What progress actually looks like:
It has happened to every one of us. Things are going well, we are feeling strong and confident and optimistic, and something derails us. It could be a bad cold, a vacation that throws the schedule and eating off track, a family crisis, a broken leg. Whatever it is, itās SO frustrating, right? I hear this from you guys all the time: āI was doing great, then āxā happened and I feel like I just canāt get back on trackā. I want to reassure you that not only are you not alone, but itās a pretty crowded room you are in. Welcome!
As some of you know, I was not always so healthy. I ran and played soccer VERY casually in high school, but started smoking and prioritized socializing over my health for a long time. I began working out and getting into running again about eight years ago, give or take. But I still smoked, and my diet was primarily processed foods and not a lot of fresh produce. It has taken me so many ups and downs to get where I am today. It took many attempts to finally successfully quit smoking, and I can tell you that every attempt that failed made me feel like, well, a failure. In those moments, I was so hard on myself, and I truly thought āthis is impossible and I can never changeā.
The journey to fitness has been the same up and down path. I would work out for a bit, then fall off the wagon, then be hard on myself, then avoid going to work out again because I knew it was going to suck. But over time, the periods in between falling off and getting back on got shorter and shorter. You see, there is this wonderful thing called muscle memory. When your body learns how to do something, it creates neurological pathways that know what to do when you do it again, even if you have had some time off. Injury, illness, even a lazy beach vacation are no match for your body, once it has had a little practice doing something. This is also why we heavily stress good form in the gym! Listen to our cues, and do your best to do it right, so that your body does not create bad movement patterns that can lead to injury.
The first workout back after a time off is always the hardest. So even though you are possibly dreading it, get it over with. Youāll have some soreness, but you will get back on track faster than you think. My other really important piece of advice, even though itās so hard sometimes, is just focus on the long term results you want, not what is going on short term. If you let yourself just completely fall off from the goals you have set right now, where will you be in a year? And in a year, will it matter that you had to take a week or two off? No.
This leads me to my last point, one I have made before: be nice to yourself. Be kind. Be forgiving. Not one of us is perfect, and not one of us is immune to the various pitfalls in life. Allow yourself recovery, and then dust yourself off and get back to it. In the long run, this will just be a blip.
-Elyse, Perpetual Motion Performance Training
(925) 289-9741 [email protected]
www.perpetualmotionpt.com
