When is it OK to ditch your workout?

Every single fitpro in the land can tell the difference between someone who can't make their session and are TRULY gutted about it OR if they are just pretending to themselves that they have a valid reason to bunk their sweatsesh!

The real reason why it bothers us if we know you are faking it is because we know you just broke your routine...... and for people who haven't quite fallen in love with their training just for trainings sake, they are the ones that are more likely to lose their mojo by a missed session or two and stop coming altogether.

Sticking to a routine is a pretty decent way to build a habit.... it helps you feel comfortable with what you are doing, you start to feel like you are missing out if you can't make it and sometimes even a little guilty if you decide to ditch your workout. Almost everyone starts off by having to 'make themselves' attend, but soon enough you WILL start to feel attached to your workout..... it just takes a few weeks to get there. This is why your instructor or trainer likes it when you attend regularly for the first few months, then we know you aren't likely to completely lose your mojo and stop training if you have to miss a sesh here or there.

Sometimes though the guilt of missing a workout can get a little too much. We all need to occasionally take time out for friends and family, have a rest day, admit to ourselves we actually are ill and need to let ourselves recuperate. So how can we tell the difference between lieing to ourselves to make feel better about cheating the routine AND not listening to our own bodies when they really need a break? Here is your tongue in cheek guide to not being a workout evader!

WHEN YOU MISSED YOUR BUS TO WORK, YOUR BOSS TOLD YOU YOU'RE AN IDIOT AND YOU OVERHEARD CINDY FROM ACCOUNTS BITCHING ABOUT YOU AT THE WATER COOLER.

Get your butt to class! Exercise is the perfect way to relieve stress and get you back to feeling like the calm, machine like creature you are! The distraction of seeing your fitfam will take your mind off Cindy and her big mouth and by the time you've finished you won't even remember about the bus drama. It will all seem like one big joke and you'll have a fresh calm mind to return to work the next day..... you might even avoid 'accidentally' tripping Cindy up when she's carrying her green tea back to her desk!

WHEN YOU'VE BEEN HAULED INTO A DISCIPLINARY, PUT ON A 2 MONTH PROBABTION AND YOU'VE SPENT THE WHOLE DAY CRYING IN THE TOILET

OK so exercise MIGHT make you feel better BUT if you've spent the whole day crying you are probably going to have a banging head ache, have to do the class in sunglasses because you look like you've rubbed a jellyfish all over your face and if your instructor tells you to squat deeper you might just about have a melt down on the floor. Sometimes it's just better to get home, down a keg of water to rehydrate after the devastating moisture loss from your tear ducts and get your well squatted ass to bed at 8:30pm. Tomorrow is a new day and all that!

WHEN YOUR WORKOUT BUDDY MARY DITCHES YOU FOR THE PUB BECAUSE THE DATE SHE WENT OUT WITH TWICE HASN'T MESSAGED HER BACK AND SHE WANTS TO DROWN HER SORROWS

I tell you what, Mary is a bad influence. She needs to grow a pair. So tell her to go enjoy herself and you get your self-righteous, empowered self to class to mingle with your fitfam and to talk to people you haven't tried to get to know before! I get it, it's nice to have the support of your trusted workout buddy. The thing is if you rely on their presence too much you could be missing out on a whole new social scene..... as well as getting the self-reliance to be able to workout whenever YOU want to.... and not only when Mary decides she can be arsed!

WHEN YOUR WORKOUT BUDDY INGRID GETS DUMPED BY HER PARTNER OF 12 YEARS AND YOU ARE GOING ROUND TO STOP HER FROM CUTTING HIS/HER FACE OUT OF EVERY PHOTO THEY EVER HAD TAKEN TOGETHER WHILE CHANTING IN THEIR PANTS.

We all need friends. And sometimes you're going to have to take one for the team........ and this might be the occasion that you have to. Ingrid needs a pal and at some point you're going to need one too.... so suck it up, cancel your bootcamp sesh and get yourself round to her gaff with a bottle of vino and 48 Terry's chocolate oranges. And a steel box to lock all her scissors in.... she might want those photos to put on the human effigy when she burns it on a bonfire Saturday night!

WHEN YOU'VE WOKEN UP FRIDAY MORNING WITH A SNIFFLE.... AND THERE'S NO WAY YOU COULD POSSIBLY THINK OF GOING TO YOUR EXERCISE SESH........ WHICH YOU HAVE BOOKED FOR TUESDAY

I don't know a fitpro in the land that doesn't stab forks into their own eyeballs when this happens lol! Take a good long look in the mirror, suck an orange and wait until your cancellation period is close before your bin off your session. You could be feeling like a secret ninja again by Saturday morning and if you are just a teenie bit ill, exercise will help boost your immune system and get you feeling tip top again!

WHEN YOU WAKE UP LOOKING AND FEELING LIKE A WALKING CORPSE AND YOU'RE PROBABLY GOING TO KEEL OVER IF YOU NEED TO JOG FOR THE BUS

Go back to bed. And stay away from us..... we don't want your lurgy.... and also we do really care that you don't make youself even more ill obviously! If you are sick (I mean sick, not just a sniffle!) then training isn't going to make you feel any better and can actually make you feel worse. Get yourself home and rub yourself with some vegetables and stick Eastenders on.