As a fitness professional, I often get the feeling that it's assumed that workouts are always easy for me. Spoiler alert; they are not.
I recently underwent foot surgery for an old injury. This was a planned surgery, I had plenty of time to prepare, research, and make time for recovery, (stay tuned for the blog post about that entire experience!). Nevertheless, it wreaked havoc on my fitness maintenance. I had to take the first week post procedure to basically stay off of my foot. While Mr. Jedi really enjoyed all the snuggle time we got, (ok, I didn't hate that part!), after about 2 days of Netflix & chill...I was not so chill! I was itching to move, I didn't want to read, watch TV, listen to another podcast. I needed to move.
So, after 2 days I was right back on my reformer - with lots of modifications, of course, but I needed to get moving! For the next 2 weeks I had to continue to avoid impact and I couldn't wear real shoes as my foot still had stitches. That meant lots of Pilates Mat work, Pilates Reformer workouts, and some light Barre work and weights. But to be honest, my wheelhouse- my JOY - comes from sweating and working hard. I love Pilates and barre but -
I was missing dancing, and jumping, and lifting heavier weights and - YES - SWEATING!
Today I was supposed to get my stitches removed. I have been counting down the sleeps to get to here. I was SO excited as the weather was calling for sun, no rain or snow for a day, and maybe I'd be able to put on some sneakers and actually take Jedi out for a walk. Then I got a call from my doctor's office...he needed to reschedule to Thursday...ONE. MORE. DAY. Ugh.... I felt heartbroken and depressed. Not only was I not going to get my stitches removed, or get to do any of the things I was looking forward to for the day, but I also had blocked my schedule off for the appointment so I had a free, (aka - making NO money!), morning. I honestly just wanted to go get a donut or a bagel and big cup of coffee and crawl back into bed. I was sad.
I knew I had to do something to change my mindset.
Thankfully, one of the trainers I follow and love had a Tabata class that's available on Zoom so - I decided I would try it! I knew I would have to modify my movements. I can't comfortably flex my foot yet. Not only can I not wear sneakers, but I have to keep my foot wrapped up and wear a thick sock which means I'm a bit clumsy. But I was excited to move my body a bit more intensely, and yes - SWEAT!
A Tabata workout is generally high-intensity interval training that consists of eight sets of fast-paced exercises each performed for 20 seconds interspersed with a brief rest of 10 seconds. This particular class is 45 minutes. As you can see my the above slides, I had to plank on knees, do push ups on my knees, and modify jumping with low/no impact options. I did not have a problem with keeping my intensity up! This workout- was not easy! I was huffing and puffing. I was red. It hurt! And it felt SO good to sweat, and breath heavy, and finish knowing I accomplished something I hadn't been able to do for weeks.
In those moments of struggle, sometimes I have to dig a little bit deeper to find the motivation, and that is when I lean on sideline friends and mentors that I look up to for inspiration. I try and remind myself what I love about movement and why I deserve to treat myself to feeling great. Workouts may be hard sometimes, but that doesn't make them a punishment - they are always a gift to my body and my mind.