Everyone burns out sometimes. We all “feel the funk.” We all have times when we just don’t want to exercise. So we went to Abu Dhabi trainer Tim Colledge, a fitness and nutrition coach who whips people into shape through his four, eight and 12-week The Body Project Program boot camps, for some simple tips on what to do when you’re not quite firing on all cylinders training-wise.
His advice? “It’s easy to train when you want to train. Really easy. It’s almost harder to not train when you’re ‘feeling it.’ But what happens when you’re in a funk? No drive to train, no goals in mind, no one by your side to push you? What then? Do the basics and ride it out.”
- Elevate your heart rate
Whether it’s the stairs to your office or a five-minute blast on a piece of home equipment, it doesn’t matter. Just raising your heart rate will remind you what it’s like to feel “gassed” and get some endorphins flowing. You never know, it might even prompt you to get back in the gym properly.
- Hit a muscle group with some weights or some form of resistance training
Optimally, you need to hit muscle groups with at least 15-18 sets per week to increase lean tissue, but if you’re feeling the funk and stuck in a rut, just just a few sets of exercises such as body weight, walking lunges, jump squats and/or push ups can be enough to help you hold onto muscle until you’re ready to hit it hard again.
- Hit base-level protein requirements
The fitness industry has been known to put out figures as high as 2 grams per kilogram of body weight for protein requirements. More recent studies have shown that holding onto muscle if you’re resistance training can be achieved with a ratio that is more like 1.4 grams per kilogram of body weight. Colledge recommends 1.6 even while not training, not necessarily for the benefit of holding onto muscle but for its satiating effect.
“Hit enough protein and you’re much less likely to over-consume on fats and carbs,” he says.
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