Shut it Down

One of my good qualities as a coach is telling people when to back off. Our culture around fitness is that more is better, pain is good and if you’re not suffering, you’re not trying hard enough. Our bodies and brains are complex though. They can only take so much, and sometimes a little less is exactly what they need. Rest and recovery is not often part of the fitness equation, but so much relies on it. We shouldn’t be ashamed of our off days, but instead, proud we listened to our bodies. 

You may have seen my wife, Hannah, working out on Instagram this morning. I’ve been writing Hannah’s workouts for 8 years now. She’s been through every excel template, tested all my crazy ideas and always follows the directions. She’s been remarkably consistent through it all. So consistent, in fact, that I spend more time telling her to back off than I do anything else. She knows her technique and besides the occasional tune up, moves really well. She’s tough on herself and hates deviating from the schedule though.

That’s where I come in. I tell her to sleep in and hit ten thousand steps tomorrow and don’t even think about working out. She fights it every time, but has gotten better at listening to her body and being intuitive about backing off, especially during pregnancy. 

The current fitness climate has this resting-is-bad-and-unproductive stance. If more fitness professionals had conversations about taking care of your body, opposed to feeding the push harder to succeed story, maybe we wouldn’t be so unhealthy. Maybe more people would have better relationships with moving and exercising (which, is important to differentiate, by the way).

Most of all, more people would understand how to listen to their bodies. Just like you need to know when you should sleep in a bit and skip the morning workout, you need to know when to crank it and test the waters. The gym can teach us so much about our bodies if learn to listen.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Hannah pushing Alex on the sled - December 2015