It's Not Crazy To Workout Everyday
MARCH 22, 2021 | WORDS BY MATT DELLAVALLE
There’s a lot of people (coaches and fitness influencers included) who will tell you that working out every day is crazy. These people are in fact lying to you. Working out everyday is not crazy at all. In fact, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to ask nearly anyone to workout everyday.
Yup...ANYONE. Yup...EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. You heard it right here -- I am encouraging you to workout everyday. Don’t write me off as extreme just yet. In three short paragraphs, I bet you will be agreeing with me.
Before you grab your pitchforks and torches to run me out of “Fitness Town” let me explain to you what I mean. When I say workout, I am referring to moving and training your body in a meaningful way beyond just waking up, eating, sitting at your desk, eating, sitting on the couch, eating, more couch and then going to bed. Moving and training your body can take many, many forms. I am not talking about workouts solely as doses of high intensity, grueling efforts, or huge amounts of strain. Some of your workouts can and should be challenging; however, there should also be a portion of workouts that are moderate intensity and low intensity. And, dare I even say it? EFF IT, I’M GONNA SAY IT (CF gods please forgive me)...some of your workouts should have NO INTENSITY. We need to ditch the idea that every workout needs to leave you in a puddle of your former self. That’s simply not the case. Working out everyday like THAT will at some point render you useless for days, if not weeks, at a time.
If we can agree that working out involves moving and training your body at different levels of intensity, then “working out everyday” shouldn’t sound so extreme.
But, I bet it does. I bet some of you are still thinking “I enjoy my rest days...forget this guy.” Fair...but let me ask you, what prevents you on a “rest day” from going on a 20-30 minute walk, practicing yoga, doing an hour worth of yard work, or going to shoot hoops with your friends? THOSE ARE ALL WORKOUTS. Some days you’ll be grinding it out in the gym but other days you can simply just flow, walk, stretch, work, or move. This is what it is to be human -- to move our bodies, connect with others, and connect with nature. What I’ve observed is that it’s very easy to be funneled into an Amazon Prime, Netflix, and DoorDash world. A world where you don't have to move, don’t have to connect with anyone else, and damn sure don’t have to go outside. I don’t have the stats to back this up but I bet there’s a lot of people out there who don’t leave the couch all day, everyday.
I’m not trying to throw shade...we’ve made that a very easy and attractive option. It’s very easy to order food, turn on a movie, and order anything your heart desires without moving.
It’s very easy to wake up the day after a workout and tell yourself that “I earned that seat on the couch and this cheat meal.” It’s very easy to say, “I’m very busy today, no time to workout. More important things to do.” It’s very easy to get to the end of the day and mainline the new crime documentary for 3 hours, fall asleep on the couch, wake up for midnight snack, then head to bed. I know it’s easy because I’ve been there too.
Maybe at this point you’re thinking “it’s just semantics.” Hmm, maybe it is. But guess what...a lot of people still aren’t doing ANY of this stuff no matter what you call it. The bottom line is that everyday we can and should move our bodies. Everyday it should be a priority. Depending on your goals, I would suggest at least 3 workouts per week that really challenge you. Perhaps you can handle more than that or maybe you need to start out with a little less...either way it is important that you’re working your body through some level of strain. My challenge to you is on those remaining days...the days you don’t go to the gym, don’t pull up the App, or don’t get after a tough workout. On those days, I WANT YOU TO WORKOUT. I want you to do something that moves or trains your body. And whether that’s a walk, yard work, sports, recovery work, stretching, or whatever -- I want you to do more than nothing. Do something (...anything!) that's more than just finding your favorite seat on the couch.
So, next time someone asks you, how often do you workout? Your answer can and should be…”I workout EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.”
