Daily exercise is sometimes easy, sometimes hard. Why?

Factual Questions
1

If there is no factual answer to this, I would expect the mods to move it to debates. I do some stretching every morning and I do 30 pushups. Sometimes, I can barely get through the pushups. My arms ache and quiver, and I feel like I’m going to fall on my face. And sometimes, although it’s never easy, it’s completely manageable and I sometimes even do a few extra. I don’t know if it’s mental or if there’s an actual physical reason. Feels completely physical to me. But is it? I can’t connect it to the amount of sleep I get or any other nighttime factor. Does anyone have any knowledge about this phenomenon?

2

I’ve noticed dramatic differences in my morning workout performance based on water and food consumption the prior day. Plenty of water and good nutrition will result in a better workout for me the next day.

3

You should alternate muscle exercise. One day focus on the arms and chest. Next day abs and legs.

So you’re resting that muscle group.

But I still have good and bad days. It gets harder every year. I’m not sure how much longer I can play basketball. A pickup game wipes me out for a couple days.

4

I can’t do that. I’ve done 30 or more pushups every morning for several years and I can’t not do them. In fact, I’m pushing 80 and I’m proud I can still do a bunch. But I don’t understand why the effort seems to change from day to day. Previous day’s nutrition? Hmmmmm.

5

This may not be a good answer. But performance varies for many reasons: adequate sleep, enough recovery time, relative blood sugar and hydration levels, level of muscle and connective tissue damage, central nervous system fatigue, damage from previous recent physical work, mood, other stressors in your life, feeling connected, health and medical concerns, disabilities, introducing new exercises, caloric intake, dietary timing and macro-components, time of day of exercise and motivation.

6

Good enough, Doc. Physical and mental/emotional factors can both be involved. I’d love to be able to isolate the one(s) that seem to be most salient, but I’ll have to be satisfied that there’s no single cause or explanation for the phenomenon.