How to Tell if I should go to the Gym or Stay Home

Don’t even act like both of these scenarios haven’t happened to you:

You don’t feel like going to the gym, you go anyways, you have a record breaking workout session and leave feeling like Superwoman
You’re super stoked to go hit leg day, your warm-up set feels like your 1RM (1-rep max), you end up hurting yourself, and go home in pain and pissed off

Don’t get me wrong, I struggle with this too. I’ve gone to the climbing gym, warmed up on a V-easy or 5.beginner, and felt like I was climbing La Dura Dura. Other days I’ve been like, “man, I’m starving; I have a post to write; I didn’t get any sleep; and it’s Tuesday. I’ll just go in, do a couple auto-belays, and call it a day.” … Only to climb something much harder or for much longer than expected.

The good news is that those two things don’t happen every single time. They’re probably a rare occurrence, actually. But wouldn’t it be great if there was a way of knowing if you should go to the gym or just sit at home and do something else if you think you might be feeling those things?

I thought so too so I reached out to my fitness/nutrition/life mentor and asked him to write about this for me. Because he’s way smarter than I am.

He’s one of the creator’s of The Movement and is a huge reason I’m the athlete and type of trainer I am today. If you think I’m good at what I do/who I am, you should really read his information. He’s pretty much like Yoda and Darth Vader all rolled into one. Minus the green, plus the arm.

Anyways, here’s a snippet from his post. You’ll have to click the link to get the article in its entirety.

The answer lies in Anatomy and Physiology. Not all parts of the brain are connected to each other and no part of our conscious mind is directly connected to the body. So not only are we not conscious of everything, we aren’t conscious of most things…especially in our body. We’re not all that aware of peristalsis, respiration, perspiration and the overwhelming majority of bodily processes. We’re not wired to be.