Have you ever been burnt out from your exercise routine? Maybe it went something like this.
You’ve decided to start exercising or maybe you have decided to try a new program. You’re pumped and ready to give it a go. You hit the gym, nail the workout and go home feeling great.
But then it happens. A few weeks in you hit a wall. Workouts are getting real hard. You might even dread going back to the gym. You force yourself to go and it’s like time slowed down. You might even start skipping your workouts.
Sound familiar? Well you aren’t alone. I know I’ve experienced this many times. Good news. You are training hard enough. Bad news. It’s catching up with you.
Rest assured that there’s a few simple things you can try to keep that spark in your training. First we must understand why it happens.
The energy well
Let’s imagine your energy comes from a well. It holds fuel that keeps you fresh, motivated and ready to take on the world.
Now imagine, with every solid workout you’re draining a little bit of that well. In fact any life stress, sickness or physical activity pulls from the same well.
And on the other side – resting, sleep, diet and recovery techniques fill it back up.
It’s obvious where this is going. Problems arise when you’re drawing energy faster than it replenishes. And once the well dries out you’ll feel run-down, irritable, unmotivated and may find you get sick more often.
Athletes and competitive powerlifters ride the line between stress and recovery to maximise performance. But for working parents, my advice is to always have reserves. After all exercise is supposed to enhance your everyday life – not take from it.
Here are some things you should try.
1. Track it
The first step is to pay attention. The truth is that if you aren’t aware of the problem and when it turns up then you won’t know how to deal with it.
What’s the simplest way to do this? Check in with yourself before you start your workout. Take a second to observe if you are feeling run down. Is your motivation to exercise below normal? Now jot down notes in your workout log. It doesn’t need to be elaborate.
If you do this for long enough you can start to see patterns. Think of these as little clues. It is easier to see how you are responding to your exercise program and to make adjustments.
Are you experiencing significant and prolonged fatigue and drops in motivation? Is this experience lasting over 1 or 2 weeks? If so, it means your well is running low and you should try one of the strategies below. If not, continue as per usual.
2. Have an easy week
Once stress has built up, give your body a chance to recover. So a period of reduced training can help aid this process. This is called a deload.
How to best apply this? Easy. Every 3-8 weeks cut the number of sets for the week by 2/3 and go a little lighter on all exercises. Experiment with it to figure out what works for you.
You might be hesitant to reduce training. You won’t lose your progress from an easy week. In fact, going easy for one week allows you to come back with better quality and performance for the next few weeks.
3. Put limits on your exercise volume
If you have tried taking an easy week and you’re still feeling miserable then you might be doing too much. This is where you can address the problem at the source by limiting the rate you’re pulling from the well.
The quick and dirty way is to cap the number of hours of exercise a week.
OR my preferred way is to cap the number of hard sets of compound exercises per week.
What’s the right amount? This is individual. If your current exercise routine leaves you burnt out try reducing the workload by 10-20%. Experiment and adjust.
4. Train in waves or phases
This is the most advanced idea which incorporates the strategies above. Everything up to this point of the article promotes reducing stress. But stressing and challenging your body it’s also a key part of building strength.
The art is balancing stress and recovery.
This means it’s important to have periods when workouts are hard and periods when it’s easy.
Training in waves or phases means you are following a structured program over a long period of time. A wave structure is where a program is 3-6 weeks long and loops. Phase structure might consist of 3 x 4 week blocks where each block focuses on a different quality.
A good program will think longer term and have stress and recovery considered.
Burnout or overtraining is a common problem for many people who exercise. Try implementing one of those tips and see if it helps you stay fresh, energetic and motivated.
