Listen To Your Body
qi, chi
|
What is your body telling you? Have you listened lately? Or is it only a one-way communication, e.g. mind-to-body: do this do that, keep going, hurry up, ...? (kind of like parent-to-teenager, but that's another story ;)
Allow me to introduce the two of you: Your mind, meet your body. Your body, meet your mind. Now the two of you go talk amongst yourselves, and hopefully get to know one another. It's a part of fitness that is often overlooked, the mind/body connection. Many people are supremely disciplined when it comes to the exercise schedule, cross-training, caloric intake vs output. You know, those things that are an important part of any fitness regimen. But I think that somewhere in all that process, the two-way communication is lost and the mind takes over with it's dominating one-sidedness.
Unfortunately when that happens, an amazing amount of potential is lost. For as much as our minds can push our bodies, our bodies can push our minds with equal force. Now many will point out that listening to your body means knowing when to take it easy. When I started this blog, that's what it was going to be about: knowing when you've hit your physical limit and it's time to back off or rest. In fact, I have a cardio kickboxing class today and it will be the first time in exactly one week that I've stepped foot into the gym (or done any exercise for that matter). I've been sick for the last week, and I've been 'listening to my body' as it was telling me over the week, "No, don't go to the gym today - I need more rest. If you push me too hard, I'm just going to get more sick." My mind was getting very upset over this, knowing that one week off is like a month of setback. But my body won the argument this time and I've gotten a week of well-needed rest.
What about the flip-side? Meaning, what about the times when you are pushing yourself during a workout and your mind calls it quits, but you could've sprinted to the... read entire entry
|
|
|
on 4/9/2008
|
|
0 |
21.2
|
|