Total rest day

The real reason - I hate cats. Hate 'em.

Yeah, I know I've only trained once since my last rest day (Sunday), but when I woke up this morning I had several niggling pains in different parts of my body. My right ankle is still a little sore, but much better than it was, so maybe yesterday's split squats helped. On top of that:

• My left knee hurts when I bend it.
• Both shoulders are quite painful and still feel like they don't have much strength.
• My glutes are sore - probably from the aforementioned split squats - but my right one also feels like it's been strained.
• My left forearm is a little painful and my grip feels weak.

None of the above feel like an injury, but collectively it feels like my body is telling me it needs a break. Other than my scheduled rest days - usually Fridays and Sundays - I haven't taken a break from training since Fall last year.

I was planning on doing Murph today, which is a total of 2 miles running, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups and 300 squats. At least one of these movements would be affected by areas of my body that are causing me discomfort, so it wouldn't be a good idea to push my luck, (a) because I wouldn't be able to perform at my best, and (b) it would make the problems worse. (The pissing rain doesn't help.)

I considered doing something less challenging than Murph, but I can't think of any type of routine that wouldn't be made difficult by the various pains.

That's when I decided to just listen to my body and take it easy for a day. As difficult as it is not to be doing a workout on a Tuesday, I think it's for the best. Besides, I enjoy going to the gym because I look forward to the challenge of seeing how far I can push myself each day; if I go today it will only be out of feeling guilty for missing a session, which is the wrong reason.