When it comes to fitness, I've started to see everything I do as a transaction. I'm a calorie counter, so every morning I start with a balance of 1700, and every meal counts as a deduction. Throughout the day, I'm thinking of how much I have left.
Don't cringe. It really does work. It's an aspect of my fitness that I can be engaged in all day.
It's not just calories, though. Every week, I start knowing how many days off I'll allow myself that week. I know that I want to put in five days a week at the gym; I like that number because it feels like an authoritative majority. My mind is convinced that there's a tremendous difference between four and five, and don't try telling it otherwise. It won't believe you.
With that in mind, every week looks similar for me: I meet with my trainer on Mondays because it sets me up for the week. I know it'll work my muscles to screaming, letting me ease up and work on cardio Tuesdays, with some lifting sets working whatever muscle groups were spared on Monday. I take Wednesdays off, because I said so. (Incidentally, this is Pizza Night at my house. Beginning Wednesday morning, I start planning how many calories I can deduct during the day, knowing that dinner will be filled with cheesy, carb-y goodness.) Thursday is whatever muscle groups we worked during training on Monday. Thursday is non-negotiable; something serious has to come up for me to take Thursday off. Two days off in a row is just not allowed.
And here, beginning Friday, is the only leeway I allow myself. I know that one of the next three days, Friday through Sunday, I get to take off. I like saving that day off for Sunday, knowing that Monday will be a rough day.
There's a reason I plan my week so strictly, and that reason is this: My body is a liar.
When I ask my body, "Body? How do you feel today? Are you tired?" the answer is, "Holy crap, yes. I would like lie down on the couch and stay there until tomorrow." This is because I'm human. My newly-found enjoyment of the gym will never, ever change how painfully lazy I am.
But there's another reason, and it's something that every person who's ever exercised or played a sport can relate to. It's this little thing called delayed onset muscle soreness.
DOMS is that miserable ache you get in your muscles a day or two after exercise. If you weren't warned about it, it can be hugely discouraging, making you think that perhaps you weren't ready for a fitness program. Depending on the muscle groups involved, it can make life difficult for the next few days - or, at the very least, it can make everything you do hilarious to everyone around you.
Just ask my coworkers about me trying to put on headphones after my first heavy arms day. (Or, you know, don't. 'Cause yikes.)
The thing about DOMS is that light exercise is good for it. That's right, the body is such a lying jerk that the very thing you don't want to do is exactly what you should do.
This doesn't mean that pain should be ignored. There are certain kinds of pains that I refuse to work with, period. Because of my chiropractic history, I won't work through twinges in my spine and will instead visit my doctor. I will never work on a sprain.
Most importantly, I won't work with joint pain. Like many larger people, I've always had dodgy knees, and I made it a millionty-jillion times worse last year when an ill-planned personal dance party snapped the ACL in my left knee. The rehab of this has been long and boring, but the short story is that I have never had surgery and I instead work to strengthen the mechanism of my knee. It's going very well and I refuse to do anything that will jeopardize my progress. This means that joint pain keeps me at home with an ice pack.
The more I work, the more I understand the different aches and pains that my body hands me. While my weekly plan doesn't always work out, having planned days off keeps me accountable. It keeps me honest. Maybe, just maybe, it keeps me progressing.
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