Make Up Cardio
You all know what I’m talking about… doing extra cardio (extra long, extra intensity, etc) to make up for what you ate the day before. I don’t believe in such a strategy as it only reinforces the wrong behaviors. Doing mass cardio on Monday after Easter Sunday will burn extra calories, but you’re likely to eat more later in the day and if such a strategy is used weekend after weekend… the result is an overtrained body. So in the end, there is no net gain in progress toward your fitness goals. I know all this and preach it… BUT, I did contemplate it this morning. I didn’t totally pig out on Easter candy and our Easter dinner was pretty healthy (for an Easter dinner), but I still felt guilty for giving in to the chocolate malt ball Easter eggs and extra serving of angel food cake w/ strawberries. What ended up happening is eating that sugar did not contribute to a good night’s sleep, so I was dead tired when the alarm went off at 4:30am. I decided not to push it and just did my weights with some calistehnics in between sets. So my workout this morning was not the usual 450-500 calorie burner; more like 300.
In the end, I was happy I at least recognized that I could not just do mass cardio to make up for the sugar eaten the day before. In fact, I listened to my body and didn’t push the cardio thing at all! I thought it would be better to do what was best for me physically, not mentally… at least today.
So remember… make up cardio is like make up sex… it doesn’t mean you’ve solved the root problem. Just tellin’ it like it is.
