In this day and age it's more common than ever for people to be chronically stressed due to the hustle hard, sleep less badge of honor many seem to pride themselves on. Cramming as many meetings, social events, family time, and workouts until every hour of our day is planned out.
In the world of fitness it's become a way of life - more is better, longer is better, faster is better. These goals aren't going to crush themselves right?
Unfortunately that is a broken mindset. Great marketing for those who reap the benefits but not a realistic way to train for longevity and continued success. It will inevitably lead to burnout, mental or physical. Possibly both.
Truth is we actually get better from our training during the recovery periods and days. It's a game of how much can I train and still recover from. Going beyond that point has a diminishing return.
BUT EVERYBODY ELSE IS DOING IT
Just because your training partners or class you normally attend is doing something does not mean you need or should as well. There are going to be days you just cannot muster up the energy. Maybe you slept poorly, stayed up later than usual with a sick kid or watching a game, or had a long day yesterday at work. Whatever the reason there will be times you are not able to perform at your best and that is OK. Those are the days you take off entirely, go for a long walk, do 30 minutes of low intensity steady state cardio (LISS). But ignoring those signals is not going to get you where you're hoping, in fact may be digging yourself a hole.
THE DETAILS MATTER
The minor details of your training matter more than what most people give credit to. Quality training for 3-4 days per week is better than 5-6 ok workouts. If you are unable to maintain the quality of your training due to having an "off day" then do just that and take the day off.
LESS IS MORE
Like mentioned previously sometimes less is more. For most people 4-5 days of hard training is more than enough and depending on the program and your lifestyle that may even be more than your body can realistically recover from. Some even experience a gain in body fat due to overtraining which is causing heaps of metabolic stress. Do less better is a mantra I remind people of regularly.
