{"id":1457,"date":"2024-03-13T12:34:53","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T12:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/completeathlete.uk\/?p=1457"},"modified":"2024-03-13T12:34:53","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T12:34:53","slug":"is-a-bad-workout-better-than-no-workout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/completeathlete.uk\/is-a-bad-workout-better-than-no-workout\/","title":{"rendered":"Is a BAD workout better than NO workout?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I put out this poll out on my Instagram last month after a lousy lifting sesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To my surprise, 62% of you favoured a bad workout over no workout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems more people than I thought buy into the saying of \u2018You never regret a workout\u2019 (unless you hurt yourself).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s a very hard sell when you\u2019re lying on the sofa half awake knowing that you\u2019ve got a 10K run to do today\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this situation, It\u2019s so easy to convince yourself that skipping this workout will be \u2018good for recovery\u2019. I\u2019ve done this a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s often tricky to tell whether going out for an uncertainly bad workout is a better decision than staying in for certainly good recovery. That\u2019s because a bad workout sometimes turns into a good workout a few Ks or reps in, but it\u2019s hard to tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why a \u2018bad workout\u2019 might be your best bet<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Discipline and consistency are these invisible forces that keep you progressing, regardless of how you feel. Think of it like being in the sea, feeling that invisible current taking you out to sea without effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re the type of person that struggles to string together a solid streak of weeks of workouts, going out for a \u2018bad workout\u2019 may just help you maintain momentum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure it won\u2019t be pretty, and if you\u2019re feeling sore, you can take a hall pass and cut the session shorter in terms of reps or distance. But most common scenario is you warm to the session and get into your proverbial and literal stride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for the times you\u2019re genuinely ill or injured in some way, taking an extra rest day becomes more favourable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When \u2018no workout\u2019 is more beneficial<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll keep this short – if you\u2019re working through a niggle, definitely stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muscular, tendon and ligament pain are very different to general soreness, and take much longer to heal if run on. Play the long game, drop the ego and take time out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonus one.<\/strong> What doesn\u2019t fit into this bad\/no workout categorisation is wanting to skip a workout because you feel generally burned out. In the short term, you would benefit from taking the \u2018no workout\u2019 option. But in the long term, you should probably cut down on volume to focus on quality over quantity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Workout of the Week<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Runners\u2019 Full Body Strength Builder \ud83d\udcaa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

#<\/th>Exercise<\/th>Sets x Reps<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
1<\/td>Barbell Deadlift<\/td>3 x 8-10<\/td><\/tr>
2<\/td>Box Jumps<\/td>4 x 5<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>Reverse Lunges<\/td>3 x 10-15<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>Dumbbell Chest Press<\/td>3 x 8-10<\/td><\/tr>
5<\/td>Seated Cable Row<\/td>3 x 8-10<\/td><\/tr>
6<\/td>Standing Calf Raises<\/td>2 x 15-20<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Notes:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Hips back! Feel free to use a kettlebell or hex bar<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Land straight legs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Knee to ground.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Feel free to switch to barbell, incline or chest machine<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Wider grip handle<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Make it harder by doing single leg<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    \ud83d\udc36 Paws for a min<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    trying and failing to exercise restraint with my marathon appetite<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I put out this poll out on my Instagram last month after a lousy lifting sesh. To my surprise, 62% of you favoured a bad workout over no workout. It seems more people than I thought buy into the saying of \u2018You never regret a workout\u2019 (unless you hurt yourself). But that\u2019s a very hard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[39,19,32,33,35],"class_list":["post-1457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-marathon","tag-running","tag-sc-for-runners","tag-sc-for-running","tag-strength-for-runners"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/completeathlete.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/completeathlete.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/completeathlete.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/completeathlete.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/completeathlete.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1457"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/completeathlete.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1459,"href":"https:\/\/completeathlete.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions\/1459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/completeathlete.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/completeathlete.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/completeathlete.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/completeathlete.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}