Workout Wednesday: Listening to the Body

I am a huge baby when it comes to pain and injuries. I cut my finger a year ago and almost fainted because I didn't like that my finger wasn't its normal whole self. I can't listen to other people's stories about injuries because I get light-headed and dizzy. I don't like pain and I especially don't like injuries that have to be contended with for extended periods of times, so yeah, I avoid these things like the plague!

So during the past two months I've pushed and been pushed harder than ever before and for weeks I felt it, but being sore is very different than being hurt. When I bumped up my walk/jog ratio to 8mins/2mins my knees became pretty upset with me. Taking a couple of days off helped but it would happen all over again. I experimented and listened, and decided that it was too soon and that I'd try again when I'm about halfway to my weight-loss goal. Because I wanted to increase the intensity of my cardio workouts, I've done it by increasing the speed and/or incline, using the elliptical, and adding arm movements. When I haven't felt 100%, I reduced the amount of time on the elliptical (which is far more challenging for me than the treadmill) so that I wouldn't overdo it and make myself dizzy (which could lead to fainting--seeing a pattern here yet?).

Training sessions are just as important. I have gotten dizzy and light-headed a few times (most likely due to not eating or drinking enough before a session) and I've done what I could to work through it, but I also knew when it was time to take a short break. During my last training session my thumb was tingly and numb and shortly thereafter my arm went numb too. Luckily I have a great trainer who immediately ended the session and gave me instructions on what to do. I could have ignored this and worked through it (it wasn't hampering my ability to exercise) but what might have happened if I had?

This to me is the wildest thing of all: I know what my heart rate is during any point of my workouts without even using a heart rate monitor. I started focusing on my heart rate because I want to be comfortable working out at higher heart rates for when I start jogging again (the increased heart rate was always the most difficult thing for me to contend with). I can tell by how I feel and how I'm breathing what range that I'm in (130s, 140s, etc.), and I think that is just so cool!

I love how in tune I am with my body now, especially since I've completely avoided thinking about my body for the past 10+ years. On the flip side of pains and injuries, I can tell every day when I get out of bed if I've lost more weight because I can feel the difference, and I haven't been wrong yet :-)