Top 3 Reasons to Not Go 100%

Often you hear people talking about going 100% on every single workout in order to get results. It is true that you will need to put a good amount of effort into your workouts to get results, but sometimes it's a good idea to step it down a notch. Here my top 3 reasons you should not work out at 100% every once in a while:

1. Prevent overtraining. If you continually push your body past its limits, it's eventually going to break down. Exercise is stressful to the body and it needs to be able to recuperate. If you're constantly going all out, your body can't recover from the stress you're putting on it and an overtraining injury is bound to happen. Strategically reducing your intensity is sometimes just what the doctor ordered to keep your muscles and joints feeling good so you can continue to exercise.
2. Allows your body to adapt. When we're exercising, we are asking our bodies to adapt to the stress. Our bodies can't do this if we're constantly overworking it when we exercise. It's important to throw in a low intensity workout every now and then so our bodies can grow stronger and become healthier from our previous workouts.
3. Who really wants to go “all out” every single day? Sometimes a nice walk on the beach or a hike in the woods sounds a lot more fun and refreshing than working myself to exhaustion. It helps me stay mentally motivated to come back strong in my next workout.

You may have other reasons for turning the intensity dial down from 11. The important thing is that you do it to allow your body to recover and adapt. Nobody can go 100% all the time. If they don't mentally break down, their body eventually will. What sense does it make to put in all this hard work only to be stopped in your tracks by an injury or getting burned out?

Remember, fitness is a marathon. Stepping down the intensity once in a while will keep you healthy and allow your body the opportunity to make the changes you're asking it to do.