Push through the pain!
You can do ANYTHING for 30 seconds!
If you’re not feeling the burn, you’re not doing it right!
Don’t think about it, just DO it!
Temporary pain for long-term gain!
Do these phrases sound familiar?
If you’ve ever worked with a trainer or taken a fitness class, you’ve probably heard them countless times.
Coaches and trainers are supposed to encourage us. We pay big money to be pushed outside of our comfort zones in an effort to become stronger, leaner, faster, and slimmer.
Fitness isn’t supposed to be easy, right?
Completing 90 minutes of yoga in a 105° room = NOT easy
I’m not the first to argue this point, but what if I told you that I don’t believe it’s necessary (or healthy, even) to push ourselves to our limits every single time we work out?
That you’re not a better person because you skipped a water break or that the amount of sweat on your back is not a measure of your morality and dedication?
It’s obvious that most Americans are too sedentary. Many of us need motivation to take care of our bodies, and some of us don’t see the importance of daily movement in the form of cardiovascular exercise and strength training.
So while there are many arguments for pushing ourselves and going the extra mile, I think there are also arguments for holding back or sometimes taking the easy road. Here’s why I think exhaustion isn’t a merit badge—and that it’s ok to hold back (at times).
Injury
Unaware of the differences between barre and cardio barre, I dove headfirst into a cardio barre class following a 7-month postpartum fitness hiatus. Needless to say, I injured myself. I’d told the fitness instructor that I was a new mom and it was my first class in several months, but I ignored my body’s obvious cues and could barely walk for 5 days—all because I didn’t want to appear “weak.” (This wasn’t the instructor’s fault, by the way—it was all mine.)
I know countless people who have run too far or increased their weights too soon and, as a result, have badly injured themselves. While we shouldn’t quit at the slightest sign of discomfort, we should listen to our bodies. In the end, doing a workout at 80% capacity is better than sitting out for several months due to a stress fracture.
Burnout
When I was a competitive gymnast, I attended practice 4-5 nights a week for 4 hours. I was 12 years old! Perhaps I just wasn’t as driven as my peers, but that kind of commitment resulted in burnout. If you constantly push yourself to fatigue or beat yourself up because you weren’t able to lift your heaviest weights or hold standing bow pose, then working out becomes less enjoyable.
Every day is different. Some days, your body will work harder. Other days—whether you didn’t sleep well or are fighting illness—your body needs to take it easy. When you allow for this variation (mixing a leisurely walk or a fun Zumba class between your “hardcore” workouts), you are less likely to burn out.
Obsession/Addiction
I will be the first to admit that one of the reasons I work out is for stress relief. Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands. (Name that movie!) 😉 In fact, I recently read something (wish I remembered where) that essentially said that more challenging workouts (heavier weights, for example) produce more endorphins.
It becomes a problem, though, when you depend on that “high” to function. Exercise addiction is a very real thing. I’m not saying that you will become addicted or obsessed if you push past your comfort zone. However, if you begin to feel like you didn’t burn enough calories or that your efforts were wasted if every single workout isn’t back-breaking, then you might have a serious issue for which you should seek treatment.
Leisure
I firmly believe exercise should be fun! Some of my favorite workouts are taking long, leisurely walks with my family or just having an impromptu dance party or backyard chase with my dog. If you treat every workout as something that requires maximum effort, then a lot of the fun disappears.
I truly enjoy a challenging BODYPUMP class and feeling my muscles shake during barre—but if I exercised that way all the time and beat myself up if my weights were too light or I pulled off the barre to regroup, it would no longer be fun.
Fitness should be fun…and full of rainbows and unicorns
Bottom line, humans were made to move—and we owe it to ourselves and our loved ones to treat our bodies well. It’s empowering to feel strong and to achieve a PR that we didn’t think was possible, but it’s equally important to allow ourselves to rest and to listen to our bodies when they’ve had enough.
Turn to your coach or trainer for encouragement—after all, we want (and pay them for) that extra push!—but don’t be afraid to say to yourself “nah, I think I’ll stick with the 10-lb dumbbell” or “maybe I’ll rest in child’s pose this round.”
Your body will thank you—and you won’t be any less of a person for it!
[linking up for thinking out loud]
- Have you ever injured yourself while exercising or pushing yourself too hard?
- Have you ever experienced burn-out from an exercise or sport you once enjoyed?
- What’s your favorite way to exercise and get moving?
Melissa @ Freeing Imperfections says
Love that you quoted Legally Blonde. I seriously think that same quote any time I hear the word endorphins 🙂
I will say a reason for me not pushing myself 100% of the time is that sometimes I just don’t FEEL like it. Maybe that sounds really lazy, but if I am not up for it and I DO push myself, I end up being uncoordinated in what I’m doing and always feel it in a bad way after the fact.
Insanity is a good example of this. You’re supposed to workout SUPER hard for 60 days, 6 days a week. I think the 7th day you are even supposed to do a recovery video but I always skipped it because I needed at least one day of no Shaun T. If I pushed myself 100% of the time for 6 days a week for 60 days… Even as “fit” as I was when I was doing this program before, that would have totally resulted in injury. Some videos, I for sure gave as much as I could, but if I woke up in a mental fog and tried to push through burpees at full intensity, I’d definitely feel like crap and hurt myself.
foodiecology says
I can see how you’d need a break! I’ve never done the insanity videos but I have taken an insanity type class at the Y… It was tough!
I totally understand how you sometimes just don’t “feel” like pushing hard. I’m like that too. Some days, I’m in beast mode, others I just want to sit down and watch Jeopardy, not do 50 push-ups! 😉
Lyss says
I love this post! We always here how much we are supposed to push ourselves with exercise and how we should keep going and blah blah blah but we never here about how that can lead to burnout and injuries! Sure, pushing yourself a little during a workout is normal. But like anything, there is a fine line! My favorite way to exercise is yoga, spinning, or lifting weights!
foodiecology says
Thanks, Lyss. I agree, there is always a fine line. I think that’s why I really enjoy varying my workouts.
Beauty in Christ (@Emily11949309) says
SO, I love this. It’s such a balance, and I often go to one extreme or the other. God gave us pain signals for a reason. And sometimes it’s okay to push past some of them in order to get stronger, but not ALL of them. I used to want to ‘boast’ in soreness for a long time, but I think I’m learning that that’s not something to boast about… <3
foodiecology says
I know what you mean, Emily. Soreness used to be THE sign of a good workout for me. If I wasn’t sore, it wasn’t worth it. What? That’s crazy talk. Now I’m happy when I’m NOT sore.
Hollie says
I like this post a lot. I think it’s important to remember that life is supposed to be balanced. You aren’t supposed to go hard every single workout, you’ll only up injured or hurt. Thanks for sharing this.
foodiecology says
Thanks, Hollie. You’re right – ALL aspects of life should be balanced, including fitness/exercise.
Amanda @ .running with spoons. says
Legally Blonde! I can’t even tell you how many times that quote pops into my head. And I 100% agree with everything you said. I think pushing ourselves a little is important when it comes to progression, but there’s definitely a fine line and it kills me to see so many people taking things way too far. I don’t think enough people realize that our bodies need rest, and that it’s actually just as (if not more) important than our workouts when it comes to getting healthy and fit. People are too focused on getting fast results and not looking at things in the long term.
foodiecology says
Oh, I definitely agree about pushing when you’re trying to progress – and if you’re training for a competition or trying to lose weight/gain a certain amount of muscle mass. But other times? Pffft. Sometimes I just want to move my body, nothing more, nothing less.
Kate Bennett says
I think my fitness suffers because I am burned out in other areas of my life. Sometimes I want to mute workout videos because they make fitness seem like the most important thing in the world.
I’ve pushed myself before to the point of not having any energy for anything else. No fun!
foodiecology says
I know what you mean, Kate! I’ve rolled my eyes at my fitness instructors when they act like fitness is the biggest thing. Probably makes me an awful and rude student, but when I’m thinking about getting home to my baby or the long day at work I had, I just don’t want to hear it. 😉
SuzLyfe says
Love this post, and I couldn’t agree more! Plus, Legally Blonde is always right. Complete exhaustion is a recipe for injury!
foodiecology says
Love me some Legally Blonde. I know you can relate to the whole injury thing, unfortunately. But you’re taking care of yourself now which is SO important, and have awesome things ahead of you!
Sarah says
Great post, I totally agree with you. I love working out and exercising and pushing my body. However, there is a very very fine line between enjoying what I am doing and obsessing over it. As someone in recovery from anorexia, it’s something I definitely have to be consciously aware of. And yay for Legally Blonde!
foodiecology says
Thank you, Sarah. I can see how over doing it with exercise can be a fine line if you’ve had an ED in the past. We all just need to be careful about how hard we push – otherwise we lose the fun/benefit/etc.
Ellie says
Another thing is busyness. People take pride in the fact that they are always busy. By saying “I’m too busy” and things like that, they convey to other people that those individuals are not important enough for their attention. It’s a wicked superiority complex and it disgusts me. I have consciously tried to stop saying “Oh I’m always super busy.” even if it’s true. I don’t want another person to think they aren’t good enough for me.
Great post!!! 🙂
foodiecology says
YES, I totally hear you on the busy thing. I read some great article about how busy has become this measure of worth and it makes me crazy. I’m a working mom, so of course I have obligations, but I definitely don’t thrive on being busy all the time. I actually like being able to say “I had the SLOWEST weekend. I ate guac for dinner and watched Fuller House all day” (cuz I really did that last weekend, haha). Thanks for reading & for the great comment, Ellie.
Katie Mitchell says
Great post! I am currently battling chronic injuries because I was obsessed with pushing myself every day, seven days a week. Every time I start to feel better I start pushing myself again and then I have to start all over. Listening to your body is so important! Sometimes it is hard to shut out the noise of the fitness industry and just listen to your own body.
foodiecology says
Thank you, Katie. I am so sorry you are battling injury – I wish you the best in your recovery!
It really is hard sometimes to shut out the noise and voices to push even when our bodies are telling us to stop.
All the best to you <3
Kaila @healthyhelperblog! says
Love this post, girl! We are totally on the same page. I wrote a post just like this earlier this year! http://healthyhelperblog.com/dont-push-yourself/ Glad to see someone else spreading this important message!
foodiecology says
Thanks Kaila! I’m glad we’re on the same page – I think more people need to realize that it’s ok not to push yourself extra hard all the time.
Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves says
Thank you for this post! I’ve definitely struggled with overexercising and pushing my body to burnout in the past. It’s so true that movement/fitness becomes so much more enjoyable when you push yourself hard on some days and then just have fun and go easy on other days. It truly does NOT make you any less of a person, as you said 🙂
foodiecology says
Thank you Alison. I’m sorry you’ve struggled in the past, but I’m glad you can relate! I definitely have more fun when I lose the “all or nothing” mentality.
Joyce @ The Hungry Caterpillar says
Such an awesome post! As someone who has recovered from an eating disorder and exercise addiction, I definitely know about feeling like exercise can become a measure of your self-worth. But that’s not just wrong–it’s dangerous. I also know about getting addicted to that endorphin high. I call it exhaustion euphoria. And, yeah, it’s good for you. But it took me so long to realize that it’s not good to be exhausted constantly. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and raising awareness!
foodiecology says
Thank you, Joyce. You’re absolutely right. While anybody can push too hard and injure themselves, I imagine it’s even tougher to separate self worth from achieving a PR or butt-kicking workout when suffering from an ED or other illness. “Exhaustion euphoria.” That’s a good way to put it. I know all about that endorphin high but I couldn’t keep it up every day!