Recently one of my clients shared with me a story about a past experience with exercise. One of her friends had just become a certified personal trainer and in her excitement, urged my client to join her for a workout. The new trainer was prepared with a kick butt workout- one to impress her new potential client, but my client wasn’t ready for the intensity.
Instead of backing off and adjusting the workout, her friend began to encourage her to keep going by yelling at her and trying to convince her she could do it. My client told her friend that she simply couldn’t do it anymore, stopped and the workout ended.
When I heard her tell this story, I had compassion for her AND her friend. I’ve experienced that scenario in both the athlete and the trainer’s position, and it’s not fun for either. Many times, it’s a deal breaker for both people.
The trainer loses a potentially great client and the trainee walks away feeling embarrassed and deflated. That type of experience can stop some good momentum cold in its tracks.
Maybe you’ve felt that way too, or had a similar experience.
Sometimes we unknowingly bite off more than we can chew with a workout, and the intensity of our efforts derails the momentum we are building. We hit a wall, and sometimes with unexpected consequences: vomiting, nausea, public embarrassment, wet pants, and a BIG dose of negative emotions, just to name a few.
As a trainer, I never want my clients to feel that way. Unless they don’t mind throwing up. Some athletes say they don’t have a great workout unless that happens. Sounds strange to me, but I suppose we’re all different.
Anyway…. if you are nodding your head thinking that you don’t want to feel that way either, here are some things you can do to focus on exercising consistently instead of hitting the wall with too much intensity…
OK, first let me say, if you DID have the above mentioned negative experience, it doesn’t mean that you aren’t made to exercise, or you can’t exercise, or that you’re a failure and can’t ever be someone who exercises regularly. It was probably just what it was: a bad experience. And if given the right circumstances, you will be able to begin to exercise and flourish under the right routine.
So, don’t rule out ever exercising again because you had that nightmare of an experience.
(By the way, the trainer, if they noticed what happened about you, probably doesn’t feel that great about what happened either and wish they could have avoided the outcome if they could have foreseen it. Unless they’re just an insensitive jerk. If that’s the case, then that just says more about them than it does about you. Don’t worry- they won’t get very far anyhow.)
1- If it’s been awhile since you exercised: go 80% effort on your first workout. You’re going to be sore, so limit how sore you will be.
2- Even if you’re sore, the next day do a body weight workout. Something to get the body moving and circulate your blood (which in turn helps pull out toxins and move them toward elimination thus reducing your soreness) Squats, push ups, sit ups, and lunges in moderate volumes (35-60 reps total) are good, with walking or jogging in between.
3- Keep moving everyday until your soreness subsides. Yoga, stretching, walking or rowing are all good active recovery exercises that work your body and build the habit of making exercise a priority each day.
4- Give yourself 1 (or 2 nonconsecutive) days of rest. Your goal should be 5-6 days a week doing something.
5- Allow for 4-6 weeks of exercises as a foundation. The foundation gives you a base to work from. Start with 10 min of exercise and over the course of the month, increase the duration to 30 min.
6- Keep your intensity low for the first two weeks. Then, give yourself 1-2 intense workouts each week for the first month, then you can move to 3-4 intense workouts in the second month. Your goal is to build consistency first.
If you read over the list and have checked most of them off, Awesome! You’re on the right track. If you’ve done all the above and are frustrated with where you are, it probably means you need to do one or both of two things: increase your intensity OR/AND tackle the other monster: what you eat. Nutrition is critical to the way your look AND move.
More on that next week. In the meantime…
Keep moving!
Priscilla
Recent Comments