When to Rest & When to Push Yourself {episode 013}

I had the flu last week, and it was rough. I survived by binge-listening to my Harry Potter audiobook collection (why are they so soothing?) and getting lots of rest. Now that I'm starting to feel a little better, I'm taking it easy and slowly reintroducing exercise back into my life. It's an important process,…

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Transcript

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Hello and welcome to the bless ful body podcast. I'm your host Chi Autumn Russell. And I'm here to share with you my best fitness and healthy living strategies and tips. And they are so good. Your body, mind and spirit will be thankful that you listened. Why their friends how to go in? I hope that you are having a beautiful day. And I am so happy to have you here with me today. We're gonna be talking about how to know when toe push yourself to work out and kind of work hard. And then how to know when to take it easy. This is a very relevant topic to me. I am just getting over the flu. I actually I'm still not feeling great. And you might notice that I have, um a bit of a cough are at least my voice is a little bit more sultry. I'm gonna edit out all of the coughs. Hopefully, you won't hear any. So I've been signal for about Oh, my goodness. Over a week had to miss school. I wasn't teaching. It was just a very intense sickness. The whole family had it. My husband, my daughter, we all had the flu, the fever that takes the all of it, that the full Angela and it was very unpleasant. And so now that I'm starting to feel a little bit better, I have been starting to do a little bit more movement, and I'm definitely taking it really easy. And I wanted to kind of share some of the ways that I am moderating my activity and help toe maybe help you if you've had the flu or you're sick or you're just not really sure when's the right time toe workout and when it's not. So first off, if you have something we're going to talk about when it is better to take it easy and when you should not be kind of pushing through and forcing a workout. So, um, certainly if you have the flu or if you have a fever, you're gonna skip your workout right and you're definitely not going to resume working out while you have a fever. Your body is already working really hard to try and fight off the infection and the illness, and so you don't need to do more kind of work for your body by asking it toe workout, and that's a pretty common sense thing, right? Like most people when they have the flu, definitely aren't feeling like working out. Same with the fever. And so I do want you to, you know, just really kind of you take that to heart. And no, you're not gonna be working out when you have a fever. Okay, so that's gonna be number one, and I'll talk to you about how you actually returned to working out in a little while. But we're just gonna go through, come into the times when it's not really appropriate toe workout. So no fuer floor fever. If you have a fever, you're definitely not working out. And also, if you have, um, signs of overtraining, then that's also going to be a sign that you need a rest day and even maybe, that it's beyond, like an active recovery day, which an active recovery day would be. Where you don't necessarily workout is hard, but you dio more mellow activity. So maybe you focus on rolling out and doing some release work or some really gentle Pilates or yoga that could be a sign of active recovery. But if you've been really overtraining and some of the ways that you know that you've been overtraining, Um are if you are extremely a key, kind of all over, particularly or in in one area, like, say, you've overtrained a particular area, Um, then you would be incredibly a key and not just like the delayed muscle soreness that comes from a workout, right, Because that's when we're strengthening our muscles. We are actually causing little tiny trauma to the muscle and then not repair process is how you actually get stronger. And so when you over train, you don't necessarily give your body the time to repair appropriately and recover. And so it actually, um, a lot of times people think that they're doing something good by working out more and working out harder. And, um, that's not necessarily the case. So if you are feeling really shaky and sore, that's gonna be a sign of overtraining and a sign that you haven't really given yourself adequate rest. Um, being really fidgety can also be a sign of overtraining, as can having something like restless legs, particularly when you're trying to rest or go to sleep. If you've overtrained, it can actually be really hard to relax, and it can be hard to sleep sometimes. Also, if you feel really stiff overall, our, um if you kind of have stiffness that lasts for a few days, that would be a sign of overtraining and then also disrupted sleep, disrupted appetite. And, um, even diarrhea can be signs of overtraining. So if you see any, if you feel anything kind of different than the baseline that it goes, you know, kind of last for a day or two that would be a really good indication that you've been over training and the best thing for you to do. And that scenario is just take a rest day and get lots of water, maybe do a little bit of rolling out, um, to kind of help release some of that soreness and fatigue. But really, you're not even really gonna be trying toe work while you're while you're rolling out? You really just want toe have, like, a nice, very gentle rest day or two in that situation. So if you've got a flu, if fever, you're not gonna be working out. If you've been over training, you're not gonna be working out and then, if you are sleep deprived, I want you to actually give yourself a rest day. And this one is definitely different than just having, say, a night that you didn't sleep well. If you've had a hard time going to sleep one night doing some exercise, the next day can actually help get your sleep back on track. Because a lot of times, um sleep can be disrupted through stress hormones that are remaining in our body, particularly like adrenaline and nor adrenaline, and even court is all. And those hormones, the best way to get them to move through your system is actually to move your body and use those hormones. And so if you've had, like, one or two nights of kind of restless sleep where you haven't been able to fall asleep, then that's not the same thing as being sleep deprived. Sleep deprived is where it's kind of gone on for more nights in a row, or it's more chronic, and then, in that case you do want to exercise. But you want to be really aware of how you are exercising and being super mindful of the time of day that you're exercising and just really starting to notice your own patterns. So if you work out kind of at night or later in the evening and get your heart rate up and get everything kind of moving and going, then that can actually make it harder to fall asleep. For some people, it's for most people. You want it, you know, kind of elevate the heart rate and get your exercise and much earlier before the evening comes. And then your body kind of goes through that cycle where it goes up, and then it also comes back down and returns to arresting state. And that's gonna help you prepare for sleep better for most people. Okay, so this is where it's really important that you actually start to notice your own body in your own patterns and really become aware of things that would disrupt your sleep. So it might not be that that he holds true for you. You might be able Teoh have a very kind of up and, um, energy producing workout later in the evening and then still be able to fall asleep. So that is entirely kind of connected to your biorhythm and your habits. And so just paying attention to that. So, basically, for sleep, if you are in a sleep deprived state, right, Um, then you want to be really aware of when you're exercising and the type of exercising that you're doing. So if you have, um, se a new baby and you haven't slept for a really long time, you know, just pay attention. You know, it may not be the best day to really do some intense kind of cardio or a really hard hitting workout. It could be something that by doing some kind of more gentle, nourishing movements like a very gentle Pilatus flow or yoga flow that that would help that would serve you better. So that is also something Teoh just kind of keep in mind. Okay, around sleep. So one of the other scenarios that it's gonna be the better it's gonna be better to actually skip your workout is if you have been getting ah, a lot of injuries recently. This would also be a sign of overtraining. Um, if you either have multiple injuries that keep cropping up or if there's one injury that keeps kind of coming back, those would be signs that your overtraining as well. And definitely if you have an injury often one of the best things to do, particularly with an acute injury, something that's fresh is really giving yourself some recovery time and some rest time so that it can heal and you might be able to do some other types of activities. Pallotti's is really good for cross training when you have an injury, because there's it's very possible to basically work some parts of the body in, ah, a really functional way without necessarily exacerbating an injury. When I first found Pallotti's, I had a broken foot and I would go to Pilate. He's in Ah, boot and a cast. And I could do that even though I wasn't supposed to be working my foot because there were so many other ways of things that we could do for the rest of my body. That really did help. Actually, my injury recover more quickly because I was able to keep, you know, blood flow and my heart rate going and get some movement, so that would not necessarily be what I'm talking about here. But if you have an injury, you want to make sure that you're not exacerbating it through your workouts, Okay. And then another time that it might be best to kind of skip your workout is if you are dehydrated or if you've had diarrhea. So if you have yellow P or if you've had diarrhea within the past 24 hours, it's probably gonna be bussed to give yourself some rest time and go ahead and skip that workout. Definitely with dehydration. You can't rehydrate while you're exercising and putting more stress in your system. So you want to take that time to rehydrate first and then work out. So with diarrhea is while you could, you know, maybe think about giving yourself like a little 24 hour window and then returning to exercise and with dehydration, you would want to make sure that the color of your urine is normal. It's not yellow again. Before you would start, um, working out and before you would start exercising, okay. And then the last thing that I'm going to talk about here is actually one that is really important and very overlook sometimes. And I'm gonna talk about stress, So if you are in a situation or in a pattern of kind of chronic stress and overwhelm or anxiety where you are. Basically, you know, exhaustion and burnout could be signs of this. But basically where you are kind of operating in this kind of all hands on deck system. If you have been kind of living in this pattern for a while, so days, weeks, months, things like that, then your body will most likely not be able to respond positively to work out stress. Because when you work out, you do actually put your body through a stress reaction, and you your body secretes adrenaline. It secretes nor adrenaline. It actually secretes. Court is all, and that's all a really good thing. It's designed to help strengthen your system. Your body goes into stress reaction, and then when the when you're done exercising, you actually return Teoh home yo Stasis and your body in when it's in a healthy state or when it's in a non kind of chronic stress holding pattern, actually learns from that process, and that helps us recover from structure much, much more quickly when we do encounter stressors. However, if you're already stuck in an elevated kind of chronic stress pattern, then basically putting yourself into that system does not do all of those things that it's supposed to dio and it can. Actually, you can kind of get stuck with some higher levels of adrenaline and some higher levels of nor adrenaline, and that can put too much stress on your system. And you won't necessarily get to return to that resting state as easily. So if you are in chronic stress than I recommend that you actually do some more gentle workouts first, to kind of help alleviate some of that stress because movement and working out will help you deal with your stress. It will help you cope. But it, like I said, if you're kind of elevated in a chronic stress pattern, then putting MAWR kind of stress into the system can really be overwhelming, and it could be too much. And you can basically, um, stress your system too much. So pay attention to your stress levels. And if you, um are aware and you're able to kind of recognize that you have been stressed for a while indefinitely, um, try to do more relaxing movement, more gentle movement that's soothing and just kind of calming to the nervous system just for a few days or just until you start to feel that you've kind of tipped that balance and then you can kind of go back into some harder hitting workouts as well. Okay, so that's when those were kind of the main times that I really recommend that you take it easy. So basically, if you have a flu, if you have a fever, if you are chronically sleep deprived if you have signs of overtraining, if you're dehydrated or have had diarrhea or if you're very stressed, those air gonna be times when I really do recommend that you either just rest entirely or make sure that you're doing some really gentle workout and really gentle movement. And then when do I recommend that you actually push yourself and, you know, make yourself kind of do a workout even when you don't want Teoh And I definitely do recommend that, right, because there are times when we don't want to do it, work out. Okay, so one of the kind of main things is if you haven't worked out in a while, right and you don't really feel like it, I actually recommend, and that's that situation because we know that we haven't been over training. And it's not because you haven't worked out because of, like, say, a sickness or a flu or something, but just made Basically, if you've been busy, if you know time has kind of gotten away from you and you haven't been able to make a workout happen, then it's really common that you're not gonna feel like working out. And that's actually going to be a really good time to, uh, do what you need to do, get you know, your discipline going and get yourself to work out. And normally, you know, once you start, you're gonna feel a little bit better almost right away, right? And then you'll often then feel like working out for the rest of your workout. So just one of the best ways and that scenario is to just say that you're going to do something for five minutes and really make yourself do something for five minutes, and almost anyone can do anything for five minutes, right? So if you just give yourself that gentle timer off five minutes than often, by the time that five minutes is over, you really do feel like continuing on with your work out. So that would be one scenario where I would say that, um, it's good to kind of push yourself and make your workout happen. OK, another time that, um, I would recommend kind of just doing that. The five minute rule is well and kind of making yourself do something for five minutes is if you're just kind of feeling a little down and, um, you might be feeling a little lethargic. Um, you might be a little sad. Uh, for whatever reason, then I really do encourage you to once again, it can be really gentle and it can be really kind and loving, but that you do really try to push yourself to get some movement in. Because as your body starts to move, it can actually be a really good way to process and deal with some more negative emotions. And, you know, I'm I'm sure you've heard me talk about you know, my mom's illness. She's dying. Currently, she has dementia, and there are definitely days where I do not feel like moving. I am a you know, like my grief is really intense at times, and I will say that a nose moments when I'm sad or him down and I can get myself to do some movement. Um, then I typically feel much better. And it actually helps me process my grief and helps me process those emotions. And so that would definitely be a time when, um, you know, even just going for a really gentle walk just getting yourself moving. Um, I would highly recommend that you pushed through and try to do a little movement and the most loving way possible, right? I'm definitely not an advocate of kind of punishing ourselves or being, you know, really mean to ourselves. But, you know, being disciplined and holding ourselves accountable can be, um, a really loving thing to do for ourselves. Okay, then another time that you might want to go ahead and do your workout when you're not really sure, is if you have, like a mild cold eso This wouldn't be a cold that has any kind of fever or anything like that. It would just be, you know, like the sniffles and, um, there Definitely Once again, I wouldn't recommend maybe doing your most aggressive workout or the hardest workout that you possibly do. But getting some movement in can actually help with blood flow. It can help with lymph flow, and it can actually give you a little immune boost. So there are times particularly, um, throughout the cold of the beginning of a cold, where it can be useful to do ah, gentle workout and that they can actually help you ward off the cold. But definitely listen to yourself here. So if you don't feel like working out really and you have a cold, then I would honor that. You know, definitely honoring our own thoughts about you know where we are at any particular time is really important. So get to know your body, get to know what it feels like when it is kind of operating it normal. And then also that way, you can recognize when you are getting a cold or you're getting sick and then kind of notice when something's wrong and so that you know that's a great area. So if you have a cold and you feel like working out, then go for it. But if you don't, then that's also perfectly OK to give yourself a rest and let yourself kind of just recover and recuperate. Hopefully, that is making a little bit more sense to you about when it is a good idea to skip your workout and then when it's a great idea to kind of push through. And the last thing I wanted to talk about is so say you have been sick, right? So you've had the flu like mean for the past week or more, and you're ready to start getting some movement like your body is ready to move your feeling, you know, really aching. And Stephan, it's time to start moving again. So how do you begin? And that scenario? Well, basically, the first things that I recommend one do is just rolling out either with a foam roller or with a pinky ball, doing some really gentle, my official released. Even self massage with your hands can be really useful here just to kind of get some of the tension and the tightness that gets kind of stuck in our bodies around sickness and colds to get moving through. So that's gonna be the first thing to do. It's just some nice, gentle rolling out and all I've done for the last couple days is actually roll out, and that's been enough for me. And then, um, tomorrow, hopefully I'm going to get a little bit more of a gentle work out. And then once you start working out again, once you start doing movement, it is okay to take it really slow to start with 10 minutes, see how you feel do little chunks throughout the day. More than kind of one big workout session would be advisable and to keep it really gentle so you don't need to do the most intense workout right off the bat. Actually, that's not a really great idea. Not only is your body not ready for that, but that could just put you at greater risk for injury. And so just, you know, do small chunks throughout the day, focus on kind of mobilization and release and then maybe a little bit of stretching. And you don't really need to do aggressive strength training. Yet in a couple of days after you've been able to mobilize and move, then you could think more about doing some strength training. And, um, you know, walking is also a really good way to kind of start easing into cardio again. So there you have it. I hope that this has been really clear on Ah, when is a good idea to kind of push through and make yourself workout and when it's a better idea to give yourself some rest and hopefully you are not gonna be sick or, um, otherwise unable to work out. But if you find yourself in a situation, hopefully you can think back and remember this episode, and it can help. You kind of make some good decisions about working out and how to get started working out after you've been sick as well. And the last thing I did really just want to highlight once again is that it's really that you really do know your body the best, right? And so starting to cultivate this attitude and a really sense of discovery and mindfulness about yourself is so important. So the more that you can kind of understand your own body and how you feel, um, at your baseline, the better off you'll be and the more informed you'll be able to be and make better decisions about whether or not something like working out is appropriate for you on any given day because really, you know your self better than anybody else knows it. And so hopefully I can help you start to believe that you know the most about yourself. And really, um, honor that knowledge that we all have about ourselves and our bodies. Okay, Friends, I hope that you are having a beautiful day. And if this has been helpful episode I would totally appreciate it if you would leave a review. Well, subscribe rate and review. So definitely want to subscribe. So you don't miss an episode, and then rating and review would be really helpful so that I know that you are into the podcast and also so that others know what types of things we talk about. And I would greatly appreciate it. So take care, and I'll be talking to you soon. Bye bye.