Everyday Fitness

I never miss a day at the gym but today I felt so tired I didn't go. This was the first time in 7 months that I ever missed a day. Will it cause me to gain fat because I didn't do a lot of walking today, maybe 60 minutes of activity all day? I took in less calories than usual... Is this ok?

This above quote from the BodyBuilding.com Forums, inspired by a similar conversation I had with a friend recently.

Alright alright, I know I made a big fuss about exercise being a part of your life, and not skipping days. However, there's a line that needs to be recognized. If you are legitimately too tired and sore from your last work out, your body may benefit from an additional days rest. So even if you're used to exercising say, Mon-Wed-Fri, maybe one time you just aren't ready to exercise Friday after Wednesday's workout. Maybe you need to push that workout to Saturday instead. And that's perfectly fine, because there's a lot of factors that go into recovery: what time of day you work out, the food you eat, other physical work you do outside the gym, how much sleep you get, etc.

Matter of fact, I like taking a whole week off every few months to give my body a complete rest; this is called deloading. Deloading can trick you though! It's like my mind equates post-workout soreness with being bigger and stronger. So once that soreness leaves by the end of a deload, I feel small and weak; don't let this fool you. Once you do get back to the gym, you'll hit the weights with the fury of an angry god!

Sometimes I find myself with too many bananas than I can eat before they turn over-ripe. Recently, I came across the idea of freezing them to make banana ice cream! You freeze the bananas and put them through a food processor or blender, after peeling them of course. Simple as that. With a few minutes blending, the bananas turn into a creamy treat you can eat right then and there, or put back into a container in the freezer to scoop out later. You can get creative and throw in some additions before refreezing. Try blending in peanut butter, hand mixing chopped peanuts, mixing in other chopped fruit like strawberries, adding swirls of chocolate sauce, mixing in chocolate chunks, or even instant coffee if you'd like; anything goes!

Maybe you've been captured by a crime syndicate and forced to fight for your life, and you need to toughen up in your prison cell during the days leading up to your epic battle... or you're traveling and don't have a place to work out. Whatever the reason, here's some exercises you can do anytime, anywhere, with nothing but your own determination:

• Step-ups or Single Leg Squats: The single leg squats might feel a little awkward at first, but once you get used to the balancing they work great. To start off, you can use a chair or some object to help steady yourself. For step-ups, all you need is a sturdy chair or some sort of platform to step on to. With either exercise, you can add resistance by holding heavy house-hold objects in your hands.
  
• Chin-ups or Supine Rows: The chin-ups require a sturdy door frame you can get a grip over, otherwise they may be difficult to do around the house. I would say, you can bring a chin-up bar with you to hook onto a door, but the idea here is to get a workout with absolutely no special equipment. In that case, you can do supine rows by laying under a sturdy table and gripping the edge, pulling your body up towards the table.
  
• Push-ups, or Handstand Push-ups: You can do push-ups in many variations. You can do them leaning against a wall, on the ground with your knees resting on the floor, or as shown in the link. The real ambitious souls can try handstand push-ups. To do these, stand with your back against a wall, crouch down placing your hands on the floor in front of you, and slowly "walk" your way upside down into the handstand position.
  
• Jack Knife Sit-ups and Supermans: You can jack up the intensity of these exercises by holding them at the top of the motion for a few seconds, or a few minutes if you can handle it.
  
• Curls and Bench Dips: You can curl just about anything to work your biceps; it doesn't have to be a dumbbell! Backpacks or suitcases work well here. Also, it shouldn't be hard to find a piece of furniture you can do dips with. Honourable mention goes out to other auxiliary exercises you can do just about anywhere given a heavy backpack or suitcase: Shrugs, Wrist Curls, and Calf Raises on some stairs.
  

With all that, you should hit your legs, back, chest, core, and arms very effectively using no gym equipment what-so-ever. I like to do the above exercises in 3-5 sets of about 12-24 reps. To mix up the intensity, try performing explosive and powerful movements, do multiple exercises one after the other, or hold the exercise at its hardest point; you can easily find out the peak position which requires the most effort by experimenting.