So listen, I see a skewed version of the population. A lot of patients come to me when they aren’t feeling well and they need help getting back to the best version of themselves.
Often when you’re not feeling as energetic as you’d like, you’re crazy busy, or when you’ve physically got things going on in your body, exercise CANNOT and SHOULD NOT be at the same level as when you’re feeling fantastic.
I often ask patients how stressed out they are, but will ALSO ask them where their BODY STRESS levels are at.
Take a minute to assess this for yourself and score it out of 10.
If 0 means you’re energetic and sleeping well and coping with your stressors and physically your body and mood and hormones and immune system etc, etc, are feeling fantastic, and 10 is you’re a bit of a mess to say the least (to put it nicely!)—where are your current BODY stress levels sitting?
The reason that we always want to get a handle on this is that I see a lot of patients who are my lovely little type As OR, you may just be a pusher…
A pusher is someone who pushes through, beyond what their body REALLY wants to do, and will go, go, go, and do more, more more, until your physical body will finally FORCE you to stop.
This is KEY to consider when we look at exercise.
Exercise is indeed an important part of health, HOWEVER, we often need to modify things when we’re getting your body back to feeling 110%.
Exercise ideally should:
- Have you feeling pumped up and full of happy endorphins by the end
- Give you a nice boost of energy
- Overall, be a positive stressor on the body
Exercise should NOT:
- Leave you feeling exhausted at the end of a workout
- Mean that you’re recovering way longer than normal
- Overall, be a negative stressor on the body
While we’re re-building and helping to get everything balanced for you, we want exercise to match that. We want exercise to be a positive great thing for your body and not another stressor that’s overwhelming it.
This means you need to LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!
Does it need a bit of a rest today?
Do you need to lift a little lighter, do one less set or a few less reps or aim for a shorter distance?
Should you go for a gentle walk or do some restorative yoga to keep active and moving but support where your physical body is asking for some rest?
If you have health things you’re working on, you need to be REALLY CAREFUL about how hard you’re pushing your exercise routine, and it’s really important to monitor this on a day by day, moment by moment basis.
You may be able to push and have an awesome workout today, but really need to step back and go way lighter tomorrow.
The message again, is LISTEN TO YOUR BODY and keep exercise a positive stressor.
Are you a pusher, or do you know someone who is?! Forward them this email.
I can help you get back to pushing as hard as you want and feel good doing it!