Most of us set out with a plan that is working towards our goals. We put it in action, but then sometimes halfway thru, you realize you need to come up with a Plan B! This week I ran my cardio in a gymnasium at my YMCA. The continuous circular running forced me to use different muscles than I was accustomed to using…..which is good in the long term. Short term it meant very, very sore muscles {all.week.long!}. I kept going with all lifting and cardio on the following days and then eventually had a massage. By Friday, my body was screaming at me! A massage is great, it’s just that for my body it seems to always cause a lot of lethargy and very sore muscles for a few days. I’d rather have those toxins rustled and then released from my body than to have them stuck inside of me, but the detox is challenging.
So, as I finished my Friday lifting and hopped on the step mill for a planned 45-minute HIIT cardio, my body said, “Nice try, not so much!” I chose to cut it short after a grueling 20 minutes and then called it a day. It spoke. I listened. The short of my point is that it is CRUCIAL for you to listen to your body. You’ll head off sickness, overuse, and injury if you keep an open ear and heed what your body is telling you.
Don’t feel guilty about scratching the plan, sometimes you just have to let it go. If you know in your heart that you’re giving it your all and not coming up with an excuse to cut it short, you’re headed in the right direction. For those of us who it hit hard day in and day out every week, we know what it’s like to sometimes hit a wall in our plan. Our mind says one thing, but the body’s saying another. Go with the body, show some love for yourself, get some rest…you’ll be happy you did!
