Lifting and Exercise for a Purpose
I talk a lot about intensity with your workouts because unless you are working hard you aren't doing much good. I would say a good bit of the women I see in the gym never lift with intensity. They like those high reps right up until slight discomfort and then sit there waiting for another round of 20-30 reps. Useless...but I have plenty of articles written on that. Just hit the intensity tag if you need a lesson on that.
Tuesday I had an interesting conversation with my trainer because my workout was KILLING me. It was back day and I was cutting sets, adjusting exercises, and changing things up the whole time because of how I was feeling. I made a comment about how proud I was that I had finally reached the point in my exercise life that the definition of a good workout was how I felt when I left the gym VERSUS if I did exactly what was written on a piece of a paper.
It led us to talk about women who have lost a lot of weight and the misconception that you must come close to death every workout in order to have success. I think when you have struggled with weight all of your life you get into the habit of thinking it is a lot harder for you, so you have to virtually work circles around everyone else. You feel like you can't miss workouts even if you are exhausted, you can't run a little slower today because your energy is depleted, you can't drop a set or a few reps even if your form is horrible and not going to do you any good.
It's almost a reverse effect. We will work, work, work, and forget that our bodies are the judge of our success and not if we do better than we did last time. For so long you DO indeed beat the numbers every time because you are just getting in such better shape and losing weight you can't help it. But there comes that time when you are no longer a fat girl trying to get fit. You ARE fit and just trying to get in better shape. You aren't a fat girl anymore...just a girl who works out like an athlete but has a fat girl yammering at you that you don't get to have workouts like everyone else. Tell her to shut up because you need days off to recover, you need days that the workout isn't a death sentence, and you will have plenty of months in your strength life where the weights aren't going up.
What I am saying here is that the past few weeks I have learned a lot about myself and one of those things is that I have grown up. I find myself making more decisions about my body that are in the best interest of my fitness versus seeing a number on the scale or a slight imperfection improving. Of course I want to cut a little more or tone up my legs some, but finally it's dawned on me that those rewards are truly attained when you do what's in the best interest of your body vesus just hammering away like a maniac. Most of us who are truly interested in blasting the fat and being in fine shape would do great to ignore the numbers on the scale and be willing to trust ourselves versus the silly schedule given to you by your trainer.
(That's right PNP girls, even my schedules are meant to be taken to the gym and modified. Make it tougher when it needs to be and make it easier when it needs to be. Only you know what's going on with your body. Learn to listen to it and just ask in the forums for help on how to know when you are doing it right.)
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!