on listening to your body & recovery

I've spoken previously on motivation and determination here, and I definitely feel the same. it's important to recognize that even on days when you are feeling lazy you should keep moving. and yes, pushing yourself is very important to get stronger and progress.

but along with that, it's important to listen to your body and what you actually NEED to do. this is something that I've struggled with. something I've struggled with throughout my entire workout journey, to be frank.

over the past few months, I have changed up my routine A LOT. new job, long commutes, training for multiple events, engagement, wedding planning, looking for an apartment, and it's been EXHAUSTING.

so with that, I have noticed that my training has been WAY harder. and, yes, I am pushing myself and working with new weights and pushing my pace, but I am tired ALL OF THE TIME. And that's not normal! 

I had noticed a lot of changes in my mood and appetite and motivation and in how my training was going. (So many hand tears) 

So I knew that I needed to take a break. Looking back over the past year, I hadn't taken a real break (rest for more than a day or two) in, well, almost a year. (Right around my move down to San Diego) which was not including the time in December when I was basically vomiting the entire month due to every type of illness I could manage to get (likely because I was exhausted and my immune system was compromised). 

I made the decision that after my June competition that I would take about a week off. So after my snatch set, I took the whole week off from any real lifting. Which was not easy for me; 1) because I work in fitness so I'm surrounded with people working out all day 2) I do really enjoy exercise 3) it's part of my routine and I am a creature of habit. 

 And what did I do on my rest week? 

Not a lot. Sometimes a walk. Sometimes some yoga. Sometimes a little bit of mace swinging. By the end of the week I was doing some fun flows with the kettlebell at light weights. And that's it. I didn't do anything crazy and recovered all week. 

I also didn't change up my eating habits. I ate basically the same things as I usually do as far as I could tell. 

I checked my Heart Rate Variance on an app (HRV4Training) to see where it thought I was in my recovery as well. Just to have some unbiased science in on my recovery, too. 

And by the end of the week I had more energy, my moods were in a better space, my appetite had gotten more normal.  

I just felt much better. My training all last week was back to regular strength, I haven't been waking up tired. It's been awesome. 

If you are noticing that your training is taking a hit, if you're tired all the time, if you're just wholly unmotivated for weeks at a time, if you're moody and just feeling off ~ it may be time for a break

I know there's fear of stopping when you're in a routine, but i promise it does you more good than continuing to train while you're burnt out. Take the few days off and let your body recover fully so you can actually enjoy your training. It's well worth it. 

on attitude

right up front, i'm gonna be honest. this may very well turn into a word vomit. i would apologize, but it's my blog so i can do what i want, and sometimes that means i get to just throw up a bunch words onto a screen and the very few of you who read it just have to deal with it. 

i recognize that i am a kind of special case when i come to fitness. i love it. i genuinely enjoy working out and pushing my limits and breaking PRs and just all of it. 

most of the time. 

but the issue i see pretty regularly with people is that they say that they don't like ANY exercise EVER. all of it is terrible and boring and hard and they just don't want to do any of it. 

and let me tell you, that's the problem RIGHT THERE. 

if you go into every workout with that attitude then OF COURSE it's going to suck. you can't expect to go into a workout with thoughts of "this sucks, this sucks, i hate this so much" on repeat in your head and expect any sort of movement is going to feel good. 

there are SO MANY different ways to move and to add exercise into your life and you're telling me that LITERALLY every single one is the worst thing you've ever encountered in your life? sorry, i'm calling bullshit. 

did you actually TRY to enjoy the workout? or did you show up and complain about it the whole time? 

and what have you tried? did you just try running one day and say well that was hard, i'm not doing that shit again? or go into a gym and go down the row of weight machines and were bored AF and never went back? did one class at that studio and it was really challenging so you just stopped going after a couple classes? 

there are SO MANY ways to move and to add exercise into your life. you don't have to just do the regular gym thing lots of people picture when they think of "fitness." 

but the thing is, you cannot go into every single workout session with an attitude of "omg this is gonna suck" because that will make literally everything you try suck. 

self-talk is a huge part of fitness and if you are being negative the entire time, you are gonna feel terrible & not want to come back and do it again because ALL of the feeling you have with it are all these unhappy and gross feelings. 

you're setting yourself up for failure if you are constantly going into with a negative attitude. 

even on days that you don't want to do it, just go have a good attitude for like 15 mins and do a warmup and if you feel terrible after that... stop. but 90% of the time if you go into it with a decent attitude after the first 10 mins you'll want to keep going! and if you don't... you gave it a solid try and that's okay cause some days you do need the break. 

the main thing to take away from this all is to have a good attitude about your workouts. if you're gonna look at exercise like a punishment it will always feel like a punishment. 

&i cannot tell you how much adjusting my attitude has changed my training. 

even on days where i have sets that are going to be objectively hard and in the past I have just been D R E A D I N G it and guess what... THEY SUCKED. they were hard and it felt terrible and i didn't hit goals that i had set for myself. and a few weeks ago i had a break through. i was NOT looking forward to a set, but before it i was like, "WELL, i have to do this anyway, so I may as well have fun with it all" so i had a goofy ass warmup and danced around a lot and listened to bangin' music and when it came time for my set i was pretty pumped! and then i crushed it! and that's been the theme since that set. like, if i go in with a good attitude the workout feels SO MUCH better and I DO so much better. 

just think ~ you're working out for YOU. exercise is an experience for yourself. you're doing it feel good for you. not anyone else. and if the type of exercise you're doing doesn't feel good - don't do that anymore! like i said before, there are so many ways to move... you just gotta go in with an open mind & you'll find what you love to do too! 

if you need help or some guidance in finding the way you want to exercise drop me a line on Instagram or Facebook or send me an email at tiffnessfitness@gmail.com . And if you want to work together check out my Programs page or just shoot me a message and we can make something that works for you! Movement is good for you & you deserve to find the way you like to move!