No time or too tired to exercise?

The age-old question:  When you set aside time to exercise and that time rolls around you’re just not feeling it, is it because of real, honest-to-Goddess fatigue, or are you stuck in a rut?  

It’s easy to make excuses for not working out – too tired, too busy, too stressed, too hungry, too sore…

Hey, you’re not alone!  I’ve been there too – countless times.  

Here’s what I do:  the 5-minute test.  

Start your work out.  After 5 minutes, if you still feel too (whatever), then you can stop.  

Most of the time, I think you’ll be surprised that you want to keep going.

Probably the exercise is just what you need.  Especially if you’re 

• a little sore from a previous workout or a long day of sitting
• stressed, depressed, tense, irritable, or anxious
• lethargic
• bloated with sluggish bowels

Your body needs and craves movement! 

Think of it more as playing, rather than “exercising.” 

You have nothing to lose but 5 minutes!  

Depending on my mood, I pick the movement I most feel like doing and just start.  For example, if I need something slower and more healing, I’ll chose yoga or mobility work, maybe some foam-rolling.  If I need to relieve some stress, I’ll go for a jog, do some high-tempo dancing, or practice martial arts.  

Trouble-Shooting Your Exercise Routine

I'm a firm believer of planning.  Everything goes in cycles, including your energy.  

I plan to walk every day.  At least 2 miles.  Your smart phone probably tracks this on an app, so check it.  (On Apple devices, it's the white box with a red heart inside it.)

I do yoga once a week in a class.  I stretch almost every day.  It feels weird for me to not stretch.  There's an old yoga adage, "Every day you don't stretch, you get tighter."  Truth.  

I dance (my cardio of choice) at least 3 days a week.  I do aerial dance at least 3 days a week.  Sometimes I combine the both.  I plan, but I'm not inflexible!  

I do foam-rolling at least once per week.  If you want to be able to keep exercising, you need to rest and recover.  This is so essential, yet so many people forget about it, or don't prioritize it.  

I do mobility work (active stretching, muscle balancing, core activations, etc.) at least once or twice a week.  If I'm injured, I do it every day until I'm recovered.  THIS is why I recover so quickly from pains.  

If you're counting, you'll notice this adds up to more than 7 (days in a week).  I combine the workouts.  For example, I'll foam roll, then go out dancing.  Or I'll do mobility work then aerial dance.  

This is very important too - 2 rest days every week.  On those, I still count walking, stretching, or foam-rolling as "resting."  But I'm not really pushing myself too hard on those days.  

For menstruating women, plan your workouts around your cycle. 

It just makes sense.  During your bleeding phase, if you're a menstruating woman, plan to rest at least on the very-heavy days.  At the most, do walking and light stretching.  The high energy phase of your cycle, closer to ovulation, feel free to test your limits.  

For everyone else, plan your workouts around the moon cycles.  No, it's not witch-craft (unless you find that motivating... ;).  It's just natural human cycles!  1 week up to the new moon - slow it down.  1 week up to the full moon - rev it up.   

I plan (or rather, usually forced to include) a rest-week about every 3 months. 

This phase usually shows up when I have (1) injuries that just won't quit or (2) weird hormone stuff coming up suddenly.  

In the rest week, I still do yoga, walking, swimming, stretching, foam rolling.  I guess for most people that's still considered "working out."  It just depends on how hard you usually hit it.