“Your child will follow your example, not your advice.” – Unknown 💪❤
Always,
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Health
Don’t Overtrain – Importance of Rest Days & Balance
I used to over-train. I used to go hard working out – in the gym or outside – 7 days a week with hardly ANY rest days.
Not cool.
I used to HATE rest days, become anxious about them and feel guilty for not working out. I now LOVE rest days. You’re supposed to be working out and eating right because you RESPECT your body and because you LOVE your body and your health, not because you’re punishing it. That’s not okay. I learned the hard way. I now have 2-3 rest days per week depending on my training style at the time. I have been averaging 3 full on rest days per week (not cardio days, TRUE rest days) and have never felt better. I usually get in 4 workouts per week. And I’m loving it.
You don’t have to kill yourself to be healthy, happy, and balanced.
Go. Flipping. Figure 😉
It actually HELPS to give yourself time to rest and recover. It always gets me itching to go back and KILL IT on my next workout. The more I embrace my rest days without anxiety over feeling like “I should have worked out today,” the more enthusiasm I have when I DO workout. Balance, rest and recovery are SO incredibly important. I did have to learn the hard way, and my body couldn’t be happier that I am now listening to it and treating it well because I love and respect it. Let’s love and respect our bodies ladies and gents – it couldn’t be more important!
The Importance of Rest Days:
How many days a week do you take as rest days?
Those that do not take rest days or that use rest days as high intensity cardio training days will likely burn out, overtrain, or both.
Symptoms of Overtraining:
- Fatigue, lack of energy, tired
- Soreness – especially in joints
- Slow to recover
- Decrease in performance
- Irritable
- Decreased immune system
Most elite, professional athletes (whom often take things that help speed up recovery – topic for another day) take at least one full rest day off per week. For the average fitness-conscious work-out-er, at least one or two COMPLETE off days is needed per week, with another one or two days of light crosstraining or cardio (incline treadmill walking, light biking) per week. How many days of intense weight training & cardio does that give you? Four. Does this seem like WAY TOO LITTLE? I hope not! Rest days need to be planned into your program just like your workouts and meals do. No skipping rest days, they’re much too important!
Recipe for success:
- 3 days of weight lifting per week
- 1 day of intense cardio
- 1-2 days of light, moderate exercise (active rest)
- 1 day (at least) COMPLETELY off
Why rest?
- MUSCLE BUILDING happens when you rest and recover
- Prevent overtraining
- Keep enthusiasm high
- Find balance between fitness, work, and home life
- Allow glycogen stores to refuel
- Repair tissues
- Keep our bodies guessing
- Prevent injury
- Prevent too much cortisol (stress hormone) from being released & building up
Love always,
———-
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We CAN Do Hard Things
We CAN do hard things.
It’s up to us to decide if we WILL. Not if we CAN.
Hammer Plyometrics DONE. PHEW!! 💪💪
Love always,
———-
I’d love it if you’d join me here too…
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Christmas Eve – Kids Do What You Do Not What You Say
On days like Christmas 🎄 Eve, I am so thankful to be able to workout at home, with my sweet pea 🎀next to me.
She loved Chalene Johnson’s PiYo music…she danced while I worked out. 🎶
Those little hands. 👋
That little wiggly body.
That big heart in that little girl. 💖
They do what you DO.
NOT what you say.
So do it. Let’s do it together 👭 💜
Love always,
———-
I’d love it if you’d join me here too…
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How Long Will it Take to Lose Weight?
Let’s chat about patience & reaching goals!
How many of you have tried multiple different workout routines, multiple different “diets”? How many of you are frustrated with the lack of results in a short amount of time? Let’s look at why.
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It used to take 2 months to get a letter mailed to you.
Now it takes 2 seconds to send a text.
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It used to take 30 minutes to bake chicken breast.
Now it takes 3 minutes in the microwave.
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It used to take 1 week to get milk delivered.
Now it takes 1 minute to pull it off the grocery shelf.
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It used to take months and years to build the body you desire through hard work, dedication and consistency.
Now it can still takes months and years with the same hard work, dedication, and consistency.
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What’s the difference you ask?
People used to exercise their patience.
Living in an instant gratification society forgets what patience was made for. Living in an instant gratification society takes away from the accomplishment of slow progress. Slow progress is progress that will stay. Slow progress is making the decision every day to become better, to push forward, and with patience as your best friend, you will become who you want to be. The only difference, is with patience present, you won’t give up. You’ll keep going because you know what’s waiting for you – a week from now, a month from now, a year from now, 5 years from now. Patience will help you exercise every other dedicated bone in your body.
Building the health and body you want takes time. It doesn’t take one week to gain a lot of fat. It doesn’t take one week to lose a lot of fat. It doesn’t take one week to build a lot of muscle. It doesn’t take one week to lose a lot of muscle. What it does take, is consistency to a healthy program that will produce a healthy lifestyle full of long-term results. Your body is the most wonderful “machine” ever made. It knows what it’s doing. Give it the right fuel and training and you’ll get there. All in due time.
Don’t fall into the instant gratification trap with your body. Allow your patience to flourish. Remind yourself that every choice matters. Patience can be your best friend that will help push you to your goals.
Love always,
———-
I’d love it if you’d join me here too…
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