Take a break!
I sit here writing early in the morning, while my brain is fresh.. my favorite time to create, think and write. Quiet house. Double shot of espresso.
Bliss.
But while my fingers are tapping away, my muscles aren’t so fresh!
It’s been a week where I’m back to some tough training after my holiday break. And, I kid you not, every single muscle is talking to me, saying “Lisa.. wtf?!”.
Let me back track…
The holidays were lovely… I relaxed, enjoyed family time and felt more in the Christmas spirit than I had last year, when my dad had just passed away.
The holidays, albeit not the same without dad, were a little better than they were the year before.
And I also took a solid break from training…. an intentional break.
And it felt great!
As some of you might know already, I will take periodic breaks from training, usually 2x a year.
I see it as a “pause button “ or reset for both my body and mind. The time to let go and just enjoy the present moment without lifting a single weight or following my strength program. At best, all I do is leisure walk. Easy.
Now of course, you can totally train while on vacation or during the holidays, but I do advocate, even with my clients, a little break sometimes does a world of good ( more on that later)
Key word though…. little!
Because, the reality is taking a short break can lead to a longer one… and that ain’t so good!
WHY?
Because we aren’t wired to want to exercise/train/pull a sweat/get uncomfortable/ you get the picture.
We are creatures of comfort. And, well doing nothing but sitting on a couch (or beach chair!) is comfortable. We like it. It’s easy. And it’s far too easy to keep doing just that.
So after about 2 weeks of nada, I decided to hit the gym. I was mentally prepared for the discomfort I was about to face. But I also knew that the first one back is often the worst one back and I was ready to rip the band-aid.
Couple of observations…
I did the exercises I knew. No new stuff.. why make things harder?
I did the exercises I like. Why do the things I hate, am I right?
I was out of breath throughout… even though my session was NOT cardio! #suckingwind
I felt rusty… Tinman anyone?!
I talked to myself throughout…an important piece while training since our minds dictate what our body will do.
Happy I got it done, I went along with my day. My muscles had woken up. And I felt sore again. I never chase being sore by the way… in fact, I don’t want to be too sore! I don’t want that feeling to stop me from training for a few days. That would just defeat the purpose to get back to my routine.
.
Couple of nuggets I always learn when I take my training breaks…
The less we do, the less we want to do. Fact.
Wheels in motion, stay in motion. It’s far easier to keep going when you don’t stop too long. For some people, taking only 2-3 consecutive days off is enough to derail them the rest of the week. For others not so much. Where do fall on that spectrum? Some don’t care or think much of it. Others feel “bad” if they don’t train for a week or 2. Ask yourself why that is if that’s you.
Training breaks do NOT equate weight gain or body composition changes. A week or 2 will NOT have a massive impact… or at least not as much as you might think.
Our muscular endurance will drop quite quickly though ( about a week is enough to cause a decrease) Which is why my HR was 167BPM while I was doing lunges!
As a coach, taking a break and then starting back up again, literally helps me once again empathize with clients who feel the same way. Sore muscles, feeling rusty, getting back to it… coach or client we are ALL the same :)
It does do some good though.
A rested body and mind are ideal for stimulating and challenging our muscles once again.
Because we know and love that feeling after a workout, right?
Because no matter what happens that day, you know you did something good for your body and feel more productive!
Final thoughts…
I don’t know if you took a break during the holidays or maybe you’re on one now for whatever reason.
But know this.. taking a break is GOOD but getting back to it is far BETTER!
PS. I have sore muscles this morning because of the new training program I did with my coach. So I’m back to doing new exercises…some of course I don’t like! Just like you this month in our WOW program :)
Cheers to doing uncomfortable things and getting better!
Coach Lisa 💪
