In the moment, it’s easy to get caught up, to feel self-conscious, to feel weak, unfit, or behind everyone else. But the truth is, we are all on a journey of life, love, career and yes, even fitness. And with all things in life, it’s easy to fall into the comparison trap if you aren’t careful.
This was what I loved about GPP at Blend. They’re believers in pushing yourself while staying within your own bodies abilities. And since coming home from Blend, it’s clear I’m continuing to love their workouts, but let’s be clear – they aren’t easy. And in fact, they require me to stay very in tune to my body’s needs, whether that being able to push harder, modify an exercise or quite simply, stop.
And that’s what I did on Saturday – I stopped.
When I got to the gym Saturday morning, I was feeling confident. The workout looked challenging but not terrible and I even thought I’d tack some additional cardio when I finished. HA!
Someone was using (all of) the boxes so I started walking the track to warm up and then hopped onto the stationary bike for 15 minutes waiting for him to finish. When he was done, I grabbed the shortest box and a 15lb kettle bell and got to work. I was immediately put into place – this was not going to be easy. In that moment I vowed to listen to my body, to put my ego aside and do what I needed to, even if that meant stopping early. You could say I gave in too early but I would disagree with you.
I made it through 6 of the 10 rounds, finishing after my 15 reps set (still 100+ reps). I finished feeling strong but tired. I finished when my body knew it needed to stop. I finished with a 10 minute walk around the track (as I wrote this post). 😉
We have to know our limits. We have to know our boundaries. And we have to know its okay to stop when our bodies tell us to. (Right, Amanda?)
I am not good at pushing myself in those types of workouts to begin with, however, with running, I’m not sure I always knew when to stop. I think that’s why I am not running now. There was a moment, a day or two before Blend, where I was running and literally though, “Running and I are about to break up.” I then ran two more miles, pushing through, because I couldn’t just stop like that. But now I have. And I can’t say I’m unhappy.
Also, can you tell by all my running comments that I’m still a bit nervous about NOT running? Isn’t that a weird feeling to have? I don’t know if I’m scared I’ll suddenly NOT be fit (or suddenly my pants won’t fit…) but it’s so weird to let something go like that.
don’t be nervous / scared about not running. i didn’t gain any weight (in fact i lost weight from not being stressed) when I quit running (and working out altogether) last fall. it will be fine!
on the flip side: i’m challenging myself to run every day. no specific distance. just run.
Good for you for listening to your body!! I don’t think I was ever really good at accepting the fact that I needed to quit in the past but now that I’m working at getting back to my level of fitness with a knee that’s not quite 100%, I’m much more forgiving of myself. I know that there are some things I need to really push myself with and not get that all-or-nothing attitude, but there are also times where I just have to call it quits. I just keep reminding myself that SOMETHING is better than NOTHING!
I love the name of that workout – Hoppy Sumo. I’m still laughing. 🙂
Yupp! Wrote a whole drawn out post on that very idea! 😉
This post: http://www.semihealthyblog.com/2013/05/should-your-workout-leave-you-sore-for.html
🙂
Very smart! I wrote a while back about competing with myself – that working out should only be about being better than ourselves not a competition. Good for you to listen to your body and know what you need. I think so many times its easy to think we have to finish and end up out of the game because of injuries or burnout.
Great reminder. I’m not very good at listening to my body–especially when it’s saying to slow down or stop. And I always regret it later. Our bodies are smarter than we give them credit for!
Love this! I think pushing ourselves past our limit is a big injury inducer. If we listen to our bodies – and don’t push ourselves past our daily limits – then we truly do what’s best for ourselves! Each day is different and so is each person so it is important to get out of the comparison mindset, with both yourself and others.