I know we are in the middle of an obesity epidemic right now, however, I want to address those who are already doing. This is in hopes that those who are already doing reflect and save themselves from having to take time away from what they love. For those who aren’t doing anything, realize that most of the crazy stuff that you see people doing is unnecessary for general health benefits.
Time n time again I see people doing wayy too much. High-intensity boot camp classes, high-intensity yoga, high intensity running, high-intensity you name it. This is a lot. Not everything you do should be done at max intensity. Are you trying to be a high-level athlete or trying to live? Either way, some planned work and rest are needed. Even high-level athletes know to take care of their bodies. High-level athletes (Lebron, Steph Curry, James Harrison, Serena Williams) spend a ton of time and money on their recovery not just their “workouts” because they understand injury will lead to time away from their sport. Often times those athletes or people who are all go, no off, are beat down, hurt, injured or just in overall shambles. How nice would it be to not have some of these preventable injuries? If all you had to do was focus on your off as much as you focus on your on. Not having any sort of plan, just showing up and going as hard as possible, would be the habit to change if you were going to change anything. Without a plan, you are just throwing s**t against the wall and hoping it sticks. Having a goal will help you come up with a plan. If your goal is to be healthy you should start by defining WTH that even means. Without clear definitions, we are easily led astray. If you exercise for your health. Wouldn’t it make sense that you don’t want your exercise to lead to injury? Having an injury is technically unhealthy.
We have long moved away from the idea of no pain no gain. You do not want pain while exercising or after exercise. Soreness is one thing, pain is another. Neither should be a goal. The issue is, most people chase soreness which oftentimes leads to future pain. Constant soreness is a sure sign that you are doing wayyy too much. Without any planned downtime, that chase for soreness will lead you to a destination of injury. Another thing you may want to think about is the notion that you have to do a given move. This is not true, there is not a single universal exercise that everyone can do. If a certain movement creates pain, it may not be right for you at the moment. When you perform a movement that creates pain, try to do it differently and see if the pain goes away. If it doesn’t, stop doing that move and find an alternative, you do not have to do that move. So many people push through pain because they think they have to do the move. They think if I don’t do this I won't get any results. That is simply not true. What is true is that if you push through the pain until that pain turns into an actual injury, you will be sidelined because that’s often what the doctor prescribes. If it hurts to be in a push-up position, don’t be in a pushup position, for now. If it hurts to lunge, don’t lunge, for now. Notice for now. This is not a life sentence. Only temporary. Do the moves you can perform pain-free and work towards getting back to doing whatever you wish to do down the road.
None of this can be done without a plan. Hard to adjust when you don’t know what path you are heading down. This is why I like to say keep exercising and start training. If you want to continue doing the exercise you love, whether it be tennis, pilates, running, biking, etc, then adding some planned training into your weekly routine is highly advised. We cannot expect our bodies to continue to perform at the same level when all we do is kick the s**t out of it.