How To Know When To Train And When To Rest.
This comes up a lot in my online coaching group, and is going to be something that each of us has to gauge as we continue on our fitness journey, no matter our experience level.
My own personal journey involves healing from adrenal fatigue. This came about due to a mix of factors, from physical stress within my body (candida overgrowth in my gut, leaky gut, my food choices, on and off dieting, and long-term birth control use), as well as stress from my lifestyle, and repressed emotions and trauma.
Unfortunately for me, I had a big ego, and I refused to stop exercising; even on the days that I felt exhausted and really should have opted for a leisurely walk in nature, or complete rest. This was fuelled by two things:
My drive to want to compete at higher levels in my olympic weightlifting days, and
Because I was petrified of “letting myself go”, getting “fat”, or being “too soft and not toned enough”.
Eventually, as I completed my HMI Health Coaching certification and began healing my body (mind, body and soul — find the resources here), I could no longer ignore what my body was showing me, or the emotions that would erupt and take over at the most inconvenient of times.
When I realised I had adrenal fatigue, I stepped onto the journey to heal it. It was bumpy, and I let my ego take over which only set me back and hurt me more. Eventually, I put my ego aside and took the steps I needed to get to a healthier place. Along the way, that involved finding the balance of strength training (pausing olympic weightlifting), while at the tail end of my adrenal fatigue recovery. And I’ve been helping others do the same ever since.
So, how do we know when to train, and when to push?
Let me do my best to simplify it for you:
1. Check in with yourself.
How are you really?
If you are someone who is inclined to adopt a “go-hard or go-home, I’ll sleep when I’m dead” mentality, you are likely going to invalidate your body’s cues.
So if you are yawning, struggling to get through the afternoon before you clock off work, and are feeling short-tempered and irritable… you may need to rest and try again tomorrow, or do a more gentle kind of workout. This could involve doing your strength session at a much lighter weight, but focusing on good quality movements and getting your blood pumping, a beach walk, walking the dog, yoga, lazy laps in the pool, etc. This will be dependent on your fitness level and your point in your adrenal fatigue recovery.
2. Continued from above.
If you are someone who is more inclined to withdraw during any kind of discomfort, and find yourself regularly pushing your workouts or deadlines in general to “tomorrow, or next week”, then you may be on the other end of the spectrum, and need to strengthen that consistency muscle.
This can be tricky when we are not feeling motivated, and are riding purely on discipline for consistency’s sake. A good trick I use on myself when I really don’t want to train, is to tell myself that I don’t have to do a hard workout and to just focus on moving my body. Usually, once I’ve built the momentum, then I’m on a roll and I end up pushing myself and feeling glad I did it!
Being kind to ourselves doesn’t always look like tucking ourselves into a warm cozy blanket, but reminding ourselves of our commitments we made, and that we are WORTH IT.
3. If you have been really stressed at work or in other areas of life lately…
…and you are running low on sleep, and have not been eating well (or enough), this is usually when I tell my clients to skip the hard workout and to go home. However, movement ALWAYS helps to lift our mood, so depending on your energy, see point #1 and decide accordingly on what is best for your body; total rest, or gentle movement to release dopamine and pent up stress.
4. There is a difference between physical sluggishness caused by our emotions, vs. physical sluggishness because our body really needs a break.
Over time, you will learn the difference if you haven’t already. Our minds are powerful things and impact our body in so many ways, and vice versa. I’ve had some of my BEST workouts when I pushed through the mental block to exercise.
5. Burn out.
If over the past month or so, you have noticed an aversion to exercise (but previously you had no issues apart from the occasional “I can’t be bothered” days), then you may be nearing burn out. If this is the case, it is time to pause, reflect on where you are at in your life right now, what your priorities are, and change the way you train accordingly. This is something that elite trainers look for in their athletes too; there’s no shame in it.
Sometimes our nervous systems need a break, because as everyday people who’s job isn’t to train, eat and sleep, most of us have day jobs which come with their own set of stressors. Having this break can actually help us to come back stronger than ever. So if you need to, take 1–2 weeks off training, but still focus on being incidentally active, e.g. dog walks, weekend trail explorations, etc.
6. If you are healing from adrenal fatigue…
…this is something that needs to be monitored closely, and tailored advice is a must for you. Working 1:1 with a trusted coach is safer for your recovery, otherwise you can run into deeper problems with your thyroid and adrenal health, hormones, menstrual cycles, mental health, immune health, and more.
Closing remarks
ALWAYS listen to your body. You will pick up on signs of what it truly needs the most. We live in a world where we are trained and praised for soldiering on and getting on with it, but that is so damaging.
Learning the balance between consistency and discipline, and rest out is one of the greatest gifts you will ever give yourself (especially as a woman).
Master it as soon as you can, and your intuition will be off the charts where everything in your life is concerned, and your relationship with your body will become unshakeable.
I wish that for every single person on this planet.
~Amya