My Body Is Telling Me To Take Time Off - Now What?

Lately, my body has been throwing out some bread crumbs.

Some pain in my left forearm.

A slight abdominal tweak.

And a couple other areas with minor issues.

Yes, these are bread crumbs, or little messages from my body saying "Jaime, it's time to take a break."

A break from what?

In this case, lifting.

It's been a while since I've taken a break actually. I've been pretty consistent with 3 or 4 significant strength training sessions each week for some time.

Maybe the bread crumbs telling me to slow down a bit were there earlier, I just failed to recognize them.

But now, things have snowballed a bit - and I hear what my body is telling me loud and clear.

It's time to take a break from lifting, maybe 7-10 days, and let my body heal.

What this DOESN'T mean is that I have to take a break from EVERYTHING. Just because I'm not lifting, doesn't mean I can't utilize this time to focus on other important factors ... some of which will actually fuel my healing.

So, what will I do?

I'll throw in some extra cardio sessions. (BTW, I've had times in my life where lower body issues have caused me to take a break from cardio ... and during these times I focus more on strength training ... so it can go both ways).

I'll focus a bit more on my food.

Maybe some extra meditation.

And for sure, work on getting more sleep.

So I'm not taking a total break, because I don't want to REgress.

I'm simply listening to my body and redirecting my efforts for the next few days, and I believe by using the tools I've laid out I can actually PROgress.

That's right! Maybe I can even GAIN a little more muscle over the next 7-10 days even without lifting because my body is getting more recovery time and everything it needs to recover properly (food, sleep, etc.).

We'll see how it goes. In 7-10 days I'll re-evaluate the signals that my body is sending.

Hey, setbacks are gonna happen.

But it doesn't mean we have to QUIT. It just means we have to pivot. And take control of the things we can.

If you need help with your pivot, let us at Functional Elements know. That's why we're here!

As always …

EAT WITH A PURPOSE - AND GIVE YOUR BODY WHAT IT NEEDS, WHEN IT NEEDS IT!

Jaime Rothermich, RD, CSSD, LD, PPSC, CSCS
Functional Elements Training & Nutrition