I am listening to my body. As you know, Ive been putting a lot of effort into looking after myself in these last few weeks of getting The Paleo Approach Cookbook to the printer (its really coming together amazingly well btw!). Im trying to avoid the health crash that I suffered working on The Paleo Approach. This has meant that my 10pm bedtime is non-negotiable and that being active most days is a must. A little over a month ago, I started considering doing CrossFit. I was doing some pretty intense workouts with weights at my local YMCA and feeling awesome, but my body was craving more (heavier weights and more workouts). So, I walked into CrossFit Dwala four weeks ago and found a new home. I did my on-ramp classes and then my first official CrossFit class was a mere 16 days ago. Its amazing to think of how much strength, endurance, and energy Ive gained in that short time (not to mention how much better my clothes are fitting already!). But, Im taking the day off. And I took yesterday off (well, I went to a very gentle yoga class, but I think that still counts). And Ill decide about tomorrow tomorrow. I overdid it earlier this week and two things happened: first, the pain in my body did not feel better after moving and stretching; second, my sleep night before last was terrible. Yep, I did too much and ended up putting too much stress and strain on my body. But thats okay, because Im listening. Im going to take it easy until those muscle aches are gone and my sleep is good again (it was much better last night). That doesnt mean lying on the couch for days on end, it just means taking a couple of rest days and then making sure I dont go all-out during WODs for at least a few more days after that. Its important to listen to your body no matter what youre doing, especially if youre doing something new (that could be a new activity, but also doing things like changing your carb intake or other big changes to your diet). And how you sleep is one of the most important ways that your body lets you know whether its happy with this change or not. If you find yourself tossing and turning, waking up and not being able to fall back to sleep, having trouble falling asleep, having to get up to pee in the night (especially if its more than once), waking up earlier than you think you should be, waking up not feeling refreshed, or having energy dips during the day, those are all big red flags that your cortisol is out of whack and its time to critically evaluate whether this change is a good one. Often, its just a matter of giving your body time to adjust (say, if youre sleep is disturbed when transitioning to Paleo) or giving your body a bit of a break (like Im doing). But, sometimes it means that change is not a good one for you at least for now (maybe you went too low carb, for example) or that you need to warm into it more slowly (theres never anything wrong with baby steps). So, I might have to cut back on the number of CrossFit classes Im going to every week (at least for now). Im not sure Ill need to do that at this point, and Im going to see how I feel after taking this break. But if thats what my body is telling me, Ill listen.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 15:06:19 +0000
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