Aware...

The purpose of doing workouts is not just to do workouts.  The point is to feel better than we would if we didn’t do workouts.  Sometimes we lose sight of this, or at least I do.

 

When things get really stressful and I’m overtired or overcaffeinated or both, I get crabby.  I find myself grumbling through my workouts and scrunching up my face and holding my shoulders tightly up toward my ears.  I try to notice when that’s happening.  Once I’m aware, I have two choices:  to keep working or to rest.  Both options have good points.

 

Most of the time, I know that if I keep working, I will end up happier at the end.  The magic of cardio will do its thing on my mood, my brain will work better, and I’ll have the pleasant soreness of after-weights instead of the unpleasant soreness of clenching everything to no purpose.  The awareness lets me release my shoulders, get back in touch with the present moment instead of whatever it is that I’m obsessing over, and get a bit of perspective.

 

Sometimes, however, it is time to stop the workout and rest.  I do this if my body hurts too much, if I have trouble keeping my motion in a safe range, or if I’m too tired to focus.  The final exercise in the set in that case is releasing the guilt.  I am still a worthwhile human even if I rest sometimes instead of working out.

 

Maybe everyone else out there is not like me, but I suspect that I’m not alone in needing to be aware of tension and to decide appropriately how to handle it.  We can do this.