Listen to Your Body..... Then Use Your Mind

Balance, Stress and Injuries....

These are Elements you have to deal with in everyday life and in your efforts toward a healthy lifestyle of diet and exercise.

What is the right balance?

How do you stress for success?

How do you avoid injuries (physical, mental or emotional) and how do you deal with them when you get them?

Let me relate a few thoughts on these items.

As I've documented in this blog, my exercise routine over the past few months has been built around a base of Group Exercise Classes, the most prominent of which is a High Rep, High Intensity Weight Workout called Body Pump.

After a few weeks of this class, I felt a need to "stretch" my workouts to more dynamic movement type classes.  I had lost a significant amount of weight and judged that my compromised joints (knees, back and shoulders) could handle the dynamic movement - Less weight to move around... Less stress on the joints.

The dynamic movement group exercise classes quickly took me to a new level of fitness.... higher cardio output, more definition, less bodyfat.

As I reveled in the results, I also felt the effects of both the weight training and the dynamic movement classes (i.e. stiffness and soreness in muscles and joints). 

I realized quickly that I needed to include a few classes of more flexibility and stretching to my exercise regimen so I began doing a Yoga class and a Body Flow class (mix of Tai Kwan Do, Pilates and Yoga).

And for the most part, everything was going along fine.

Over the past couple of weeks, I realized I wasn't getting any stronger in my Body Pump classes.  I had been doing the same weights for over a month and it wasn't getting any easier.  So to build strength, I started including intermittent (twice per week) "Heavy Weight" workouts where I did max weight, max effort weight training on basic exercises like Wide Grip Chinups, Dips, Deadlifts, Squats and Leg Curls.

And it worked.... I could see the size and definition in my chest, back and legs change almost overnight and I jumped to the next weight increment in many of my Body Pump tracks.

But.... But.... But.... to make room, time and energy for these "Heavy Weight" workouts, I had to cut out something....

So I cut out the Yoga and Body Flow classes.... the ones that focused on stretching and flexibility.

And guess what?

In the past few days, I pulled a muscle in my right shoulder and my left hamstring.

Was it because I was doing the new and heavier weight exercises and overdid it?

Was it because I wasn't doing the stretching and flexibility exercises like before?

Who knows?  Probably Yes and Yes.

The point is that for every change you make in life, there is a consequence...

Sometimes it's positive or short term positive and sometimes the consequence of change is a negative event....

Like an injury..... to your shoulder, leg, your pocketbook or an important relationship.

Life (and sometimes your own body) sets boundaries.... We sometimes test those boundaries.... And then deal with the consequences.

We learn from our mistakes hopefully.  We grow.  We tuck that little learning under our belt or in the back of our mind and say...

"Ok.... the next time I'm in a similar situation I'm not gonna do that..... I'm gonna remember this little setback and not do a repeat."

So what do you do with bad consequences to change?

Well - the first thing you do is....

 Don't Make it Any Worse!

The second thing you do is Assess the Damage.

The third thing is Work out a Plan for Rehab, Recovery or Correction.

Then Execute the Plan or at least Go Back to What Worked Before.

So what am I doing?

First, I'm figuring out what I can do and can't do based on how my shoulder and hamstring feels.

Then I'm going back to what was working.

The First Law of Nature is..... Do No Harm!

Think I'll try....

Body Flow this evening, followed by Zumba and TRX Suspension Training.

Sounds like a good balance to me.