Today I am not doing so well.  I skipped my usual Monday workout.  Today is the day I usually go balls out.  I got winded yesterday vacuuming (I have a heavy Kirby vacuum which doesn’t help).  I got on the treadmill this morning and felt out of breath.  Last weekend I fell into a deep unmotivated state (no reason for it either).  I am a fit person, but since I overtrained in 2011, I have to watch my activity level.   I’ll go months without a problem, but as soon as I get really busy at work I start to see signs.

I had something similar happen a few years ago when I was doing my dissertation research.  I was working 50-60 hours a week and driving 1-2 hours one way once a week to perform interviews.  I kept my regular workout intensity until I started going downhill.  Then I had to scale back on my workouts.  Notice, I did not say I stopped working out.  I just took it a bit easier.

I’m sharing this because if you are pushing too hard and seeing signs that you need to slow down, DO IT.  I do not like skipping workouts.  However, I can always do something.  I am walking on the treadmill today and I did a yin yoga workout.  If you are not familiar with yin yoga, it’s about holding poses for around 5 minutes to stretch your body.  You use bolsters at first and get deeper as you go.  I plan to take it easy this week.  Plenty of yoga.  Light yoga.  No hard yoga.  Yes, yoga can be hard if you have the right workout.

I’ll feel better.  BTW- I also take it easy on the calories too when I’m cutting back on the physical activity.  Same as when I’m sick.  I don’t eat as much to ensure I don’t lose ground on my weight maintenance.

So if you need to take a break, do it.  Do lighter workouts until you feel better.  Also, watch your fork until you can burn more calories.  My hope is that posting this helps other workout in a smarter way.  If you want to read the full post on overtraining here it is.