Can You Go?

It’s 4:30pm, and you’ve got:

·      Your best guns out t-shirt

·      Your gallon of water and mass “gainz” shake

·      Your IPod is set to crank some pump inspiring anthems

It’s training day and you are headed to the gym to meet up with your posse. But a funny thing happens when you get there, you don’t have it in you to train. You can’t go. This is an all too familiar situation for most people. When is it appropriate to push the “Go” button and when to push the “Stop”.

World renown strength coach, Dan John, wrote a book, Can You Go?  And to paraphrase, it’s simply the notion of being ready to train or compete that day. It inspired me to think about how I go about my training process. I’ve always believed in listening to my body. I don’t want to fall into the robotic process of, “this is my training day, I HAVE to train”! And I also don’t want to bail on a session every time I feel tired, because if that were the case, I might never train. And to be honest, I’ve had my best sessions when I felt I couldn’t go. So determining when you feel you should train vs. packing it up and training the next day is tricky.

Is the body willing and the mind isn't or is it a case of the mind is willing and the body isn't? First decide if it’s a mental or physical roadblock holding you back.

If it’s a mental, my trick is my warm-up. I take 10 Crocodile breaths, do some myofascial work, some light movements, check my balance by standing on one-leg and see what happens (And yes, I am serious about breathing and standing on one-leg. If I can’t do those simple things, how can I expect my body to do something more demanding)? Can I go? If I feel better from that, training is a go. If breathing was a chore and I had trouble doing bird-dog, then I know I would be in trouble if I tried lifting or got under a loaded bar.

Is it physical? By this I mean am I experiencing an achy body part, muscle soreness, or stiffness? Basically, is it something that some basic re-set movements will fix and I just need to get the body moving and the blood circulating? As long as I am not experiencing pain, and I start to feel better, I can go. 

Is it more of an internal physical nature? Did I recover from my previous training session or activity? This can be tricky because this requires you to be in tune with your body. But if I feel overly stimulated, like I had a few too many cups of coffee, I back off from training that day. A safe and quick way to check is to get your 1 minute resting heart rate. On average, mine can range from 50-60 beats/minute. If it’s higher than the norm, I back off and rest. Rinse and repeat. If it lasts for more than a few days, I'd suggest getting it checked out.

Note: Check your resting heart rate regularly and first thing in the morning. You don’t want to have your cup of coffee or engage in anything too strenuous before taking this measurement. This ensures you have a baseline to compare. Some elite athletes are known to be in the 30’s!

In the event it’s both mental and physical, take the day off.

I’ve walked into the gym with every intention of training, only to go through my little assessment and decide instead to hit the sauna for 15-20 minutes and leave. I’m not interested in impressing anyone. I couldn’t go that day and there’s no shame in that. If there’s a consistency in training, another day of rest and recovery is never a bad thing. No one can tell me how my body feels. More importantly, I live to train another day. Remember, there’s nothing written in stone you have to train that day or train what you were planning to do. Can you go? Be safe and be smart. Best of luck in your training!