I learned to workout around age 40. I had always been active but a dedicated workout routine, or even knowing how to, was beyond my experience. A few years ago, I met a woman who became my workout partner and, in the process, a good friend. She has all the letters after her name that qualify her to teach me how to move my middle-aged body, and I actually have felt better than I did in the years before that. I am stronger and know I am physically capable of more than I think I am, but all that is not my point today.
This is my workout partner, Carrie, and I socially distancing while we walk.
When the pandemic began and stay-at-home orders were implemented, our workouts changed. Our normal workout location is my friend’s basement, and out of an abundance of caution, we decided that we shouldn’t expose each other in that enclosed place, so we began walking instead. Now, walking is not the normal type of workout we were used to. We have a pretty set pattern of a 60-minute workout consisting of two consecutive one-minute strength/cardio sets on the mat while the other is walking or jogging on the treadmill and then we switch.
A few months before the pandemic, I began to wonder if this was becoming too much of a stressor on my body. I was hearing signs from my body that made me consider this. Stress is cumulative and can came from all sorts of sources – work, relationships, food intolerances, ruminations in our minds, worry, concern, anxiety. Those last few I should have a PhD in and were probably a key contributor to the overall stress load I’d been feeling. The over-working out was a growing, sneaky sense I had been wondering. The pandemic gave me a chance to explore to see if it was true.
Enter no workouts and 11 weeks of hour-long walks three times per week. Despite all that was going on in the world, I actually felt my body relax and I was relieved that walking was enough movement for me to feel like I’d exhibited enough energy, strengthened muscle, and spent time with a friend. Win-win-win.
Over the past week, I’ve been listening to my body again, and in various ways, it has been saying that it’s time to add strengthen training back in, so I have begun in a modified way. I am now working out in my own basement at similar intervals but for 40 minutes. In the few days I’ve followed this routine, I again am hearing my body say that it’s headed in the right direction.
Listening. Our bodies tell us all kinds of things – food that works for our own body, decisions that are right or wrong for the situation, people who are safe to be around and those who aren’t, a need to close the laptop and rest, tension held in a muscle because we’re waiting for news that could change our world.
Noticing these messages is key to our body’s wellness. When we take time to hear them and then to follow them, we are adding to our well-being in ways that might go beyond any formal prescription. We benefit from nourishment, rested minds, healthy relationships, or strong muscles.
Are you listening? What messages is your body sending to you?