listen to your body.

besides my obsession with turbokick, i did get in two strength training workouts this week which were a nice little change.  they were around 25 minutes a piece which actually was perfect since i feel like i have been running around like a crazy person trying to be wedding productive.

in regards to strength training and working out in general i want to share something with you.  i was at they gym on thursday morning and i felt so energized and motivated but my body was a little sore so i decided i just wanted to lift lighter weights and treated the day more like a rehab day for my body more than anything. 

i was still so happy to be there.  happy enough that i didn't even put my head phones in as i was so content just listening to absolutely nothing.  it wasn't very busy so it was almost as if i really wasn't hearing much of anything except an occasional treadmill here and there.  after about 10 minutes into my work out i was doing some bicep curls with 12 lbs.  a man walked by and started up a conversation with me and what he said made me wish i would have been listening to my iPod rather than having empty ears which was more or less an open invitation for him to talk to me.  i don't need to list everything that he said but it mostly centered around this:

• i needed to lift heavier weights
• i needed to stand against a wall to make it more difficult
• i should try cross fit
• my 'workout' plan for the day wasn't productive enough and i should probably just stick to the one he told me to do instead
  

i thanked him for his advice and tried to move along and continue my workout.  i put my weights down and went over to do my second round of 3 circuit push-ups.  i started to breathe heavier and became irritated because i started telling myself things like, "maybe i should be lifting heavier weights,"  "maybe i shouldn't have had a rehab day,"  and of course this question had to come to mind..."if he is telling me that my workout today isn't good enough how am i ever going to create effective plans for clients?" 

i stood up and went for my second round of bicep curls.  this time i grabbed 17.5 lb weights and continued on.  i did not want to be lifting that amount.  it was heavy and i did not want to stand against a wall.  and within seconds i just wasn't having a good time anymore.  i felt uncomfortable because i felt as if he was watching me and critiquing everything that i did.  i put my weights down and reminded myself why i was there in the first place:  rehab day.  i wanted to go put my head phones in to hide myself from his comments but i just couldn't.  i wasn't going to be afraid of him like that.  i put the heavier weights back on the rack and grabbed the lighter weights and looked up the original workout i had planned in my phone and finished it with a smile on my face.  he walked by a few more times during that time and tried telling me things and i just continued to thank him but told him i didn't need his help.  i was content doing the workout i wrote out for myself and ya know what, it felt good to say that.

my point is this.  it is so so important that we listen to our bodies when we live active lifestyles.  i had already had 3 hard workouts that week and my body was telling me that it wanted weights, but wanted them in light doses.  it doesn't matter that everyone else there was lifting more than me and it doesn't matter if one person thinks there idea or plan is better for you because actually the only person that knows whats best for your body is you.  whether you run 30 miles a week or jog once or whether you bench press 150 pounds compared to just the bar, never ever feel intimidated by others at the gym.  they don't know what you did prior to that workout or what you have planned for the rest of the week.  if i know that i'm not going to work out for a few days, i push myself hard during that final workout.  if i get in a funk and am just too lazy to do anything there, sometimes i sit on a yoga mat and talk with co-workers instead of pushing my body over its limits.  you know you best and there is only one person that can judge you and i promise you that he loves you just the way you are. 

i hope that when i post workouts on my blog you take parts of them that you love and do them and i hope you ditch the parts you hate.  if i write down 25 reps of something and you want to do 10, great!  if you want to do 30, awesome!  it is never my intent to push you further than you can go or not push you hard enough.  they are just workouts that i love to do and love to share and i never want to make you feel inadequate for either not doing them or disagreeing with them.  as long as your being you 100% of the time, that is what counts!!  the 17.5 lb dumbbell curls were not me that day and as soon as i realized that, my workout ROCKED!

happy sweating!