Your muscles need a vacation too!

So, after a year and a half of solid training with no break in between for my body to recover and heal completely, I decided no better time than now. I had already decided to give my digestive system a rest, with a cleanse as well as an uber clean diet I would adhere to 90% of the time, the other 10% being experimental and occasional 'cheat' meals and snacks, so why not just give EVERYTHING a break for a little bit? I set off to 'ground' myself from the gym, which I must admit, was VERY difficult.

The hardest part was muting my ego, which was SCREAMING at me, warning that my muscles were shrinking, atrophy'ing, and all of the hard work I had put in building my infa-structure would deplete in 1-2 weeks. I did lose definition, BUT with that I also lost the feeling of fatigue, the obligation of going every day, the obsession and fear of what would happen to me if I didn't. After my break, I came back strong late last week and brought more excitement and fresher muscles to the gym with me. I also brought an open mind in my gym bag because it was more fun for me than I can remember for a very long time.

Since competing has taken an indefinite back burner for the time being, I have an empty gym journal waiting for me to fill. I've been focusing on the same muscle groups on the same days for over a year now, and was beginning to plateau. Here was the old plan:

Monday - back

Tuesday - shoulders

Wednesday - legs

Thursday - bis and tris

Friday - chest

Saturday - fusion work out

...and worked in glutes and abs about 3 times per week somewhere in my routines. Additionally, I was doing about 30-45 min of some sort of cardio twice a day, one in the am and on in the pm, so there wasn't much variety in my work out weeks. And what I've been experimenting with lately is the integration of yoga, explosive sports (for me I play soccer once a week still), weights and other forms of cardio (kickboxing, pilates, etc). I haven't seen anywhere lately, anyone specialize in recommending the most optimal fusion of which to do before or after, or just how to create a kick ass work out week putting these in complimentary order so that your body is most responsive, injury free and energy stabilized. I'm embarking on this journey to learn what works best for me, in hopes that it can too be applied to your exercise weeks. So far, I'm really liking this one:

Monday - total body work out

Tuesday - yoga

Wednesday - upper body/core

Thursday - yoga

Friday - lower body/core

Saturday - hike or run outdoors

Sunday - off

The focus is more heavily concentrated on core, which is the origination of all energy sources...'with a core strong, you can go all day long'. Additionally, you get to concentrate on upper or lower muscle groups twice each week instead of only one. I have read good reviews on this type of training, but not with the sandwiching of yoga in between, so I'll keep you posted.

I woke up this morning and looked at myself in my full length mirror to check for progress and external symptoms, which is a ritual. Try not to think of it as an indicator of vanity, but moreso as your own evaluation of your efforts and the collection of data. Why continue on with an exercise regime or diet that doesn't work if you don't see progress? That's the #1 reason people lose traction on their pursuits is because THEY DON'T SEE PROGRESS! If you're not seeing progress, change it up or question what you're not adhering to that it's not working?

This morning, my waistline ALREADY looked trimmer than it had when I went to bed. That's due to 3 reasons:

-Our bodies look and feel best when we've RESTED them. I got a solid 8 hours sleep, and woke up refreshed, inside and out

-My body is thanking me for the eating plan and cleansing program I've put it on

-Since I gave my body a rest, it's responding much better to resistance training again. It's like wringing out all the old, dirty water from a sponge and starting over with a new one. My body is soaking up all of the new stimulus.

My favorite part of this, was yesterday at the gym when I had no intention of performing any particular exercise in any order. I went in with an OPEN MIND and the result was, I turned into Picasso and the gym was my canvas. I created new exercises I had never seen or done before, and they were REALLY HARD. I did things in random order and I left the gym dripping in sweat, huffing and puffing...then went to bed relaxed and woke up sore yet refreshed, and wanting more. THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD FEEL!

If you're a numbers girl like me, think of it like this. 1 week off every 3 months or so, is a small percentage of the time not spent over-hauling the very entities that allow us movement. What it really boils down to is ONLY 8% OF OUR EXERCISE PROGRAM IS SPENT RESTING. That enables you to give 100% for the other 92% that IS spent training hard!

To me, it's PROVEN worth it!

Off to yoga!

Namaste