We all have our off days, and even the people most committed to fitness have a day or two where they’re just not into it. Do try to be mindful about whether it’s your body or your brain talking to you before you push ahead and workout through your resistance. Sometimes our bodies just need an off day and we should respect that for our safety and well being. But when it’s just your mind chatter getting the way, or you had a crappy day in general and don’t feel like focusing, it can actually be really helpful to workout anyway.
The key is to skip the complicated stuff, and forget about tracking your progress or doing calculated intervals for a day. It doesn’t even have to be that long of a workout, focus instead on just getting your body moving and melting some of the stress away. Often times if you start out by committing to something small you’ll be motivated to continue on with your workout anyway, it’s just best not to overload yourself and psych yourself out before you even begin. Choosing workouts that focus on a single move can be just the way to do it. Here are some examples.
The Medicine Ball Slam
The medicine ball slam is just what it sounds like, a few minutes of straight medicine ball slamming. Do 20 seconds in each round of overhead slamming, and use as much force as you can. Rest for ten seconds between each round and keep this cycle going for four minutes. You can do as many of those cycles as you want, even taking it to 16 minutes. Your heart rate will shoot up, it will wear you out even though it’s a simple repetitive exercise, and it’s a good way to get out any energy you’re holding onto at the end of the day.
Nonstop Lunges
Another great exercise that you don’t have to think about too much is doing walking lunges for ten minutes straight. If you’re outside you can go as far as you want, or if your space is limited try turning after every few lunges. When they’re done right this should seriously burn. Keep the pace slow if you want to work more on muscle building, or pick up the pace to shoot your heart rate up. After you’ve done this for ten minutes and cleared your mind a bit you might feel motivated to move on to working out another part of the body.
Kettlebell Swings
Using a kettlebell that’s a challenging weight but not an impossible one, stand rooted in one position and swing the kettlebell back and forth up to 300 times. Count backwards from 300 to make the process more bearable, as opposed to counting up which sounds a little more intense. The only thing you need to think about while performing this exercise besides keeping good form is getting your reps down to the last one, and you’ll be working out your core, arms, back, and shoulders while you do so.