Mental Game - Reasons for training while tired/sick etc

[Nath]

Hey all,

I read the Way of the Warrior Kid this weeks and noticed uncle Jack telling Marc that being tired is no excuse for not working out.

I'd like to know more about the mental talk that goes with this mindset - that it doesn't matter whether you are tired, whether you are sick, whether you are over trained... you still workout.

I have a solid early morning routine working out among other things, but every so often I feel exhausted or didn't sleep well, etc etc.

My current mental talk on these occasions excuses myself from working out with the reasons that I need to recover, I need to be healthy in order to train, and these internal discussions give me "valid" reasons to not get up early and get going.

I appreciate your feedback guys!

[mynewunit]

Great question. The first question is what is your goal? Jocko's intent is to elevate your heart rate, go through a range of physical activity or motion that results in a better state of physical fitness. Now lets compare that to Mark Rippetoe. Mark's Starting Strength program is focused on getting you to increase you ability to dead lift, squat, push press, or bench press as fast as possible. Research says the rest (between sets, between workouts, and sleep) is as critical as diet and exercise.
There is another aspect to Jocko's intent and that is mental conditioning. His "career" required doing the difficult or unwilling. He recently stated that "You should workout on the days you don't feel like it. You can take the next day off."
Jocko, and many of the authors he has read from, talk about daily physical activity helping every aspect of health. Mental clarity, mood, sleep, diet. Unless you are going to get into hypertrophy or endurance training that have associated stress injury, you should be able to exercise daily.
Throwing in an early bed time, nap, or an 8 to 9 hour shot of sleep once a week is not going to have your "get after it" card taken away.