7 WAYS TO GET THROUGH YOUR WORK OUT ON THOSE SUPER HARD DAYS
7 WAYS TO GET THROUGH YOUR WORKOUT ON THOSE SUPER HARD DAYS
"I was fit and losing weight, but I didn’t feel good. My adrenal glands were over taxed and I was asking too much of my body. I was not honouring my body."
I am a committed worker-outer. I complete some form of disciplined physical activity 5 days per week. Its not always long and its not always hard. But I’m committed. I rarely-to-never miss a workout.
Its not always easy to be super committed to fitness, but it is simple when I follow these 7 principles that I’ve developed for myself. I’ve shared them with you below.
We all have those days. I have them often. The only time I get to work out is before the chaos of family life begins in the morning. I can be tired, maybe a little groggy and sometimes I just don’t feel like it. Yet I know that if I just get started I’ll get it done and be happy that I did.
1. EAT FIRST
This is simple. Make sure you are fed and hydrated before you workout. This is part of honouring your body.
The crazy former-me used to be so motivated to lose pounds that I would get up at 6am before the rest of the house did, down a cup of coffee and tear it up on the treadmill and free-weights. I would wait to eat till after my workout in an effort to burn more fat. And then I used to wonder why I would crash in the afternoon and could hardly keep my head up. I was fit and losing weight, but I didn’t feel good. My adrenal glands were over taxed and I was asking too much of my body. I was not honouring my body.
Needless to say this was not a sustainable approach. My approach evolved as I began to listen to the needs of my body. And those needs exceeded just weight-loss. Instead I began to focus on holistic balance in regards to both weight-loss and nutrition.
Now that I eat and hydrate before every workout, my results are better than ever.
2. TAKE IT ONE MINUTE AT A TIME
When I’m looking at that treadmill and dreading my life, I give myself permission to stop after 1 minute. I say to myself “just start Mari-Claire, just start. If it hurts too much, you can stop.”
Once I get through the first minute and onto 2 minutes I give myself permission to stop after 5 minutes if I need to. When I get to 5 minutes I give myself permission to stop at 10 minutes. You can do this too!
And if you’re really not feeling well, didn’t get enough sleep, or whatever, and you really have to stop, then you do. You tried. You showed up. It counts. Tomorrow is a new day. But I bet once you get started, you’ll keep going.
Just take it one minute at a time. Ask no more of yourself. Honour yourself.
3. MAKE SURE YOUR WORKOUTS ARE MANAGEABLE AND REALISTIC
I used to go hard and fast and long in an effort to reach my fitness goals, but that approach drained my adrenal glands, ate up time that was needed for other things and in the end was not sustainable for me.
When you begin a very ambitious workout program it can be empowering at first, but if the time and energy toll is excessive it can be very hard to continue. No matter what a personal trainer or video series may advise, you are the master of your body, and being in tune with what your body is telling you is key. If its too much, its too much. Make peace with that.
Remember that physical fitness is one part exercise, one part metabolism, and one part diet. It is 100% possible to implement a fitness regimen in your life that fits your life-style and still delivers results, even if its not as long or hard as you think it may need to be.
My workout schedule is built around how busy my life is and what other family demands are upon me. I modify my workouts so that they are a realistic and do-able thing in my life.
The rest of your life needs you to have energy and to feel victorious. When you strike the right balance with your fitness routine you will feel empowered and accomplished.
For example, I run for 15 minutes 3 days per week, every other day. And on the alternate days I push a little harder; running for 12 minutes and muscle training for 30 minutes. For me this is a perfect balance of briefness and challenge and its delivering better, healthier results than the harder approach ever did. It’s important to note that just because this approach works for me, it may not be an ideal approach for you. Listen to your body. Allow it to speak to you about its needs. And listen to a qualified fitness instructor also.
4. REMEMBER THAT EVERY DAY IS DIFFERENT
This is all part of keeping it manageable. Give yourself permission to reduce your usual intensity levels if you don’t feel great on a particular day. In this way it becomes easier to keep your fitness commitments even when you just don’t feel like it.
Some days when I go for a run I feel great, like I could run for an hour or more and still be energized. Other days every bone in my body feels draggy and stiff and it takes effort to get going.
Sometimes when my immune system is working on healing an illness I have very little energy, and the last thing my body needs is to be over-worked. I have learned to recognize the signs from my body and respond accordingly. At the same time, its healthy to move, even when you’re under the weather.
While my core regimen remains the same, I always give myself permission to modify my workout to match the energy levels of my body on any given day.
For example, if I’m sluggish due to a cold or lack of sleep I may still push for a 15 minute treadmill session, but not ask my body to run the whole time. I may combine running, or walking or skipping on the treadmill and my may combine different speeds to just slow the whole thing down a bit.
I use the “one minute at a time” approach to keep me focused and I tell myself “Just do what ever it takes to push through, but just go easy.” That way I still showed up, I still worked out, the endorphins still got flowing, but at the same time I honoured my body and treated it with respect.
5. CHANGE IT UP
Workouts can get just plain boring if you’ve been following the same routine for weeks or months. Change something up.
Changing where you workout is an option. If you are a home based exerciser, try the gym. If the gym is too much of an effort or causes conflicts with your schedule, give Youtube and free weights a try. I have achieved excellent fitness results from training at home.
I do not love cardio. I especially find running on the treadmill mind-numbing. And while dance cardio can be a little less monotonous, the high impact is hard on my joints and it can get pretty dry too after a while.
So, I change it up when I get bored. I do something differently. I modify my routine to provide my brain with something new to think about.
Treadmill aerobics has been a particularly good solution for my boredom prone workout brain. It combines varied speeds, skipping, jumping, side stepping with running. It keeps me focused on timing to change up my moves and keeps things a little more interesting. And the best part about treadmill aerobics is that you can constantly change it up. It never has to be the same twice.
6. REMEMBER WHY YOU ARE WORKING OUT
How did it begin for you. What fired you up in the first place?
When you are lying in bed, or driving home, or wherever you are while inwardly dreading your workout, take a moment to remember why you started, what your reasons are and how far you have come.
Every day is a relevant milestone on your journey toward your goals; be it weight loss or wellness or both. Fall in love with your reasons, remember why it matters to you, and give your self a little push.
Take it one minute at a time and look forward to the endorphin release that will follow you for hours afterward.
7. BE GENTLE WITH YOURSELF
And if you just can’t do it today, then you can’t. Tomorrow is a new day. Be gentle with yourself.
Every day is an opportunity to create wellness and walk a mile on your journey. Give your body some credit for knowing what its supposed to do, and then focus on your next reasonable opportunity to move your body with purpose, challenge and respect.
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Mari-Claire is available to speak at events in your area. LEARN MORE HERE