Listen to your body

The other day I went for a run and it felt good. It seemed effortless and I did not push it too much.  However the next morning my body felt trashed. It was coming to the end of my muscle development phase and I had one more goal to go. It happened to be a squat goal.

Now anyone who has done regular bar squats knows they are grueling. The trade off is that because they are so tough you get more results.  Well come squat day I had to make a decision. Go for it or take an extra day to recover.

My back was pretty kinked up so I was leery to go after it with legs that day. The athlete side of me was telling me to ignore the pain and get it done but the wise sage part of me told me to go to the chiropractor get my back adjusted and give it a day and see.

After some agonizing I decided to go to the chiropractor and get an adjustment and opted for some cardio and stretching.  Today I went in with a "let's see what happens" attitude. Wouldn't you know it I blew my goal away.

Now the point to this story is now that I've been working out for 23 years I am not only stronger but wiser. In the past I would have forced my way through my workout probably having a crappy workout and possibly injuring my back. Because I waited and listened to what my body was telling me I avoided possible injury and still hit my goal.

Bottom line if you are hurt you can't train. I always ask "what's the risk and what's the benefit?" If the risk far outweighs the benefit than I live to fight another day. In this case the risk was throwing out my back which really puts a cramp in my lifestyle or hitting some goal which really in the grand scheme of things is not that important compared to my overall health.

So what is your body telling you?? Are you running on bad knees even though it kills you every time. Are you forcing yourself through your workouts even though you are fatigued? Are you still training heavy even though all your joints hurt?

Whatever it is you should listen because if you look at the long term damage you can do there might come a day when you won't be able to the things you do or do them very well. All because you didn't listen to your body. Yes it is okay to take a rest you won't turn to goo or lose all your muscle in fact you will probably come back stronger, more energetic, and pain free than before.