Missing a workout can be gut-wrenching, and you may even feel guilty or that you failed somehow. You could try correcting the situation and adding it to your next workout to compensate for the lost effort. Although, is trying to make up for a missed workout the right thing to do to keep you on track?
The temptation is real, especially if you’re following a training plan or working with a personal trainer. However, even the most dedicated exercisers and professional athletes miss a workout. It’s normal, and it happens to everyone.
Why did you miss your workout? Was it due to an unexpected event, poor sleep, fatigue, lack of motivation, or something else? When you understand the reason(s) why you missed a workout, it can help you address any potential roadblocks in the future.
Consistency Is Key
Consistency is the key to making progress. Missing a day here and there, especially to recover, is more important than pushing through to exercise every time your plan says so. Fortunately, missing a day or two will not reset all your hard work. In fact, your body might benefit from the rest. However, if you are missing a lot of workouts, trying to cram them in later will be counterproductive and can lead to burnout and injury. If this is the case, try to address why you’re skipping your workouts and adjust accordingly.
What If Missing A Workout Impacts Your Goal?
Overall, no one workout will make or break your training plan or set you back so much that it impacts your goal. An extra day of rest may even work wonders if you are tired or sore. If you’re following a training plan, you could adjust your workouts. For example, if you missed a workout, you could do a light workout on a rest day later in the week. However, you should avoid doing back-to-back vigorous workouts without rest in between. This can lead to an injury, which will certainly impact your goal.
Keeping a fitness journal and monitoring your progress can help keep you on track when you miss workouts. You can’t remember everything related to your goals. Tracking yourself is the best way to monitor your progress and give you a birds-eye view of all your efforts. Not only will you see your progress, but you may also see early indicators of trouble, which will let you make adjustments sooner rather than later. As a result, you keep moving in the right direction.
Tracking your missed workouts can show you how it affects your progress. In fact, you could learn how missing a workout impacts you over time. The more information you have about your workouts, the more you can make well-informed decisions about your goals.
How to Reduce Your Risks Of Missing A Workout
You shouldn’t be too hard on yourself for missing a workout. However, you want to minimize the number of times it happens. Let’s explore some common reasons why you could miss a workout and what you can do now to help minimize it in the future.
Colds and Flus
You’ll inevitably get a cold or flu, which sidelines you for one or more days. It’s important not to exercise if you’re ill. Sometimes, you can get sick because you’re exercising too much. However, getting enough sleep, washing your hands frequently, eating a balanced diet, and having rest days can help reduce your chances of catching a cold or flu. As a result, you can miss workouts less often due to illness.
Commitments
Work and family can undoubtedly change your plans quickly. Although avoiding these commitments may be impossible, you can adjust your schedule to reduce your risk of missing a workout.
You could exercise when unforeseen obligations are likely not to interfere with your workouts, like before or after work. Also, putting your workouts on your calendar with your other appointments may help you schedule your commitments with your workouts.
If scheduling your workouts isn’t feasible, consider exercising at home so you don’t have to rely on going to the gym and can fit those workouts in when time allows.
Lack of Motivation
You can’t be too hard on yourself when you’re not motivated. There is a lot stacked against you. Evolutionary psychology suggests humans are wired to conserve energy and avoid unnecessary exertion to survive. As a result, your natural inclination is to choose sedentary activities.
Your mind is also wired to seek immediate rewards. Bad habits are easy to make because they give you that short-term reward your brain craves. Unfortunately, exercise involves discomfort and delayed gratification, which makes the benefits not immediate. There are no immediate consequences if you don’t exercise. So, it’s easy to prioritize other activities and procrastinate.
Your success depends on exercising consistently. Even if you exercise for only ten minutes, that’s a win and better than missing a workout. Once you start exercising, you may find the motivation to keep going!
You Don’t Look Forward to Your Workout
There is no shortage of advice on the best exercises that burn the most calories, gain the most muscle, and lose the most weight. You may have even talked to a personal trainer who crafted your ideal exercise routine.
However, you may not like the exercises you do. That’s certainly a problem. You’ll never have fun if you force yourself to do something you don’t enjoy. As a result, you may rush through what you’re doing, skip workouts, and take shortcuts.
If you don’t like running, biking, playing tennis, or football, don’t do those activities. No amount of motivation can get you to exercise if you don’t like your workouts. Instead, try something new. You never know what fun new activities you may discover. When you enjoy your workouts, you’ll look forward to them. However, too much of a good thing can be harmful. So make sure to listen to your body and take a rest day when needed.
Why You Shouldn’t Make Up A Missed Workout
If you skip specific workouts, you should reassess your goal. It may be too ambitious for your fitness level. On the other hand, If you’re accomplishing most of your workouts, you shouldn’t worry too much about it.
Your body may be telling you something. If you feel tired, sick, or sore, then a day off may be what you need to recover. Otherwise, trying to make up a missed workout by doing double the work or more work spread throughout the week can increase your risk of injury due to a workload higher than what you’re used to. If you are unsure, consult an expert who can help you adjust your training plan.
The Takeaway
Everyone misses a workout for one reason or another. If you’re usually consistent in your workout routine, then missing a workout occasionally will not derail your fitness goals. If you regularly miss workouts, you should determine the reasons and make adjustments to remove potential future roadblocks.
It would be best no to try to make up a missed workout because you could be stressing your body with extra work, which will only lead to fatigue, burnout, and injury. Instead, consider it a rest day and pick up where you left off tomorrow.
FitTrend’s mission is to help you along your self-improvement journey, promote an active lifestyle, and help you achieve your goals. Our journal can help you track your workouts, weight, mood, calories, and more. Also, FitTrend allows you to connect supported gadgets to your account to make it easier for you to update your journal automatically. Create your account today and start using FitTrend for free!
Disclaimer: No content on this site should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
