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Nike windrunner jacket // APL sneakers // leggings // muscle tank
If this past month has taught me anything, it is the importance of taking care of myself. Although the majority of my adult life has been centered around self care, I am just now learning to listen to my body. Whether it’s to ease up on my work outs or eat more meat, I am trying to listen to my body’s needs. I eat healthy and am very active, I thought this was enough to stay healthy but I was wrong. Sometimes working out too much is unhealthy for my body or maybe I am not giving it the right nutrients even though I eat vegetables and fruit all day. Really listening to our bodies and it’s needs is the key to a healthy life.
For the past few Friday’s Simply Smitten series on my blog I have talked about having inflammation in different areas of my body. This has caused me to not workout or modify my movements. It has been difficult for me to not workout. I love to move. I have been active since I was 3 years old. I even day dream about working out because I love it. The first week I was somewhat happy for the little break, but now it’s been 3 weeks with little to none and it’s driving me crazy. Unfortunately I need this break to get my body healthy again. If I went back to a workout class and did it full out, I could damage my body even more so.
I feel as if I am Jekyll and Hyde when it comes to self care. One part of me looovveess to be pampered. I will get a massage, facial, energy healing, go to steam rooms, foam roll and stretch everyday. I love it all! But on the other hand I will push myself past my limitations. In fitness I will push, push push until I break. Maybe it is the dancer in me that was taught to push past the pain and keep dancing. Show must go on– if you don’t dance someone else will take your spot. In college I majored in dance. You were only allowed to skip three classes or you failed the quarter. You bet I danced through back pain, hurt knees, and plantar fasciitis. I am not saying this to toot my own horn of how strong I am for suffering for my passion. That’s not being strong, that’s being stupid. But I am unfortunately still being stupid as I push myself during workouts, ignoring the pain until I can’t move X area. And by pushing myself I do not mean I am using 20lb weights while everyone else is using 3lbs. I mean I won’t allow myself downtime to recover. I will workout 6 days a week and sometime double on certain days. I am used to it. I dance and played sports growing up. In college I would dance for 3 hours in the morning, go to the gym for an hour or two, then have rehearsal for an hour at night. I am used to being active all day. Unfortunately I am not old and my body can’t take as much physical activity as I am used to. I do not listen to my body when it needs a break. This is what I mean by pushing myself. This is something I really need to work on. Self care is taking care of all aspects of myself, even the parts of me that want to just rest.
Nike windrunner jacket // APL sneakers // leggings // muscle tank
Right now I am working on easing my way back into working out. This past Sunday I went to Body by Simone and only did one dance, not full out but not modified either. The other two dances were marked. A big step for me. I have also been going to Bari studio’s sculpt classes as there is no cardio and we use small weights. Y7 Yoga has also been a frequent of mine these past few weeks. What I love about Y7 is that they give you three sequences to do– 1st you learn it, then you do it at a faster pace with the instructor, then you have 2-3 minutes of doing it on your own. During the 2-3 minutes I can tailor the workout to my body’s needs. If a certain stretch hurts my knee then I will skip it. Sometimes I will skip the sequence all together and use my water bottle as a foam roller. It feels good on my body to stretch at a low impact. This weekend I am going to try and push myself a little bit more and see how my body feels. If it hurts even a little I will go back to modifying.
Now that I know I need to really take care and listen to my body. I am hoping this will lessen the amount of injuries I have been experiencing lately. Self care is so important, even in areas you may not realize you need to take care of. Like I said I thought I was healthy and doing everything right, but in reality I was not. When my body says it needs a break, I will give it a the proper rest it needs.
This was super helpful to read! I think that sometimes I feel the need to just keep pushing past pain or exhaustion because “it’ll get better” but that’s not always the case. Sometimes I need to just listen to my body and TAKE A BREAK. I’m glad you’re learning to do the same!
Self care is oh so important! I love going for a run after work to relieve the stress that has built up all day. Love these leggings, too!
Great post Maggie! It is really important to listen to our bodies. The way they react is for a reason and we shouldn’t take that for granted.
This is such a great reminder, thanks for sharing lady!
Such an important reminder babe. I think listening to your body is so important!! I believe in pushing yourself but I also believe in allowing your body to heal and take a break when needs be.
Kileen
cute & little
Love this. Such great inspiration!
XO-Lisa
http://www.thatssodarling.com
How did I not know that you were a dancer?! I was a professional ballet dancer for years and so I totally can relate about pushing through the pain. Now of course I’m too having to learn to respect my limitations!!
xo, Laura
That’s so cool you’re a dancer and majored in it! I’m glad you’ve been feeling better and into working out again– I definitely agree that self-care and listening to your body is important.
It resonated with me when you spoke about your different sides and how sometimes you are all about self-care and other times you push yourself too hard!
I am totally with you on listening to your body! I just realized that I’m not invincible; my body needs oiling! I can’t keep abusing it with hard work and not replenish and take care of my muscles and bones! Thanks for the reminder!