It’s that time of year. Your New Years resolutions are not so urgent anymore, summer holidays are over, and you find yourself scraping for any excuse to not have to drag yourself to the gym on a dark, cold morning. As a trainer, I have heard (and have used myself!) some of the most absurd ‘my
dog ate my homework’ type excuses that can’t fool anyone. However, there are several legitimate reasons when the best option is to not workout, whether its for a day, week or more without feeling any guilt.

It is important to listen to your body and make decisions based on how you feel. Is it a valid excuse or do you need to be a little tougher on yourself? Here are 5 signs you shouldn’t exercise:

1. You’re injured

   Lets start with the most obvious one. You cannot workout or even get yourself motivated enough to workout if your body physically can’t. Don’t push yourself or try to work around your injury as you may put more strain and risk permanent damage. Consult your doctor or a specialist if you think you have an injury, who can provide more specific exercise recommendations. Whether you pulled a muscle or sprained something, your workout can wait. Your body will thank you later

2. You’re sick

   Follow the ‘the neck’ rule to determine if it is safe to exercise: if you’re experiencing problems below the neck such as body aches, fever, chest congestion, diarrhea or other digestive issues, it is important to not exercise as these symptoms can be made worse. For symptoms that are confined to above-the-neck like sneezing, mild cough, and sniffling, you may still exercise, although very lightly.

   If you do decide to workout, I advise not using the gym and try a light home or outdoor workout to avoid spreading germs.

3. You’re not getting enough sleep

   Sleep is essential for a number of health functions, including cognitive functioning, healing cells, boosting the immune system etc… Although exercise is an energy booster, inadequate sleep can increase chances of injury due to delayed reactions and faulty movement patterns. In general, if you’re getting less than five hours of sleep and feeling physically exhausted, decrease the intensity and complexity of your workout, or give it a miss until you’re back to six to eight hours per night.

4. Your muscles are sore

   If your muscles are only slightly sore, light exercise may bring you relief, or you may want to workout different muscles to the ones causing the soreness. However, if the pain is bad enough to affect daily activities, it is best to skip your workout and let your muscles repair. High levels of soreness limits your range of motion, altering your mechanics and therefore increasing your risk of injury.

5. You’re overtraining

   When it comes to fitness, more is not always better. There needs to be an appropriate balance between training and recovery. Pushing your body beyond its natural ability to recover is known as ‘overtraining syndrome’. Any of these sound familiar? Continuous muscle soreness, sleep disturbances, elevated resting heart rate and hormonal or emotional changes and poorer performance, these are all signs that you need to reign back on your training and recover!

Healthy living is a commitment, but sometimes vegging on the couch and Netflix marathoning is the healthier option. Remember, it is important to take at least one day of rest a week to allow your muscles to repair and prevent burn-out and injury.

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