times a week with a active job - and you get those days where u want to exercise but your bodys just not feeling it.. do you go and do a low impact workout or skip it?

I tend to go out and do a workout, but burn 100 less calories and feel like i wasted my time but i'd rather do it and feel like that... i dunno

opions? is it one of those few timesu realy should not do exercise?

Exercise has more benefits than just burning calories! :) So all is not lost -- it's DEFINITELY worth it! I never skip. And 99% of the time I do my full workout even if I "don't feel like it." The only time I'll cut back is if I'm sick -- as in a cold. Then I'll do a little less. Otherwise, it's full tilt. You gotta push yourself -- that's my motto anyway. :)

I only push myself if i realize that its the end of the week and I havent really gotten in my toning exercises but if I have done alot of my workouts during the week and if by the weekend my body is just tired doesnt want to do them i give it a break....I was always told its not good to workout your mucles everyday you need to give them time to heal that you need a cool down period. So to me pushing yourself doesnt always mean your helping your body.

I listen to my body a lot when it comes to exercise. If I'm not feelin it, I don't do anything. Sometimes when I go to ride my bike to work I think, I just don't really want to, and I don't :) I usually only skip a workout once a week and sometimes I don't. I think the longest I've gone with no break was about 9 days. But, my body and brain let me know when I need to take a break. And I do. If it's the weekend I may just take a light walk. Nothing crazy, but I suppose it's better than sitting on my butt in front of the tv.

There are days it seems like my body just says...you are not doing that!!!!!  So I agree with SRD.  I might just go for a nice walk or something.  Just to move my body a bit.  Although sometimes I tell my body to shove it and workout anyway,  I do usually feel better afterwards.  Listen to your body it will tell you

I think it depends on what you mean by "my body just doesn't feel like it." If I'm in actual pain, or sick, then I won't work out, but if I'm just tired, or not able to workout at 100%, I go, usually I end up getting just as good a workout. Once I get there, I just start feeling a lot better and I could spend all day in the gym.

There are times I do workout and times I blow it off.  I usually feel better after working out even if I feel I'm not really "working it"  I mean I can go for a walk and not get my heart rate much over 88 but feel better mentally because of the walk itself.  

It depends. If I went running two days in a row, and have recently increased my mileage or run hard on those days, and have been in such an increasing-mode for awhile, if I feel tired I will consider the possibility of overtraining and skip the workout.

If however I am feeling unmotivated after a day or two of rest and recovery, then it's far more likely that I'm not overtrained I'm just feeling lazy! So I will force myself to put the shoes on and get out there. Inevitably that's when I usually end up having my best runs.

I do find that if I have to miss a few days in a row it can get harder and harder to feel motivated to get back into it. So I'm careful about that - too easy to slip back into slovenly habits!

Hi there,

I work out 6 days a week which means I have 1 day off. Well make that day you don't feel like going to the gym your day off.

Hope that helps

From a human nature perspective, it's better to not break the exercise habit.  Even if I am feeling poorly, I will still go on my days scheduled.  I will just do something easier.  It's not just about burning calories, but in maintaining a habit.

I definetly do low impact when I dont feel like the usual workout.  Long walks are the way to go.  It helps with stress -- I can just let my mind wander, it keeps me limber, and helps boost my mood.  This can also help keep one from getting bored and burned out.

I also like the idea of maitaining the habit, as hlraphael said.  That is an excellent point.

I also need to keep the habit up. Most of the time, I compromise and tell myself that I will go, but will only work out 20 min on the machine instead of 45. Then I usually end up doing the full 45 min anyway, sometimes at lower intensity than usual.

There are days when I am sore and have worked out a lot without a break and I go ahead and take a day off or do a yoga DVD instead, but never two full days in a row unless I am sick.

Ugh... personally, for me, I am LAZY as hell. But no matter how I'm feeling, I still force myself to get up and go to the gym and do the best that I can, even if it's just 20 minutes low impact. It's never a waste of time for me because I know that I at least made an effort regardless to how I was feeling. I mean, of course I wouldn't go if I was insanely tired (falling asleep at the wheel sort of tired) or deathly sick, but if I just have a cold or a minor headache or something, I force myself to go to the gym and do the best that I can just to know that I did it.

I'll usually go out and try to run anyways. If I'm really, really not feeling good after the first half-mile, I'll try to at least get a full mile of running in and then call it a day. Alternately, I'll stop for a couple of minutes and stretch really well, and then keep going. The point is, I try to make an effort to do something - if my body really can't take the whole thing, then I give it a break. Sometimes you just need to let it go for that day. If anything, it'll let you bounce back harder the day afterwards.

Sometimes if I'm really not feeling it, I'll skip doing cardio, and just lift instead.

I work hard when I feel strong and take it easy when I feel weak. Listen to your body.

honestly, there are mornings i get to they gym, get on the ellypitical machine, and stand there with one knee bent thinking, there is NO WAY this is going to happen today. ive learned to cope with these days by telling myself to just do 15 minutes and take it kind of easy. since it takes about 15 mins for my endorphins to really get flowing, more often than not i can keep going.

however. if ive been working my ass of and my muscles really feel exhasted as im trying to work out, like every stride or pedal or whathave you relys on me navigating feet of lead, i throw in the towel (pun intended, how lame is that?! im a nerd) and leave. on the flip side, if i havent been working out for weeks god forbid, i force myself through it to get back on track or that kind of cycle is difficult to overcome :)

I don't know what your goals are, but I would recommend listening to your body. If you need the day off, take it.

All too often I see people on this site who say they workout for (insert number here) days straight. The central nervous system needs to repair itself. Sometimes taking a day off (or a few) is a good thing.

Personally, I take 10 days off straight every three months (aside from the 3 days on and 2 off that I do on a normal basis) and I get the best gains (muscle) during those off times. Again, the body needs to repair itself... completely from time to time.

I would DEFINITELY recommend listening to your body. In fact, there was one time in May when I skipped one day, so the next day I felt guilt about it and ran for an hour AND did 15 minutes of HIIT, then walked for two hours and did 80 minutes of cardio the next day--and I was SO exhuasted the next morning and felt sick to my stomach and KNEW I had to take a break. my 'break' ended up being four days long, but it was the best thing I'd ever done for my body because I was feeling soooo overworked. now, if I really need a break, I'll take one, but I try to limit to two a week.

I try not to skip unless I really have to for some reason.  I find it really easy to justify skipping another day if I take one off due to laziness.  It is much easier to keep a routine going than to restart later.  As other posters have said, even on lazy days once I get myself going I find it easier to make myself finish my full workout.